That Time I Was Actually Mad When My Boss Let Me Leave Early

A.K.A. When your boss doesn’t give you the gift you really want.

 I used to have a job where I worked pretty independently. I had a long list of things to do each week/month, and my boss trusted me to get them done.  

On the Friday morning before a holiday weekend, he would come into my office and tell me it would be “fine to start my weekend early and leave shortly after lunch” that day.   

Woo-hoo! Right?  

Except I was never that gracious. For some reason, I saw this “gift” as a personal insult that my boss didn’t know or appreciate how hard I worked. Inside I was saying “Are you kidding? I can’t leave early! I have four days to do five days’ worth of work! Don’t you have any idea how hard I’m working to take even ONE day off?!”  

I never said that to him. At least not out loud. But I have since learned that I have a very poor poker face. So he could probably see on my face that I wasn’t as thrilled by his generosity as I should have been.  

Since then I’ve had a lot of bosses give me “gifts” I didn’t especially appreciate. Time off is generally one of the things that corporate bosses have the most flexibility about. So sometimes they offer extra time because they can’t offer what we both really want—more money, a different title, an office with a door.  

I’ve come to realize that it’s hard for me to be gracious when a boss’s plan (however well-intentioned) doesn’t fit with my plan.  

And sometimes, while being pissy, I miss the real gift. The real intention. Which is often to say, “Thanks for working so hard.” I try to be better about listening for that message these days. And happily skip out of the office early if I’m given that chance.