In September my family is going on a weekend trip. They will be leaving on Thursday but I am not able to leave with them then because I started a new job at the end of April.
There is one flight to the location that my family is traveling to on that Friday. The only problem is that I would have to leave work at 2 in order to catch the flight. If I didn’t take a lunch that day I would only be missing out on 3 working hours. I would be back on Sunday and be at work Monday morning.
Before I got this job I had already booked a week long vacation in November (I didn’t have plans to get a new job, this new one just sorta fell into place). I told my boss this in the final stages of the interview in April. She didn’t say no and that’s about that.
The thing is, I have severe anxiety. To the point I’m more scared to ask than to get a no. I come into work daily and don’t have attendance or tardy issues. With my company we don’t receive any vacation or sick time until our 1 year mark. We get one personal day per quarter that we have perfect attendance. And with the way/dates I was hired I will not receive my first personal day until the beginning of October. I don’t want my boss to think I’m a slacker and ask off time a lot.
The one thing that gives me hope is that when I was freshly hired, like 2 weeks in, I mentioned to my boss that during a certain time frame I was going to be watching my sister walk at her graduation from law school on my computer. We share an office and sit right next to each other, that’s why I was giving her a heads up. She straight up asked why I wasn’t going and I explained to her that I had a new job and wasn’t going to ask to take the day off. She basically told me to go to the graduation, it was a special event that I couldn’t get back. So I know she has a soft spot somewhere in there.
I am fully aware that I would have to take those 3 hours unpaid if I left early that Friday. I’m perfectly okay with that. I just want opinions/advice on if I should ask if I can go. I have 6 other siblings and it is very rare to get all of us, our families and our parents together at one time. So this trip means a lot to me.
As an employer, how would you feel if your new employee asked for a time off unpaid?