Is it acceptable for my office manager & director to expect me to respond to work inquiries on unpaid Federal Holidays when our clinic is closed and I'm also forced to use PTO to cover those holidays?
I work for an outpatient clinic. The hospital is obviously open 365 days a year but our clinic is 7am to 5pm, Monday through Friday. When a federal holiday falls on a weekday, the clinic is closed. Those days are unpaid and we're automatically docked 8 hours of PTO to cover the holiday. I understand that and am good with that policy.
However, recently, my office manager and director have asked me to manage patient needs on days when I have to take PTO. They say because I'm salaried, that my job isn't just the 7am to 5pm hours. This is true because I help with weekend outreach events and facilitate support groups after hours, too. But the days I have to take PTO feel like I should be OFF, as the acronym implies.
On one hand, it feels petty to refuse to work an hour, sometimes less, on these days. On the other hand, 8 hours of PTO are being taken from me and I work hard for the benefit of being off even if the deduction in this case is HR policy, not my choice.
From an HR perspective, is there any issue with this ask from my managers?
Jobadvisor
This is a classic "have your cake and eat it too" management move that would make any HR professional's eye twitch. You aren't being petty; you’re identifying a logical and potentially legal inconsistency in how your time is being classified.
Here is the breakdown of the situation from an HR and operational perspective:
The PTO Paradox
The core issue here is the definition of Paid Time Off. By its very nature, PTO is a benefit used to compensate an employee for time they are not working.
The Conflict: If you are "forced" to use 8 hours of PTO, the company is legally and internally documenting that you are away from work.
The Implication: If you then perform work during those 8 hours, the company is essentially "double-dipping." They are using your accrued benefit (which has a cash value) to pay for labor that you are actively providing.
The "Salaried" Defense
Your managers are leaning on the "exempt" status of salaried employees, which generally means you are paid for the completion of a job, not the hours worked. However, this has limits:
FLSA Standards: While exempt employees don't get overtime, the Department of Labor still distinguishes between working days and non-working days.
Record Integrity: If HR records show you were on PTO, but your email/Slack logs show you were managing patient needs, there is a discrepancy in company records. In many jurisdictions, if you perform work on a day you've taken leave, you should be able to "void" that leave or credit it back.
The "Suffer or Permit" Rule: If your employer knows you are working and allows it (or expects it), that time is generally considered compensable work time, not "off" time.
Operational Red Flags
Asking a clinical staff member to manage "patient needs" while they are officially on PTO creates a few risks for the clinic:
Liability: If an incident occurs while you are working on a day you are officially "off the clock" (per HR records), it can create murky legal waters regarding malpractice or workers' compensation.
Burnout: Forcing the use of PTO already reduces your flexibility to take actual vacations. Requiring work during that "forced" rest period negates the health benefits of having a holiday at all.
Suggested Approach
You can address this without sounding confrontational by framing it as a request for clarification on time-tracking integrity.
"I want to ensure we are following HR policy correctly. Since the clinic requires me to use 8 hours of my accrued PTO for federal holidays, I am officially recorded as 'Off.' If I am expected to manage patient needs and work during those hours, should I still be deducting those 8 hours from my PTO bank, or should that day be coded as regular work time?"
Payroll email from a long previous employer
Just received an email from the payroll company used by a McDonald’s I worked at almost 6 years ago (Paymasters inc). The email stated that my email address had been recently updated and to contact HR/ Payroll administration if I was not aware of this change. I worked there for about a month after my freshman year of college, got maybe 2-3 paychecks and had no issues when I quit.
I have no idea why my email address would be being updated, nor do I know what it would be being updated to. As far as I knew I wouldn’t have had any access to my payroll account with them for all this time. Do I need to do anything about this? I don’t even live in MI anymore, but I used that in the title as that is where I was living and working at the time I was working there.
Jobadvisor
This sounds like a classic "Ghost in the Machine" situation, but because it involves your Social Security Number and banking history (even if it's 6 years old), it’s worth a 10-minute investigation to sleep better at night.
Here are the three most likely scenarios, ranked from "clumsy" to "concerning":
1. The "Fat Finger" Typo (Most Likely)
A current employee at that McDonald’s (or another franchise using Paymasters Inc.) likely has a name or email address very similar to yours. A payroll admin likely pulled up the wrong profile—yours—and updated the email address before realizing their mistake.
2. System Migration or Audit
Payroll companies often merge or update their software. During a migration, "dead" accounts can sometimes be triggered by automated scripts that "touch" every file in the database, causing the system to send out automated "Change Confirmed" alerts for no reason.
3. Potential Identity Fraud (Least Likely, but Most Serious)
If someone is trying to use your identity to gain employment or redirect an old tax document (like a 1099 or W-2), they might try to change the contact info on file first.
What You Should Do
Do NOT click any links in that email. If it’s a sophisticated phishing attempt, those links are the trap.
Verify the Sender: Check the actual email address of the sender. Is it truly from
paymastersinc.comor something slightly "off" likepay-masters-service.net?Contact the Source Directly: Look up the official phone number for Paymasters Inc. (do not use any number provided in the email). Call their support line and tell them:
"I'm a former employee from 2020. I received an automated alert that my email was updated, but I haven't worked there in years. Can you verify if my account was accessed or if this was a system error?"
Check Your Credit: Just to be safe, log into a free service like Credit Karma or your banking app to ensure no new "Hard Inquiries" have appeared on your credit report recently. This would signal if someone is actually using your SSN.
The Bottom Line
Since you only worked there for a month six years ago, there isn't much "meat on the bone" for a hacker to steal. However, your SSN is still in that database. Calling Paymasters Inc. to have them "Inactivate" or "Purge" your old portal access is a smart move to prevent future headaches.
Wasted precious years of my life
I am 26 and currently working a warehouse job. I completed my degree in Computer Science in 2023 but wasn’t able to find a job back then.
Just to survive, I started working warehouse and retail jobs. Now time has flown by and I hate my life.
I now have a huge gap in my resume with no experience in any IT domain. On top of that, AI seems to be replacing many IT jobs.
I feel like I wasted the time I spent on my education, and now I feel like a sore loser surviving paycheck to paycheck.
Sometimes my thoughts go to really dark places because of all this.
I don’t know what I want to do in my life, but I certainly don’t want to work in a warehouse forever.
I feel like I’m stuck in this trap and there’s no way out of it.
Jobadvisor
First, I want to say that I hear you, and it’s completely understandable why you feel this way. The "post-grad trap" is incredibly real, and working a physically demanding job while watching the clock tick on your degree is soul-crushing.
But I need to offer a little bit of a reality check—the kind a friend gives you when you're spiraling: You are 26. You haven't "wasted" your life. You’ve been surviving. There is a massive difference between being a "loser" and being someone who did what they had to do to keep the lights on during a volatile economy.
Your degree didn't expire. It’s a foundation, and we can rebuild on it. Here is how we start digging out of the "trap."
1. Reframe the "Gap"
A gap is only a void if you don't fill it with a narrative. Employers in 2026 understand that the job market has been chaotic.
The Narrative: "After graduating, I took immediate employment in logistics to remain financially self-sufficient while continuing to monitor industry trends."
The Strategy: You don't need to lead with the warehouse job. You lead with your projects. If you don't have recent ones, we start small ones today.
2. The "AI is Taking Jobs" Myth
While it’s true that AI is changing the landscape, it isn't "replacing" Computer Science; it’s changing the tools.
Companies aren't looking for "coders" who just churn out syntax anymore; they want problem solvers who can use AI to build things faster.
Your CS degree taught you how systems work, which is something a prompt-engineer without a degree doesn't truly grasp. That logic is your edge.
3. Practical Pivot Points
Since you're exhausted from the warehouse, you need a bridge. You don't have to jump straight into a $100k Senior Dev role. Look at these "middle-ground" roles to get you out of the warehouse and into an office/remote environment:
| Role | Why it works for you | Skill to brush up on |
| IT Support / Help Desk | Fast hiring, gets you "IT experience" on paper. | CompTIA A+ or Network+ basics. |
| QA Automation | Easier entry than full-stack dev; uses your CS logic. | Selenium, Cypress, or Python. |
| Data Analyst | Huge demand in logistics (your warehouse knowledge helps!). | SQL and Tableau/PowerBI. |
| Implementation Specialist | Technical but client-facing; highly stable. | API basics and communication. |
4. Addressing the "Dark Places"
When you’re stuck in a cycle of physical exhaustion and mental "what-ifs," your brain starts lying to you. It tells you that this is permanent. It is not. If you are feeling like you're in a crisis, please reach out to a professional or a support line. Small wins are the antidote to despair. Finishing one coding tutorial or fixing one resume bullet point can provide the hit of dopamine you need to remember that you still have agency.
How we move forward
You aren't a loser; you're just out of practice and tired. We need to turn your "survival mode" back into "growth mode" in small, manageable bites.