Photo: TikTok
She was the first to book the time off but now her boss is having the most ridiculous response to her coworker's demands.
By John Sundholm — Written on Apr 19, 2023
Most of us want to do what we can to help a coworker out, but there are some requests that cross a line. But when it comes to the way child-free people are treated at work, it often seems like people with kids are favored in the workplace.
One woman on TikTok named Evie has absolutely had it with the often inequitable demands placed on child-free professionals, and when she stood up for herself, her boss retaliated in a pretty shocking way.
A woman's boss retaliated when she refused to cancel her Christmas vacation.
It was so close to her departure date for her vacation that she'd already packed her bags when her boss sat her down for a manipulative conversation about her coworker's Christmas plans.
The child-free woman had gotten her vacation approved months in advance.
Granted, she was fairly new at her job. But since she'd relocated to work there, it was deeply important to her that she be with her family and friends for Christmas. "I was homesick," Evie said. Everything was worked out and approved several months in advance.
But that didn't seem to matter to one coworker, Karen—or her boss. Evie said that she and Karen "had gotten along perfectly fine" throughout her tenure at the office. That all changed once Karen decided that she too wanted to take time off for Christmas.
Obviously, Evie made the request first so Karen was out of luck, right? Oh no, because like many workplaces, people with kids are favored at Evie's job. And since Karen's plans involved her two kids, things instantly got dramatic.
The child-free woman's boss asked her to 'find it in her heart' to cancel her vacation.
"It's the week before the break," Evie said, "and I am so excited." So much so, in fact, that she'd already packed her suitcase. Everything is all set to go—"my family's expecting me, I have friends who are expecting me, I'm expecting me," as Evie put it.
That's the point at which her boss Bob called her into his office. "He's like, 'Hey, Evie, listen, I know you were planning to take off for vacation, but I talked to Karen, and she decided that she really wants to take her kids to Disney World over the break.'" Okay, well, too bad Karen! Kids have to learn about disappointment sometimes, right? Wrong.
"He was like, 'I was just really hoping that you could find it in your heart to let her take your week so she can spend some time with her children.'" Evie was shocked, but added that since Bob also has kids, "he was, like, totally on her side about it." Understandably, Evie was having none of it.
"I was like, you know what, Bob?," she joked, "I've searched my heart, and it turns out that there is nothing in my heart that's going to make me willing to give her my week."
The child-free woman's boss forced her to tell her coworker she was the reason she couldn't go to Disney World.
When Evie asked Bob if Karen had made advance plans for her Disney World trip, he told her "'No, she literally talked to me about it this morning.'" Given that it was "48 hours before the break's supposed to start" this made Evie even less willing to cancel her plans.
Even given the circumstances, Bob was so disappointed in her when she told him no that he retaliated. "He was like, 'Okay, well, you're going to have to go out there, and you're going to have to tell Karen that she can't take her kids to Disney World. You're going to have to tell her.'"
Which is, of course, wildly inappropriate—that's literally a manager's job. And unfortunately for Bob, he picked the wrong employee to try to play passive-aggressive games with.
The child-free woman's coworker tried to manipulate her by bursting into tears.
"I was like, okay," Evie said. "I walked right out of his office, walked right up to her desk, and I was like, listen, Karen, I just talked to Bob... I'm sorry... I'm sure you can take your kids to Disney World at another time." It went over about as well as you'd probably expect.
"She got so mad, you guys. Like, the entitlement was unreal," Evie said before describing a diatribe Karen launched about how she needs "to spend time with my children" and how Evie couldn't possibly understand. "'They need to see their mother,'" Karen told her.
Evie tried to reason with her. "I hear you... I haven't seen my family in a year," she told her. "Like, you live with your kids. You see them every day." But instead of understanding, Karen burst into tears. "'You have no idea what it's like to have children,'" she kept saying. But it didn't work. Evie joked, "You know what, Karen? That's probably true. But I am about to experience this vacation. See you in a week."
People on TikTok felt it was yet another example of how people with kids are favored in the workplace.
"Being asked to 'find it in your heart' is so passive-aggressive," one TikTok user wrote. "You had to tell her?!? How is that your job?!," another asked. Others thought if it was so important to Bob to accommodate Karen, he should have stepped up to do it himself. "Why didn’t Bob find it in his heart to let you both go on vacation," one person wrote. "Do your job better Chicken-Bob."
Even people with kids themselves felt like Karen and Bob were wildly out of line. "Yeah - I have kids and I 100% side with you. She should have planned ahead!!!!!," one mom wrote. Another commented, "I’m a mom and this is messed up. Just because someone doesn’t have kids does NOT mean they are not entitled to time off."
One woman perfectly summed up the situation by pointing out that family means different things to different people—and just because someone is child-free, that doesn't negate their family ties. "Family does NOT equal children," she wrote. "It can mean parents, brothers, aunts, uncles, s.o. We want to spend time with OUR families even if we don’t have kids."
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.