[Herald Economy=Reporter Choi Won-hyeok] A workplace drama has gone viral: a new hire at a small company took a Friday off for a mini-vacation and was summoned and scolded by her boss.On April 24, a post on an online forum said that A, a woman in her 20s who started last month in an administrative role at a small company, is happy with the pay, the lack of overtime, and how well her coworkers look out for each other — but she says paid time off is the issue.
She used a Friday PTO to take a 2-night, 3-day trip to Jeju (Friday through Sunday), and her boss called her in.
The boss told her, “It’s fine to take annual leave, but I don’t like it when people use it on Fridays or Mondays. It makes you look like someone who only wants to have fun.”
She went home and told her father, but he agreed with the boss, saying taking days that border the weekend doesn’t look good.
She said she was planning to take Friday and Monday off in June for a 4-day trip to Hong Kong, but feared she’d be harshly criticized. She added she couldn’t tell whether her supervisors were just old-school “kkondae” (a Korean term for condescending, old-fashioned authority figures) or if she was simply too rooted in an MZ (Millennial/Gen Z) mindset.
Online commenters weighed in with mixed reactions: “She probably acted obliviously after only two months on the job,” “If she makes it past year one and keeps good attendance, they’ll likely stop complaining,” “I’m worried about hiring someone like this,” “If there’s no urgent work and she has the days, why not tack them onto the weekend?” “She should be able to use her PTO — criticizing her is absurd,” and “We need a culture where people can take their vacation days freely.”
