Year-end change freezes are common in anything oriented at businesses. In general, busy vacation times are claimed as first-come / first-served. It seems like

Year-end change freezes are common in anything oriented at businesses. In general, busy vacation times are claimed as first-come / first-served. It seems like that would screw some people, but in practice, it usually works out, since the only people who want to take the whole holidays off are people who are travelling, and that is generally 50% or so.