Australian man quits job after boss cancels his leave via text; netizens react
Text messages in the clip show a boss named Nick informing a team member, Noel, his annual leave – scheduled for just a week away – was cancelled due to another employee’s resignation.
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FollowA man in Australia made headlines when he decided to resign from his job after receiving a text message from his boss attempting to cancel his upcoming family vacation. The conversation, which went viral online, has spurred conversations on the value of respecting workers' vacation time and work-life balance. The discussion started when Noel's supervisor, Nick, told him that another staff member's resignation had forced him to miss his planned vacation time.
Nick claimed that they needed “all hands on deck” to find a replacement. In a video shared on TikTok, it was reportedly mentioned that Nick cancelled Noel’s leave without discussing it with him first, which made him frustrated.
Remaining firm, Noel said that he had flights and family obligations due to his brother's wedding in Bali, hence he was unable to cancel his leave. In spite of this, Nick boldly requested that Noel shorten his break from three weeks to three days, all the while making a disparaging remark about Bali.
The situation escalated when Nick firmly stated, “Mate, can’t stress enough, your leave is cancelled, we just can’t do it. I’m sorry.” This left Noel feeling shocked and unappreciated, prompting him to decide to start his leave “from today” and question whether he wanted to continue working for a company that disregarded boundaries, reports the New York Post.
Noel stood up for himself, and Michael Sanz, who posted the exchange online, praised him for it, saying that no employee should have to defend taking an annual leave of absence. With over 667,000 views and hundreds of encouraging comments from others who could relate to Noel's position, the TikTok video soon gained popularity.
Noel apparently took his scheduled vacation following the event, cutting off his phone for three weeks to celebrate his brother's wedding and get some much-needed rest. But when he returned, he saw that the management was cold, and he made the choice to look for a new position that paid more, citing the encounter as a major influence.
Many people ended up taking to the comments to talk about what they would’ve done if they were in the situation themselves.
“Response should have been. ‘You’ll need to find 2 new hires. Regards from Bali’,” one comment read. Another commenter agreed, writing, “I would have replied, Hi Nick, take this as my resignation. Would not have even entered into a conversation with the boss.”
Other commenters ended up talking about their own experiences with leaving their own jobs.
