A TikTok video is going viral after one woman, with the username Callie, argued that parents shouldn’t get priority when booking time off work over the festive period.
Clearly impassioned, she explained that a colleague of hers had asked for the same days off as her over Thanksgiving, after Callie had booked them weeks in advanced.
‘She was told no because it was so last minute,’ she explained. ‘My manager then approaches me and asks if I would be willing to give my days off for her and I say no.
‘He gets livid, telling me that she's a parent and she deserves that time with her kids. I tell him no again. So now he's mad and then she approaches me the next day and then tells me that I need to give my time off for her because she wants to spend the holiday with her kids.
‘[She says]"You have no idea how hard it is. You don't have kids so Thanksgiving is just another day for you. Why can't you just let me have it? Why do you want to take memories away from my kids?"’
When some argued in the comments that, really, parents should be given first choice on which days to take off work, she posted another video, where she insisted, ‘No. You do not get priority because you chose to have kids. If the week of spring break for your kids' school is so important to you, because you're planning a family trip, you need to show initiative and take that time off.’
TikTok-ers were divided in the comments: in agreement with Callie, one wrote, ‘Adults without kids have families too! We have just as much right to 'holiday time' as people with kids!’
Another said, ‘As a child-free adult, I’m sick of being treated like a second-class citizen when it comes to any paid time off. Absolutely not. I’m taking my time off. See ya!’
But there were plenty of others of the view that parents should be entitled to time off priority, with one arguing, ‘I’m a mom now. However, when I was younger without a child, I’d work for holidays If it meant someone could create memories.’