Request Denied

This week has been very slow at work. We have half of the inventory we would have normally since the sales team has been using up all of their vacation time so as not to lose it at year's end. (I really dislike that policy. Particularly since our company has worked half-staff all year long so no one has had any opportunity to use their time off benefits. Most of these die-hard, live-to-work employees would rather be paid the unused portion.) So, all week long, I have driven 35 miles only to be sent home after 2 hours of work. On Monday I requested Friday off. I checked with the department manager who simply joked, "I don't know what we'd do without you. . . what do you do here anyway?" I promised to run it by the gal who shares the workload with me. She got such a big head when I asked her for the time off that she delighted to tell me, "No, I'm going to need you for at least 2 hours." When she realized that I actually had a fairly good reason to be absent, she decided to put off the final decision until Thursday evening.

I will be out of town on Friday and therefore I will be absent at work. They don't have to give me any notice, so it is only out of courtesy that I am letting them know my plans. And the decision to authorize the day off is not hers to make. She forgets that she is not my boss. While having superior experience and seniority, she is my coworker. We are equal.

I decided not to make an issue of it now because there is no way to win. Everyone would rally behind her, and she would dig her heels in. I am hoping that, while exercising her imagined authority, she will--pridefully, magnanimously, eventually--grant my request for the day off. And if not, they will find a way to manage without me, and I will take the heat upon returning to work on Monday. I could lose my job if I am a "no call, no show," but I plan to argue that my manager had no objection to it and while my coworker did not approve, she had no authority to grant or deny my request. At this point, I am more invested in my plans for the weekend than I am in keeping my 2 hour per day secular job for which I have to travel a great distance only to be mistreated.