His Girlfriend Called Him Out For “Exploiting A Family Tragedy” After He Took A Week Off From Work To Grieve The Death Of An Uncle He Wasn’t Close With
Over the weekend, this man’s uncle sadly died. He hadn’t seen his uncle in several years, but as a child, they had a close relationship.
He also bonded really well with his uncle’s children when they were younger. Understandably, learning this news was painful.
After finding out about his uncle’s passing, he met with his manager to let her know what was going on so that he could ask for time off work to attend the funeral.
During the meeting, his manager reminded him that the company gave employees three days of bereavement time, and she asked if he would want more time off than that.
At first, he told her he didn’t know, and his manager asked him if he would rather take a full week off.
He told his manager that if it were fine with her, he would like a whole week off because this would give him enough time to be with his family before the funeral service so that he could provide them with as much support as they needed.
“I mentioned this to my girlfriend, and she mentioned that she didn’t think I was that upset to need a week off and asked if I was holding up okay,” he said.
In response, he said that he was incredibly sad by this loss, but he wasn’t unbearably devastated because he and his uncle hadn’t been as close in the last few years as they’d been when he was a child.
Then, his girlfriend asked him if he would be with his family for the entire week that he would be off work.
Julia Jones – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
His plan was to visit with his family for part of the time, but he would spend a couple of days at home by himself so that he could process the loss on his own.
“She accused me of misleading my work to get more time off, but I pointed out that it was my manager who suggested a week, not me,” he explained.
He clarified that he would have been fine with having only three days off, but since his manager brought up the idea of having the entire week off, he thought this would be the better way to go so that he had more time to support his family while also being able to have space and time for himself to grieve properly.
“She said I was exploiting a family tragedy to get extra annual leave,” he shared.
He didn’t think this was accurate, and he told his girlfriend that it wasn’t as if he was using his days off for a vacation.
Plus, he pointed out that he didn’t need to spend the entire week he had off work with his family and that being by himself to grieve was just as valid and an understandable way for him to utilize the time off. His girlfriend didn’t see his side and told him he was awful for taking that much time off.
What advice would you give him?
You can read the original post on Reddit here.
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