Negotiating Days off when short staffed

shoegirl

Hello all, would be interested to hear opinions on this.
We are a small team in a larger operation and due to the serious illness of one of our staff, and the decision by senior management not to fill a vacancy (after 1 year of trying to fill they couldn't find anybody and decided to upgrade one of us instead), we are hard pressed. The main impact of this is that we can only have one person on leave at any one time.

Now my closest friend was asked by two other friends of hers would she and I like to go on holiday with them. We all agreed on September, and for some reason not really explained by anybody the person deciding the date is the only person who isn't actually working (she's on disability). Unfortunately the week she's decided on suits the other 2, but I cannot get that week off work as somebody is already off one day of that week. My boss did check to see if we could second over staff from another office, but nobody is available.

My attitude is to just accept the situation (after all, I did know that dept policy is to only allow one person off at a time on a first-come first-served basis) but my friend has gone into a frenzy and is accusing me of being thick for accepting my bosses position. They keep telling me I should kick up and that I've done enough favours for my boss to do one for me. I have said to this pal that I don't feel that it is in my interest to rock the boat over something like this, as its a clear and simple policy and at the end of the day, if I demanded the day off and left people overloaded, it would then set a precedent that would leave me in a situation of being overloaded when other do the same.

Unfortunately my friend doesn't agree and thinks I should challenge my boss. As it happens I get on better with him than anybody else on the time and aside from feeling its not in my interest to cause trouble over something small like this, I do need his support as some over staff in the office are extremely difficult to work with and his support is critical there. What do you guys think? I understand that as far as the law is concerned the employer has a right to set limitations on WHEN holidays can be taken, obviously as long as you get your holiday time.

What pisses me off here, is that my friend has no problem with the week of the holiday being dictated by the only person who doesn't actually have to ask for time off, but then can target my boss as being unreasonable, which I honestly think is total hypocrisy. In my view, the only people in this whose being unreasonable is the one whose dictating holiday time to other people who don't have a free choice, and my friend who thinks I should be having a go at my boss! I feel I'm torn between everybody in this! Am I being reasonable?

DOLEMAN

Yes you're being reasonable! Your friend is being selfish.

As you rightly say, your employer is in the right.

Don't let a selfish friend mess up your work life...