American Boss In Europe Reports Employee For Taking Too Much Time Off, Doesn’t Understand Local Leave Rules

One employee (u/FMLItsSML) thought they were just following the usual routine: a few vacation days early in the year, a few later on, and maybe a long break over the holidays.

Pretty standard stuff—especially in Europe, where annual leave isn’t just a perk, it’s part of the work-life balance.

But apparently, their new boss didn’t get the memo.

After flagging what she thought was an alarming amount of PTO days, the boss reported them to HR, certain something shady was going on.

What followed was a reminder that not every country runs on hustle culture.

Scroll on for the full story and the top replies from commenters.

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10. Readers shared their own experiences with submitting time-off requests and discussed the different views toward work-life balance between America and Europe

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Photo by Andrik Langfield on Unsplash

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Alex Buscemi

Alex Buscemi

Writer. Billionaire. Astronaut. Compulsive liar.

@whatsupboosh on socials.