Work colleague - say something or keep quiet...

[Ekerty72]

Need some advice!

I work in a lovely place where we follow a shift pattern. A lady joined our company a few months ago, haven't worked with her a lot due to a lot of opposing shift patterns.

Anyway I was saying goodbye to her a few days ago, I noticed she was on annual leave the following day so said have a lovely day off. She said to me shhhh dont mention it's my day off I want to keep it quiet. No problem, each to their own. She then went on to explain that in her last job she books her annual leave far in advance and then never mentions in the hope that the boss will forget to cover it and then they'll call her up and ask where she is and she'll have the delight of telling them that she's on annual leave and they should check their leave calendar. She had quite a smug smile on her face as well which I found completely distasteful. I'm guessing from that, that she intends to do this with this job as well.

I am just shocked that anyone would take pleasure in this and when I think about our lovely office I feel really sad that someone would come in with this attitude.

Would I be being unreasonable to being this to the attention of my supervisor? Thing is she would probably guess it was me who had said something which would be a bit uncomfortable.

So AIBU shall I leave it, keep my nose out and if the boss did their role correctly then the shift would always be covered or AINBU should I tell them what she told me so they can 100% ensure the shift is covered but also as a sort of heads up for maybe any future issues.

Thank you all 😊😊

Presumably the day off has come and gone now and no one even noticed she was off?

Sounds like a strange mentally have. Most don't want to hear a peep from their work when they're off.
Don't say anything. Management get paid more to manage their staff and know who is in and who isn't. Other than her strange way of thinking it's not an issue.

If you saw on the rota that she's on annual leave, then her manager put her on there,meaning he/she won't be calling her up.
Maybe she may being called when for example someone is sick and cover is short, rather than they forget she booked leave. Some people are weird and like to gloat reasons why they can't help out

I wonder if there's another thread somewhere, with an OP along the lines of "you'll never guess what I managed to convince my colleague of ...."

People are WEIRD. I don't think we'll ever get to bottom of what makes people tick. People find smug satisfaction in the oddest things.

I may breezily mention in the morning, hmmm...nice weather today, wonder what 'insert colleague's name' is up to today on her holiday day off 😁 but i wouldnt specially make a point of saying it to the manager. I probably would have done the internal laugh what a weirdo inside my head but forgotten about it minutes after.

What a nasty post. You have no idea what's going on in that woman's life. She's not hurting anyone, she's going on her pre-booked annual leave.

She has no idea what's going on in this woman's life such that she would calculatedly and repeatedly plan to make other people's lives more difficult?

Too right.

Leave it

She sounds really odd ... I wouldn’t say anything.. let people figure it out for themselves.. which they will soon enough.

I wouldn't say anything but do keep your distance. She's clearly not a team player, wants to cause a scene and wants a bad work atmosphere between her and her bosses. If she doesn't get satisfaction from them (as in, they're actually organised and can actually read the calendar and get cover like they should) she may turn on fellow employees for her shits and giggles.

Well you noticed she was on annual leave so her trick doesn't work.

Speaking as a boss who has to manage multiple people's leave, this would piss me off beyond imagining. It is so juvenile and spiteful.

And if somehow a mistake did happen, I would be furious if someone threw it back in my face by telling me to 'check my leave calendar.'

I had a PA who used to send me confirmations of cars etc without checking for mistakes and then if there was an error saying 'but I sent you an email.'

She seemed oblivious to the fact that it was her responsibility as my PA to make sure tasks are done properly, not wash her hands and rely on me to double check in order to avoid her numerous mistakes.

Not only that, she seemed oblivious to the fact that triumphantly blaming your boss when there is a error, whoever's fault it was, is not exactly a great way to advance one's career.

I genuinely don't understand the mentality.

YANBU because she is being bloody weird

I would say people like this usually display their true colours sooner or later.
Let them do that without you. She sounds like a devious cowbag and you may get shot as the messenger.

Maybe she likes feeling irreplaceable in a role. Or she's had a bad work experience in her previous role. It's not for you to say anything. I also kept annual leave quiet, otherwise I would find the few days before would involve people giving me tasks that were apparently suddenly urgent which would triple my workload.

Leave it for now. And you don't know what kind of place she worked before...it may be that when she realizes that she will be treated well and fairly, her entire attitude may change! Give her a little time before deciding that she's horrid. She may have just been a bit abused at the former job.

@BlueDucky

I wouldn't bother. It seems a really weird thing to do though, doesn't really say "team player" does it.

Seems to me that the person keeping her days off quiet isn't exactly being a team player moreso than the OP.

You know now that the colleague is not to be trusted so keep that in mind and don't get drawn in. I'm sure it will somehow backfire on you if you say something at this stage. She may just be bragging and exaggerating.

its weird and i would agree to giver her a wide berth but don't worry telling your supervisor - its weird her old supervisor was not on top of holidays!

She doesn't have enough going on at work, at home or upstairs. Avoid.

She’s weird but not clever enough to keep her mouth shut, is she?
Some posters have advised you to say nothing. I agree with that but you are clearly a conscientious person who cares about the company and your colleagues.
Stay clear of her - she’ll be sussed out eventually. She’ll have other quirks and idiosyncrasies which will expose her.
Weirdo!

How odd...I'm a manager and the second someone in my team books leave and I approve it I add it to my calendar and a shared team leave calendar!

But you noticed she was off? How? If you noticed then surely whoever does the rotas has as well?

Leave it - if she’s a bad’un it will manifest itself in other ways.
Maybe it was her odd sense of humour - give her the benefit of doubt and leave be.

Don't say anything but give her a wide berth in future. If she's sneaky about this, she'll be sneaky about other things too.

[quote Harmonypuss]@BlueDucky

I wouldn't bother. It seems a really weird thing to do though, doesn't really say "team player" does it.

Seems to me that the person keeping her days off quiet isn't exactly being a team player moreso than the OP.[/quote]
I meant the person being quiet. Sorry if thay wasn't clear.

I wouldn't say anything. She might be winding you up. She might just have a dark sarcastic sense of humour.