The Leave Request That Broke Everything

When Rosemary, who had a live streaming session scheduled, partied until 5 AM and submitted her third no-reason leave request of the week, I pressed the reject button without hesitation.

Soon after, Rosemary dragged me online and incited a wave of cyberbullying. Netizens were attacking me, calling me a wage-slave simp for the capitalist overlords.

Those seemingly kind colleagues also huddled together, whispering behind my back that I was annoying and hatefulthe old witch who wouldn't approve leave requests.

Fine, everyone wants time off, right?

Approved! I'll approve every single leave request!

But when I actually started approving all leave requests unconditionally, the company went bankrupt...

When I saw Rosemary's third no-reason leave request of the week, submitted at 5 AM, I pressed the reject button.

I worked as an HR administrator at an MCN company, managing the streamers' attendance and payroll.

I was usually pretty easygoing.

When colleagues had major or minor issuesheadaches, fever, whateverI basically never nitpicked about attendance.

But this time, seeing Rosemary's leave request, I was genuinely angry.

Just then, Tommy from operations knocked on my office door.

"Hazel, Rosemary has a brand live stream at 10 AM today, but she still hasn't come to the office and I can't reach her. Can you help me find out where she is?"

Hearing Tommy's words made my anger spike even higher.

Without a word, right in front of Tommy, I dialed Rosemary's number.

The phone rang in the quiet office for a full two minutes, but no one answered.

Not wanting to lose my temper in front of a colleague, I suppressed my anger and offered Tommy a solution.

"She submitted a leave request this morning. I can't reach her right now either. Go talk to the brand side and see if Hugo or Daisy are free to fill in as backup."

"Ah, it's already been four days this week, and Rosemary's only done one stream. How are we supposed to work like this..."

Listening to Tommy's complaints, I felt helpless too.

"I'll try contacting her again. The priority right now is implementing the backup planwe absolutely cannot have any more slip-ups with this afternoon's stream."

"Alright, Hazel. I'll go prepare then."

Tommy closed the door and left. I dialed Rosemary's number again.

Once, twice, three times.

By the eighth call, someone finally answered.

"Hello? Who is this? It's so early in the morningcan't a person get some sleep!"

Rosemary's irritated voice came through, laced with the slurred tone of someone who'd been drinking all night and hadn't sobered up yet.

Combined with her 5 AM leave request, anyone could figure out she'd been partying and drinking all night and had probably just gotten home to sleep!

"You have a brand live stream at 10 AM this morning. Get to the office now!"

I suppressed my anger, trying to remind Rosemary of the work schedule arranged well in advance.

But she actually said

"Do I look like I need the money from one stream? Stop looking for trouble!"

Then, right before my widening eyes, she hung up.

When I called back, the phone was offno one answered.

I sat in my chair, staring at the rejected leave request on the work app interface, my head throbbing.

I knew Rosemary came from a wealthy family. Maybe to her, a month's base salary without streaming commissions was just pocket change.

It probably couldn't even cover the price of one of her designer bags.

But still, this was a workplace.

If everyone acted like her, taking three days off without reason during a five-day work week, how could the company possibly function!

After rejecting the leave request, I marked Rosemary as absent without leave.

Then I started dealing with the series of problems caused by her absence.

Who would have thought that very afternoon, Rosemary stormed into the office.

She burst through my office door and slammed her Herms bagthe little house-shaped one I'd seen in magazinesonto my desk.

"What's the meaning of this, Hazel? Not approving my leave again and making things difficult for me? Marking me absent for no reasonwhat the hell are you trying to do!"

I frowned, involuntarily covering my nose from the overwhelming smell of stale alcohol emanating from her.

Then I opened the window for ventilation, turned on the air purifier, and pulled perfume from my drawer, spraying two pumps into the air.

"What are you doing!"

"Nothing much, just that the bad breath is pretty severe and the air smells terrible."

"You said I have bad breath! I..."

Just as Rosemary was about to launch into a tirade, I cut her off.

"This is your third no-reason leave request this week. If there were no issues, I wouldn't say anything, but today there was a brand live stream that specifically requested you. Because you didn't show up, the company had to substitute another streamer and pay hefty penalty fees. Just marking you absent and deducting $50 from your perfect attendance bonusI think that's already quite merciful."

"I just forgot! Why didn't you remind me? If you'd reminded me in time, I wouldn't have missed the stream, so this is all your fault!"

Her self-righteous attitude made me laugh.

"Am I your mother or your secretary? Are you paying my salary to remind you of everything? Those ten phone calls weren't enough to wake you up?"

"If you can do the job, do it. If not, submit your resignation now!"

That evening when I got home, my phone pushed a "People You May Know" video recommendation.

The video title was: "Leave Request Rejected and Marked Absent, Now I'm Stuck with Huge Penalty Fees."

And the person crying on camera was someone I knew all too well.

It was Rosemary, who had just confronted me about being marked absent that afternoon.

"Oh guys, you know I'm usually not in the best health..."

"I really didn't expect that when I'm not feeling well and want to take a day off, it would be rejected..."

"HR marked me absentthat's one thing, but she even made me pay hefty penalty fees and verbally abused me in the office..."

"Luckily you know I have a habit of recording vlogs, so I happened to capture it all. See, guys, this is why work documentation is so important!"

Then she played the "full confrontation" from my office that afternoon.

Rosemary's footage only showed me frowning and covering my nose, with subtitles reading "Workplace Bully Publicly Insults Employee."

She cut out all the dialogue where I reminded her about the live stream, leaving only the line "if you can't do it, resign"on repeat.

The sound of me pressing the perfume spray was amplified and labeled as "Deliberately Spraying Disinfectant to Insult Employee," mixed with her tearful voice-over: "She called me stinking garbage..."

The video quickly shot to the top of the local trending topics.

Countless netizens passionately commented.

A bloodsucking vampire in human form? So jealous seeing a female colleague with a Herms bag that her cells are separating?

Suggest investigating this old witch's employment historydefinitely slept her way to the top

Already filed a real-name report with labor inspection, begging for the company address so I can send funeral wreaths

Feel so bad for Rosemary having to work with such a disgusting colleague!

Watching the video play over and over, I was furious enough to laugh.

First time learning that "work documentation" could be done this way.

The next morning, as soon as I arrived at the office, the boss called me into his office amid my colleagues' strange looks.

"Hazel, I saw the video Rosemary posted last night. The public opinion right now is really bad."

The boss looked troubled.

I was an original employee he'd hired when he started the company, and I'd been with the company as it grew to its current size.

Rosemary was currently the agency's biggest streamer with the most followers and revenue.

"It's okay, Mr. Lee. I'm not..."

I sympathized with the boss's headache over the conflict between a veteran employee and his cash cow. I thought he was concerned about me as his long-time employee being wronged, but he cut me off mid-sentence.

"Go apologize to Rosemary."

The boss stood up and patted my shoulder.

"And don't be so strict about attendance. It's not like our company is about to go under and needs to dock employee wages over attendance. After you go back, adjust the attendance policy. Rememberprioritize employee care!"

Back in my office, I clearly understood I was the only sacrificial pawn in this farce.

After spacing out for a while, I stood up to get coffee from the break room.

At the break room door, I clearly heard a discussion among three people inside.

"Rosemary, you did the right thing! People who block leave requests like that deserve to be publicly criticized! Just because she didn't approve my leave last time, my girlfriend fought with me and broke up!"

That was Jerry from the team streaming group.

But that time, there was an important work assignment and no one could be absent, which is why I didn't approve the leave.

Plus, during that period, Jerry had used up all his monthly time off trying to appease his long-distance girlfriend.

"Right, Rosemary! I support you too! Once I requested sick leave and even brought hospital documents to get the leave verified, but she threw the documents in the trash and marked me absent! I've never seen anyone like that!"

Another voice chimed in.

This time it was Kiera from business development.

But that time, she'd brought a badly Photoshopped fake hospital diagnosis for a perforated gastric ulcer, trying to fool me into approving sick leave.

When she'd actually had surgery and been hospitalized before, not only did I approve her leave, but I also proactively offered to extend it a few days as employee care from the company.

My hand froze mid-air, about to open the door.

I suddenly felt that being conscientious and responsible about my work was such a thankless task.

I opened my phone and sent a message to the headhunter who'd been trying to recruit me to a new startup.

Then I opened my computer and started revising the new attendance policy.

Since everyone wants time off so badlyfine, from now on I'll approve all leave requests unconditionally.

"I'm here today to announce the new attendance policy we'll be implementing starting next week."

At Friday afternoon's summary meeting, I calmly walked up to the conference room podium and opened my prepared PowerPoint.

I saw Rosemary below already had her phone out, either live streaming or recording video aimed at me.

Jerry, Kiera, and other colleagues whose leave requests I'd previously rejected had excited gleams in their eyes.

"In the spirit of humanitarianism and employee care, starting next week, all submitted leave requests will be unconditionally approved."

"Additionally, the monthly leave limit will be adjusted from three times to five times. We're eliminating the monthly perfect attendance system, and all leavewhether personal, sick, or the 30 annual vacation dayswill be treated equally as paid time off."

Thunderous applause erupted below.

If everyone took the full five days of leave each month, combined with weekends, it would essentially give everyone an extra mini-vacation each month.

Not to mention the existing 30 annual vacation days plus various national holidays.

The boss looked at the smiling employees below and applauded approvingly as well.

"Hazel, let's drop the leave request issue, but what about you publicly insulting me last time?"

Rosemary's sarcastic voice cut through the entire office, even prompting some people to start jeering.

"Exactly! Rosemary fought for everyone's legitimate right to request leave. I'm voting for Rosemary!"

"Rosemary only voiced what we working people are thinking. What right do you have to insult her in that video! Apologize to Rosemary!"

Looking at those indignant faces below, I thought of the job-hopping approval I'd just received before the meeting. Under everyone's astonished gazes, not only did I not look upset, but I actually smiled.

"I'm sorry."

Cheers erupted below.

On the phone screen next to my computer, Rosemary's live stream was also flooded with netizens' cheers.

The old witch apologized to our Rosemary!

Congrats to our Rosemary for fighting and winning an apology from the unscrupulous company plus legitimate rights!

Rosemary is the most amazing little lamb!

Within minutes of submitting my resignation, the boss messaged me.

"Hazel, you don't need to do this. It's such a small matteris it really worth resigning over?"

"The company really needs talented people like you! You don't need to resign just because I asked you to change the attendance policy. That would make me seem too unreasonable as a boss."

Reading the boss's message at this moment, I only felt it was hypocritical and pathetic.

As a hands-off manager, he probably couldn't imagine what kind of upheaval the new attendance policy would cause.

"No thanks, Mr. Lee. Thank you for nurturing me all these years. Let's part on good terms!"

The boss didn't say anything more to retain me and directly approved my resignation.

I decided to give myself a proper vacation during my last month before leaving, now that the new attendance policy was in place.

Right then and therethe remaining 30 days of annual leave for the year? Taking them!

The five remaining leave opportunities this month? Using them!

That evening at home, I started packing and booked flights, hotels, and a tour group for a 30-day European trip.

I even turned off my work phone completely.

From today on, whether those colleagues showed up to work or not had nothing to do with me!

After my 30-day European trip ended, I completed the company's exit procedures and seamlessly started at my new company.

On my first day, I was shocked by the new company's atmosphere.

The receptionist at the entrance greeted me with a big smile, handed me a small desk plant, and stuffed some stress-relief squeeze toys into my hands.

"Good morning, Hazel! Your office is all cleaned up. HR also prepared these super stress-relieving toys. Please, please go easy on attendance!"

The office workstations were messy, but from those desks covered in reminder notes and notices, you could tell how detail-oriented the people sitting there were.

Further in, at the content creator streaming rooms, people were already there early setting up and cleaning.

It was completely different from the lifeless atmosphere at my previous company.

Looking closer at the company's existing attendance policyflexible work hours. Though the attendance rules were strict, there were rewards and penalties balanced.

It maximized the idea that employees should work hard during work hours, but after clocking out, they could do whatever they wanted, ideally keeping work and personal life separate!

Thinking back to my last company where streamers and creators always needed to be coaxed and begged to come clock in, and where department employees were constantly trying to take leave and slack offI felt my job-hopping decision was exceptionally correct.

I thought after resigning, I'd have no more connection to my former company.

Until Tommy, Rosemary's operations manager, reached out to me.

"Hazel, I miss you so much! Can you package me up and take me to your new company too?!"

"What happened?"

"Hazel, you don't knowonce that unconditional leave approval attendance policy started, the company turned into total chaos!"

Then Tommy started venting about how Rosemary, who was already reluctant to come to work, became completely unreachable for half a month straight.

Several previously negotiated collaborations fell through because of this, and other streamers started following her example.

When called to ask why they weren't coming in and why they were requesting leave

The answer was always: requesting leave is my inherent right. The attendance policy clearly allows paid time off. Making me come to the office is stripping my benefits and workplace abuse of workers!

I nodded.

These were all consequences I'd anticipated would happen.

Attendance was meant to constrain both parties, but when the balance tipped to either side and equilibrium was broken, there was no point talking about development.

Tommy was very capable personally and always had a serious attitude toward work.

After getting approval from my new boss, I directly rescued her from that placeand brought her to work at the new company together.

But these actions seemed to be the final straw that broke the camel's back.

The second week Tommy started at the new company, I saw another video from Rosemary.

"Workplace Black Widow PUA!"

"Former executive teams up with the 'ungrateful wretch' I raised to precisely target me after resignation!"

"This workplace bullying move is absolutely ruthless!"