You sound like a sadly stereotypical manager who cares more about making everything look peachy to his superior than about making the workplace tolerable for hi

You sound like a sadly stereotypical manager who cares more about making everything look peachy to his superior than about making the workplace tolerable for his subordinates. Your job is to get the best performance from your reports, and to shelter them from the often unrealistic demands of upper management while they get on with their work unhindered. One such unrealistic demand is that people only take vacations when it's convenient.