A woman has earned praise for standing up for herself after she refused to reschedule her planned vacation so that her coworker could take her children to Disney World on a last-minute trip.
Evie, who goes by the username @evmariexo on TikTok, recounted the situation in a video posted in October, in which she recalled how, up until the incident, she’d gotten along well with her colleague, who she referred to as “Karen”.
“So I used to work at this place, and I had moved across the state to work at this place,” Evie began the video. “And I worked with this woman, let’s call her Karen, who had two kids. And I also just want to mention that, until this incident, she and I had gotten along perfectly fine.”
In the video, Evie explained how she’d planned to go home to visit her friends and family that year during Christmas break. She saidshe requested the days off “months in advance”.
“And I had also sent my boss multiple emails throughout the months just to remind him that this was happening,” Evie continued.
However, the TikToker claimed that the week before her scheduled trip home, at which point she’d already packed and made plans with her friends and family, her boss called her into his office to request that she change her plans so that Karen could take the week off to take her children to Disney World.
“So, the week before, my boss calls me into his office and he’s like: ‘Hey Evie, listen, I know you were planning to take off for vacation, but I talked to Karen and she decided that she really wants to take her kids to Disney World over the break,” Evie recalled.
Evie said her boss then asked that she “find it in [her] heart” to let her coworker take the week off instead so that she would be able to “spend some time with her children”.
“And he also has kids, so he was totally on her side about it,” Evie said.
The TikToker, who does not have children of her own, then shared her response to the request and said she informed her boss that she’d “searched [her] heart” but ultimately wasn’t able to agree.
“I was like: ‘You know what, I did what you said, I’ve searched my heart, and it turns out there is nothing in my heart that’s going to make me willing to give her my week,’” she continued, adding that she’d also reminded her boss she’d requested the days off months in advance and that her own family was expecting her.
During the conversation with her boss, Evie said she also learned that her colleague had requested the days off that morning, 48 hours before the TikToker’s planned vacation was set to start.
Evie said her boss then instructed her to break the news to her colleague herself after she refused to agree to swap days.
“I walked right out of his office, I walked right up to her desk, and I was like: ‘Listen Karen, I just talked to Bob and I know he said that you wanted to take your kids and for me to give you my week, but I’m sorry, I’m just not going to do that,” Evie recalled of her response to the situation.
Evie said that her coworker got “so mad,” recalling that Karen’s “entitlement was unreal.” The coworker allegedly accused Evie of not understanding her predicament because she didn’t know what it is like to have children or feel “love like this”.
“She was like: ‘You won’t know until you experience [motherhood].’ And I was like: ‘You know what Karen, that’s probably true, but I am about to experience this vacation. See you in a week,” Evie concluded the video.
In the caption of the video, which has since been viewed more than 10 million times, she included the hashtags #childfree and #childfreebychoice.
In the comments under the video, viewers have sided with Evie, with many applauding her for refusing to change her vacation to accommodate her coworker.
“As a parent I would NEVER expect someone else (parent or not) to give up a day off. Plan ahead people,” one person commented, while another said: “When I get the ‘kid card’ used on me I ALWAYS say GOOD you understand why it’s SO important for me to see MY parents! Because I’m THEIR kid!”
“Did she not understand you are someone’s kid and that your parents want to spend time with their children?” someone else asked.
Another viewer joked about the necessity of visiting Disney World, asking: “Why is Karen acting like she won’t see her kids unless she goes to Disney world. Do they live there?”
Others took issue with Evie’s boss, with many suggesting he was the one that should have handled Karen’s request.
“You had to tell her?!? How is that your job?!” one person asked, while someone else said: “The fact your boss even had the audacity to ask.”
This is not the first time that a TikToker has gone viral for refusing a request to accommodate someone else’s children. Influencer Audrey Peters recently earned praise after revealing she refused to swap seats on a flight so that a family could sit together.
The Independent has contacted Evie for comment.
