AIBU To Take 2 days Annual Leave for dog getting neutered

[ML5]

Getting our dog neutered next week so have to take Annual Leave for when he goes in & also the next day when he’s at home.
What are your thoughts on this?

Are you a manager who deals with annual leave? Do
you afk for reasons for leave? If you do, why?

It’s none of your business!

Tell her to mind her own business.

It’s your leave, you don’t have to justify using it. Do whatever you please.

Your leave OP, take it for what you want!

Our system is on line, days are requested with no reason required.

You don’t need to give a reason.

Also Op - it’s really concerning you feel the need to justify your leave, is there something about your workplace that makes you feel this way? My AL requests go through with the dates on, there’s no reason to add context unless it’s very last minute and you want to to appease your manager.

I arranged to work from home when my kittens were neutered last year because I just needed to drop them off in the morning and pick them up later. I then took the following 2 days off as AL so I could keep a close eye on them while they recovered.

Have done this three times over the years.
I wouldn't waste a day of leave for the day of the op. Work stopped me worrying and took my mind off things.
I dropped my respective dogs off on the way to work and collected them after work (think I finished early to collect about 4pm).
Definitely take leave the day after to sit on the couch and keep DDog from doing too much. Lots of cuddles and box sets on the TV. Especially if dog is a bouncy energetic one. The pain meds work brilliantly!
I found the time I really needed to supervise was when the fur started to grow back where they'd been shaved. Even with collar of shame my boys were trying to lick the shaven area until we got some cream for it from the vet.

Drop the dog off on your way to work, pick up on your way home and take the next two days as annual leave. Itsa good reason for annual leave, your dog needs you.

You don’t need to have any reason for using your allowed annual leave, you could literally take it to watch Netflix all day or get your hair done or because you know you’ll have had a big night out the night before. It’s literally no one’s business (including your managers).

Obviously if you want to take it at short notice it might help to have a sympathetic manager but if booking for some time later it shouldn’t matter.

Rather than the day he goes in, when he'll be in there from morning until about 4pm, I'd go to work as normal but then take the following 2 days off to spend actual time with him. It's a nice idea OP!

It's not her business. You can sit in front of the TV for two days and neck prosecco if you want.

And for this very reason I sincerely hope you are never ever considered for a managerial or leadership work role.

A person's leave entitlement is part of their employment contract, if leave is requested and is available then no manager has the right to make a judgement call on how those leave days are used.....🤔

Are you joking? I took 4 days leave the other week to sit in a loungewear, watch tv, walk the dog and read.

Who are you to decide how your employees should spend their legally mandated time off.

It’s your leave. If your manager authorises it, that’s all you need.

I never ask my team why they’re having time off. Sometimes it might come up conversationally or if it’s at extremely short notice, but otherwise, it’s none of my business.

My husband just took a whole week off because I am going away on a course and usually work from home. 😂

Op you can do what you want with annual leave. People can and will judge you for all sorts of things so try learn not to care. Personally yes I would take leave in this situation unless I could wfh. I would not care 2 hoots what my manager thought! When I’ve signed off leave as a manager I have not been in the slightest judgemental - people can live the lives they choose. You also do not need to give a reason for annual leave!

It’s no ones else’s business but yours why you take annual leave.

Why?

Are you serious? It’s none of her bosses business why she takes annual leave! You can take annual leave to spend the entire day on the sofa if you want! You must know that?

Well your dog will need someone with him for 24 hours at least as he'll be under the effects of a general anaesthetic.
My cat had surgery recently and she was out of it for 2 days with the anaesthetic/pain killers. I wouldn't have left her alone.
You can take annual leave for whatever reason you want, you don't have to even give a reason.

I don't understand why you're asking.

When I was in a job with AL, it didn't ever occur to me to consider whether my manager would think my reason was appropriate or not.

I was never asked for a reason and never gave one.

It's your time to take whenever you want for whatever reason you want.

The only time a manager will refuse it is on the grounds of staffing levels. Not whether they think it's a reasonable reason or not.

No one will be bothered. If the work is covered, no one cares, unless they are very unreasonable, in which they are in the wrong, not you. Your work won’t have a policy that A/L can only be used for things everyone deems reasonable! It’s yours to use however you like, provided there isn’t a business reason to decline the specific dates (like if your colleague was already off).

I don’t understand why you’re even thinking about this.

I also highly recommend surgical suits if your dog doesn’t like the cone of shame - she was much more comfy and it stopped her licking. The cone just came out at night when I couldn’t keep an eye on her.

Surgical suits are no good for boy dogs, the wound is too far back. OP if you have a large dog I would recommend an inflatable buster collar rather than the cones, they are lethal to human legs and anything else that gets in their way!

I’m mystified by this thread.

In my 45 years of working, I’ve never had to explain why I wanted to take my annual leave. Sure, someone might ask in passing “are you going away?”

Surely the norm is that you book your leave and that’s the end of it? Why would you need to explain further?