Quite Possibly the Best Vacation Request Ever Sent
Have you ever accidentally sent someone a text that wasn’t meant for that person? Or have you ever replied with something personal and somewhat embarrassing to a group text, not realizing it was a group text and not just your friend texting you privately? Or maybe you’ve written a really mean, yet hilarious email to your co-worker about your horrible boss, only to realize you’ve actually sent the email to your boss instead? These aren’t life or death situations, but they’re certainly embarrassing at the time (and could possibly cost you your job). If you’ve been in a similar situation, don’t feel bad. Technology can be hard. And you’re definitely not the only person who has made such an irreversible, yet common mistake.
BuzzFeed reported on a brilliant Internet happening that all began with a vacation request and a guy named Greg.
Greg Heaslip, a security guard at Arcadia Group (they own popular UK fashion chains like Topshop, BHS and Dorothy Perkins) sent his boss an email requesting time off to take a vacation.. His boss then accidentally forwarded his email to all 3,500 employees at Arcadia. Whoopsie.
And instead of just deleting the email and moving on with their day, the staff members collectively decided that this email blunder was too good to let slide (and way more exciting than doing actual work). So, they took to Twitter and created the supportive hashtag #GiveGregTheHoliday.
It started out as people showing their genuine support, and then turned into requests to join Greg on his vacation. Then someone took it to a whole other level by creating a ballot to vote for Greg to have his holiday (he was running against himself).
Since the internet isn’t just office-wide, a good portion of the rest of the world chimed in. Neighboring offices showed their support, different resorts started requesting Greg choose them for his vacation spot and Trek America offered to give him a free trip to Vegas! And then things really got wild when brands started giving him free products for his trip.
Trek America got even more excited and made a t-shirt for Greg to wear on his trip, but didn’t know his size, so BHS announced they were sending him free polos and shorts to wear on his free Vegas trip.
This is a beautiful story of compassion between strangers and co-workers, rallying together for a good cause: Greg’s vacation. The best part of this whole ordeal is that Greg’s request for time off was approved before any of these Tweets happened.
Featured images via BuzzFeed and Shutterstock