For the first time in a long while, I’ve been doing okay financially. Nothing massive happened, but I finally caught up on a few things – bills, rent, groceries without budgeting down to the cent – and I had enough saved to justify taking a proper break. So I decided to use a chunk of my unused PTO and plan a few days off just to decompress and maybe take a quick solo trip out of state.
I put in the request with a two-week notice, not thinking it would be a big deal. I’ve barely taken any time off this year, and I worded it casually in my email: “Hey, things are finally stable enough for me to take a few days. Hoping to recharge a bit and come back fresh.” I didn’t think twice about it.
Next morning, I get called into my manager’s office. She has this tight smile and goes, “We got your email. Is there something we should know?” I was confused until she clarified – she thought I was hinting that I was quitting. Apparently, my email read like a soft resignation: “finally stable,” “taking time for myself,” “coming back fresh.” Like I was prepping to bounce after a big signing bonus or something.
It got worse. Word spread to the department leads, and by the time I had lunch, I had coworkers asking if I was “moving on to bigger things.” Someone even said, “Saw this coming, you’ve been glowing lately.”
I had to go around and clarify that no, I wasn’t quitting, I wasn’t interviewing elsewhere, I wasn’t some secret startup founder. I just, for once, had a little extra in the bank and wanted to enjoy a break without the weight of guilt or debt. It’s wild how just asking for time off can snowball into rumors if you word it slightly wrong.
TIFU by trying to sound chill and grateful in a PTO email and accidentally triggering a chain of events that made half my office think I was peacing out.
TL;DR: Asked for some time off after getting ahead financially, worded the email too vaguely, and my boss thought I was about to quit. Office rumors exploded within a day.
Comments
Did you email anyone other than your boss?
The fact that everyone and their mom seemed to know about and have an opinion on your time off is a little bit concerning. Usually managers are told to refrain from gossiping for exactly this reason but perhaps she did anyway?
I don’t follow their logic. Weirdos. I don’t think you’re the one who fucked up here.
That’s a ridiculous situation. Yes your email was a little bit vague but I would not have interpreted that to be a soft resignation!
In the future, maybe be more explicit: “Dear boss, I will be out of the office from (insert date range here.) Thank you!” Because apparently they are prone to presumptions.