TL;DR i tried to request a week off before the schedules were made, schedule gave me the week i asked for off without withdrawing from my PTO balance. manager opened ticket and allegedly they told him “i just wasnt added to the schedule yet but thats subject to change” but ive never heard of that before.
a few months ago i was invited to go on vacation with my boyfriend and his family, and when i went to request the days off, there was no schedule even available for august yet. if i recall correctly i was clicking on the days and still trying to put in a PTO request but since there was no schedule put out yet i couldnt complete the request (for context i am full time blue badge and on a consistent schedule). i figured i would just wait a month or so for them to update the schedule so i could request the days. anyway, last week i decided to try and put the PTO request in but when i looked at the schedule i just so happened to not be scheduled for the days i tried to request off. which then made me run into the same issue i had before of not being able to make a request on a day that im not scheduled. i checked my vacation time balance and they didnt take any time away either. i was afraid of this being a glitch because last year my scheduled glitched during prime and removed all my MET, and when i checked with HR they said i was in fact scheduled and if i didnt show up i wouldve lost UPT even though it was a system glitch. unfortunately we no longer have onsite HR for me to ask about this, so i asked my manager to open a ticket for me to look into the issue to see if im actually scheduled or not. i let him know that i did try to request these days off but it wouldnt let me actually submit a request, if that would have affected anything. i told him that if possible i would LOVE to not be added back onto the schedule if possible but i know thats a stretch, because that would just mean i can go on the vacation without losing any of my PTO. so allegedly, my manager went through with the ticket and they said that i “am just not scheduled for that week, but there is a chance they will add me back onto the schedule as the week gets closer”. to me that makes no sense, i have never heard of them just not scheduling people, but then again why would my manager lie to me? i asked him in like 5 different ways to confirm that if its still saying im not scheduled to work when those days come that if i dont come in i wont be penalized and he was basically just confirming it and he told me to screenshot and document everything now so that if the time comes and they do take my time ill have proof. this whole situation just doesnt seem right to me, but if i reach out to online HR chances are they will just add me back to the schedule and ill have to use my vacation time. so im just kinda stuck between hoping my manager isnt lying to me and potentially getting out of using 40 standard PTO hours, or going through online HR and having them most likely add me back to the schedule and then id have to use my vacation time. I KNOW IM BEING GREEDY ABOUT THE VACATION TIME TRUST I AM AWARE. but seriously if this could work out in my favor itd be a blessing LOL. anyway does this seem normal to any of you? is it normal for them to just not schedule all of their employees? is this most likely a glitch and my manager is lying to me? thank you for reading if you made it this far and please let me know your thoughts on if i should trust my manager or bite the bullet and open an online HR case about it.