come on vacation, leave on probation
- idiom
- Informal
:
vacaciones con advertencia
- At the orientation, HR reminded new hires, "Remember: come on vacation, leave on probation if you party too hard and break the rules."
Examples
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When photos of the trip surfaced online, he joked, "Looks like it's come on vacation, leave on probation for me!"
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The company has strict policies because they've dealt with come on vacation, leave on probation situations in the past.
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During the team meeting, the manager said, "If you do not follow the rules while traveling, remember: come on vacation, leave on probation."
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She was warned by her supervisor that if she misbehaved during the retreat, she would come on vacation, leave on probation.
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Before the company outing, HR emphasized, "Your behavior is important; come on vacation, leave on probation is our motto to ensure everyone stays in line."
Synonyms
5
3.4
A firm, serious statement that tells someone to stop wrong or dangerous behavior
2
8.2
Warn that people will be punished or lose their jobs
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
come + on + vacation, + leave + on + probation
The two halves use transparent lexical items so a learner who knows 'come', 'on', 'vacation', 'leave', and 'probation' can infer a contrast — arriving for holiday vs departing under probation — and therefore the general warning about consequences. However the exact institutional/discplinary sense of 'leave on probation' and the causal implication (misbehavior on vacation leads to probation at work) require pragmatic inference and idiomatic workplace knowledge, so the meaning is not fully predictable.
Etymology
The saying come on vacation, leave on probation gives a simple image: you come with a suitcase to relax, but if you party or break company rules you may leave on 'probation'. So, it warns that bad or risky behavior on a work trip can lead to punishment when you return.