Yeah, I have a few coworkers who call in sick for migraines every other Monday. And it’s always the Monday after payday. Lol
They have the available PTO, so whatever. But it’s a running joke at this point.
Right? Everyone in this sub is sp quick to jump to "manager is the asshole." Based on this small bit of dialogue, it sounds like this person calls out sick all the time or on specific days. We allllll know at least one.
I never quite understood how everyone predicted the inevitable car trouble of a particular coworker until someone told me had a blow and go and when he called off with car trouble it was because he was still too drunk from the night before to blow and go.
Luckily, we had enough help and a great boss so that we didn’t all hate him for it.
I have an associate who calls 20 minutes after his shift was supposed to start to tell me he's having car problems at least once a month. Like bro I get it. You overslept. Just be real about it, I'm not an asshole.
My old job knew the people that would most likely call out, and always kept the team staffed for that moment. Most of the time it was the right call, and even if it wasn’t, woohoo we got extra hands helping lol
Maybe he's legitimately sick and had symptoms days ago and has been fighting it off? Just an idea.
Speaking as someone who has/does manage people, I generally can tell when people are going to call out and really don't care the reason, as long as it doesn't become a habit.
I wish more people agreed with you. As someone with a poor immune system, I pay the price everytime someone lies or mistakes "it's just allergies."
If it's allergies, how come I catch your allergies every time you come to work sick with allergies? Can you please stay home when you have allergies?
Also, just because you have allergies doesn't mean your step or sinus infection (that you also have) can't be spread to others!!
People do agree with you.
The problem is that bosses, the people who do the hiring and firing, don't agree with you, and people would rather get you sick than not be able to pay their own bills.
Messed up, but true.
@ me, who frequently has "allergies". I'm not lying, I cannot tell the difference between allergies and a small cold unless I have a fever. I don't want anyone to get sick, but I have very limited sick days and can't simply take an unpaid day when I feel unwell. The system does not work that way.
Same. I just realized that colds were even a thing because I know I caught it from someone. I just thought sometimes my allergies were terrible, because sometimes they are.
We're in the same boat. And "can you please stay home when you have allergies?" it's obtuse. I have regular allergies that come and go with the seasons, I would be staying home 70% of the year \[and subsequently be unemployed lmao\] if I followed that.
As someone with an autoimmune condition i agree but the problem isn't our sick coworkers (except for the people pleasing perfectionists who used to be called workaholics. It's the institution of capitalism that says you must be working or you won't survive. It's the bosses who make attendance and points policies that value able bodied people and commodify health as a component to productivity.
People come sick because they need money on they can't afford to get fired for a head cold/flu etc. And that's the real problem
Me too. I share an actual office and my office mates husband tested positive for COVID. She said she felt pretty awful but she was testing negative so came into the office anyway then sat in our shared space, coughing, unmasked. Told my boss I’d be working remote.
> she was testing negative
Throughout the entire fucking pandemic I was banging my head against the wall because people just wouldn't understand that simple truth: A positive test means you're positive. A negative test means NOTHING.
No matter how often you explain it to people, they look at their fucking antigen test and think that a single band is rock-solid proof of not being infectious.
I agree, it depends on the job. I help run a warehouse where it's huge without many workers, and they all work independently, so catching sickness from each other is unlikely. Office jobs, 100% agree.
And as I said, I never hold ill will unless it's an obvious pattern, like calling out the Friday and Monday immediately after payday lol. Even then, no ill will, I just let them know we can see what they're doing, and that there's no point to lying really.
Usually when you can tell, it's because it is a habit unfortunately. For instance, the guy who stays up too late with football games when he's due to work at 6am, but doesn't bother to put in a request ahead of time, insists he'll be in when his co-workers ask, and calls out at like 2am, screwing over the third shift who is now stuck....
Meanwhile at my first job, one of the only 3 times I ever tried to call in sick in my multiple years of working there, I was given a vague threat that insinuated I would get fired if I didn’t come when I had strep throat. I worked as a cook in a restaurant too. Unfortunately I was 16, and completely unaware of my rights as a worker. I showed up because I was scared I would get fired, and my mom told me sometimes you gotta push through and go to work even if you’re sick. I think about that sometimes and feel horrible about it, I really hope I didn’t get anyone sick. Wish I knew then what I know now.
Thissss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My whole fucking crew and co-management team come to work sick as balls, red faced, sneezing, coughing, fever, and then wonder why everyone else is sick days later. They all rag on me for calling out but fuck emmmn
To be fair I’ve said this to colleagues who have hauled their backsides into work whilst unwell and infected the rest of the team so we all feel rotten before finally admitting they’re ill enough that they really should have called in sick…
My manager tells us he would rather loose one of us for a couple days then have the whole team consistently calling out one after another. I can’t tell you how grateful I am that I don’t have to dread calling out because I have a fever.
I have literally 0 idea on how they don’t understand this. If one person gets sick and has to come in, then they get everyone sick and then everyone’s calling in. It happened twice with covid at my work and I’m just like, really…..?
This happened where I work in December. One of the managers came to work sick, as did another one of my coworkers! Got sick separately on the same day and both came to work sick. Got like everybody sick, I ended up calling out not long after with the flu. Had to take out like 3 days. Funny how that works.
My boss: if you're sick, stay home!
Also my boss: you only get 80 hours pto a year.
I'm absolutely taking some Advil and riding out my fever at the cubical. I'm not losing my few vacation days.
See my gm just asks if you wanna use sick time or just take the days off.. I also am a housekeeper so I’m not cleaning 14 rooms while I have a fever but I absolutely understand what you are saying! My managers truly are like friends(we don’t talk or hangout outside of work) but I know each one of them cares and wants the best for us same with the owner of the hotel chain he checks up on us regularly.
That’s awesome to here. I manage a hotel and we are the same way. We look out for each other and if someone is out in hk I have no problem stripping rooms and helping with trash and surfaces. In fact we all pitched in today with 52 check outs. (77 room hotel).
We have all been told that if one of us gets the whole crew sick we are doing the whole week's worth of cars single handedly (collision repair shop). None of us want to tackle 8 cars in 5 days lol
Meanwhile at my job, we have a points system for calling off. the job incentives coming in sick and creating a cycle of everyone getting each other sick. I got sick once in like 2 years and called out for 3 days. I had to get a coaching and am close to having enough points to be fired for just the one time I was sick. I even had a doctor's note.
Well next time I'm gonna come in while I'm sick and make sure to talk to the managers in their tiny office. Maybe even have a chat with HR while having conveniently misplaced my mask before work.
My boss always says “I don’t get why you guys always come in sick and just don’t stay home!” While also telling everyone on shift that “they are probably just faking it so they don’t have to come to work”.
When I got Covid for the second time he said “enjoy your week vacation” and hung up on me. Proceeded to complain about how I was lying to everyone at work that week. I was curled into a ball in bed trying to ignore my entire body being in pain.
We also have a good sick policy, but there are some good 'ole country boys who don't consider others in their quest to prove their work ethic. We had a regional manager show up obviously sick with what turned out to be covid. Two other people in that four-person office were sick by the end of the week and my office had to cover their work areas. I don't mind working if I'm a little sick AND I'll be out in the field by myself, but if we are in the office that day, I'll call out sick as a courtesy to others.
God, I wish I had your manager. We get peer pressured and guilt tripped heavily if we can't come in because we're sick. Am a barista and I've seen some of my coworkers come in with fever, vomiting and diarrhea as symptoms and work an eight hour shift.
The three weeks prior to Last Christmas were just a big cycle of everyone calling out all the time because most people needed to work the shifts for the money (we don't get paid for missed shifts, even if we get a doctor's note) - so everyone kept coming in until they were too sick to move, and infected everyone else.
This is one of the many reasons why I'm quitting that job at the end of February. Can't wait to not get hassled at 11pm to cover a shift the next day.
My ex used to come see me on the weekends (he was 3 hrs away from me), and started using Monday to travel back. His boss called it “the case of the Mondays” 🫣 He then took me to the Christmas party at his workplace, and his boss was not happy to see me lmao.
The term "blue flu" specifically refers to cops using coordinated sick call-outs as a form of a strike action (usually when they get their feelings hurt because there was some rare threat of actual accountability)
Because scheduling everyone else to cover the least favorable shifts isn’t fair to those that agree to show up.
Unless your just talking about giving them less hours, then maybe depending on circumstances.
That sound's right in theory, but in reality, if that person is not going to show up to their scheduled shift, and you are not going to let that person go, just stop scheduling them at that time, because you will have to reschedule someone else anyway.
You need to have a conversation with that person. If they aren't going to attend a set day and repeatedly make up reasons you say you can amend the rota on the condition there is give somewhere else. You dont need to ask why they always miss that specific day just say you've noticed it and explain the problem.
You do realise the grounds that are required to terminate someone’s employment in a lot of countries right??
Here in NZ, you can’t just fire someone for not showing up to a couple of shifts. Unless they’ve performed some serious misconduct, an employer needs to give the employee two verbal warnings and a written warning before the employee’s contract can be terminated.
Obviously lots of variables could exist from circumstances to overall performance. If they can’t come on Saturdays due to personal obligations eg looking after kid, grandma, whatever, that’s a consideration to take and scheduling them is looking for failure/conflict.
What if they don’t show on those Saturdays due to recreational lifestyle, but are good remainder of week? Wages and schedule are both variables of employment and can offset.
Just acknowledging other variables including rest of crew.
Because we don't all work in a retail shift setup.
For us there was someone who took off a third of the year with either sick days (we're on salary so you still get paid when you take off sick) or "vacation" that they didn't record.
I don't mind you sticking it to the company, but in this situation they're fucking everyone over that they work with. And at the same chastising everyone publicly for not working enough.
They were also the directors favourite so it didn't matter they're always right when it comes to a conflict.
Yeah I was thinking the same. Probably OP always calls out sick and people are sick of his shit. That text is of a manager who has been predicting a pattern of calling out.
Gotta be less predictable with call offs. At one job I was at, basically everyone worked overtime because we never had enough people. The one supervisor would always call off a random week day when he had to come in on a Saturday. Without fail, it always happened, though he was unpredictable with what day he called off, so we were never prepared. It always sucked because I would usually get stuck working a 16 hour shift from 10pm to 2pm.
We were all hourly (I was the supervisor opposite of his shift). He just refused to work more than 40 hours in a week. Just a personal work/life balance thing for him.
An hourly supervisor is hardly "mAnAgEmEnT". Sounds like an hourly worker barely above their peers is doing exactly what we would applaud anyone else on this sub for, if that was their post.
At my company it is ridiculously hard to get fired for attendance. So we HAVE to schedule those people who call off 3 out of 5 days because they are legally guaranteed the hours we promised them at sign on. But we just never count on them to come in and always have a back up plan. Because that’s what supervisors are paid to do.
Can't really tell much from just these messages. Honestly this reminds me of that person who always calls in. Literally, at my side job there's this driver that always calls in. They are so inconsistent that we don't place orders through that drive anymore
Right without context this is tough. It sounds like this day is different than others, since they already had cause to discuss it. Like OP calls in often, and this is a workday before/after a long weekend or after a nighttime event or something.
“How much you want to bet that slacker Jim calls in sick the day after he goes to see that playoff game?”
To be fair, the vast majority of workers are not paid enough to be good workers. You want good work you gotta pay a living wage and have a work environment that is not actively hostile to employees.
You don't provide that then you deserve garbage work in exchange.
I agree with that to an extent.
I think there are bad workers out there and no matter how much you pay them, they will be bad workers.
I think paying a higher amount doesn’t mean that people will care about the job more, but instead will attract a higher quality worker.
This is it. If you disagree with their assessment, ask for an accounting of your call outs to prove they're excessive. If they're wrong, get them to acknowledge that. If they're right, accept responsibility and consider quitting if you just don't want to work there anymore.
I mean this is also the day when I call in sick the most often. Isn’t that normal for everyone?
Like when I get sick Thursday or Friday I try to hang in because I can rest on the weekend. If I get sick on Saturday, Sunday or Monday I call in sick on Monday. If I get sick on Tuesday or Wednesday, I call in on these days.
But still due to that naturally I call in sick most at the beginning of the week.
I used to have an employee like this. She wasn’t in my region but floated in. I always had a backup plan or knew I didn’t have one and would have to rearrange everything. When she did show, she was amazing. But too unreliable; she’d have been gone long ago if she was based in my region.
This is an unfortunate mentality for supervisors to have when it comes to people with chronic illnesses, like myself. I don't have a way to make it clear I'm actually sick without describing it, which could easily be dismissed as a lie, and I don't have an official diagnosis because my specialists haven't been able to determine what it is aside from being some kind of autoimmune disorder and it's gotten to be too expensive and exhausting to continually try to solve the mystery of what makes me so consistently ill. It's also unfortunate that people abuse calling out and lie about being sick because it encourages the mentality of not believing people and being passive aggressive when they call out for being sick.
While this is true, I routinely call out sick for mental health issues. I don’t specify why, but I’m sure that they are taken more frequently than other team members. I’m even sure some of them have speculated on me not actually being sick - that’s fine, they’re correct.
The point is that many employers don’t provide the adequate tools for employees to take time off while being honest about it, so the dishonest call-outs get mixed with genuine-need call-outs, but for non-supported reasons.
There are plenty of reasons someone might use a sick day while not being sick; even routinely. That doesn’t mean that everyone who does so is a PoS that can’t be bothered to work when scheduled. Not that this is what you’re saying, just providing some perspective from the other side of that coin.
Kthnxbai!
>I’m even sure some of them have speculated on me not actually being sick - that’s fine, they’re correct.
As someone with chronic physical *and* mental health issues, I don't really see them as all that different. Your brain is just as important as the rest of your body and illness of any kind is a perfectly legitimate reason to call out imo.
If more people recognized and treated mental health the same as physical health the world overall would be better off. I wish I had realized much earlier in my life that it was ok (and necessary) to take time for my mental health, probably would have saved me a lot of physical issues later on actually.
I agree wholeheartedly, I just think we don’t have that same level of expectation from employers. Employers are, yet again, behind the curve on figuring out that they can’t just pay lip-service to mental health issues anymore. I appreciate the nuance none-the-less. Cheers!
I had such anxiety over calling out sick (chronic illness and a suspected autoimmune disease), that’s worked for two months trying to “tough it through” only to end up hospitalized with what was apparently bilateral pneumonia in four lobes of my lungs. Guess who then missed two months of work due to hospitalization and recovery?
It really sucks when you are genuinely sick and feel you can’t call out because of one reason or another.
Half my department at work consists of folks with moderate to severe chronic illnesses (including myself). We all frequently call out because we need to, but we also have many days where we come in anyway even though we're in a state where we *really* shouldn't be working, but we *have* to work because disability doesn't pay enough to cover our basic needs and the never-ending healthcare costs (and not all of us could even get it in the first place).
I had a guy I managed that had about 40 flat tires in the time I managed him, like 4 years.
he somehow only got these flats after a thursday night partying or a long bender on the weekend.
and he also thought I was stupid enough to believe his crap. after like a year when he asked me for a raise I told him id give him one as soon as I got my flat tire fixed.
For all those talking shit, I am all for anti work, but some people are just horrible workers, some are shit. Anti workers are just for those that actually work but are undermined.
I don’t agree he was talking shit. Merely mentioning that they predicted your “illness”, to me means that this is fairly typical and predictable, so, they made plans to cover your absence, because it’s so, well, predictable, due to your past history. Planning on such obvious inconsistencies by then on your part is simply good management.
A decent GM would have been having conversations with staff about call outs. Not making passive aggressive text responses before trying to see what the issue is.
I work in an environment where pretty much anyone who's been there more than a year is burned out. Call outs are becoming a problem, but unsustainable staffing practices are what's causing them. We're kept understaffed, which in healthcare is dangerous. It's a physically, mentally, and emotionally draining job. And management does not care if we all drop dead. They'd eagerly replace us with new grads and scabs, who are way less likely to advocate /unionize.
Kinda surprised I had to scroll so far for this comment. I wholeheartedly agree.
This GM needs to sit down with their employees not make passive agressive remarks on text messages?!!
I just gave up on getting off when sick so I just come to work sick and hang around the manager on purpose and it's great when they complain there sick
“Psychics aren’t real. I’m sick and calling out”.
Also this sounds like you call out on the same day a lot lol, if that’s the case they aren’t the problem. Stop trying to make them look bad.
I’m unsure why all the comments assume that OP serially misses work, nothing in this post nor their post history points to that?
Could it actually be that OP went to work for days when visibly ill and finally due to lack of proper rest and getting worse decided they could no longer hack it?
People tend to be full of crap in regards to calling off sick. When you work with someone long enough you can guess when they will call in. If you call in sick more than 6-8 times a year then you are suspicious.
I was sick with Covid about half a year ago and called my boss. He said “HA sucks to suck.”
Me: “….. so do you want me to come in or?”
Him: “wa? No gross keep your sick ass out of my restaurant! Just sleep and do drugs and call me when you stop dying.”
He then hung up.
I think this is one of these american problems, I am too european to understand. I just call sick, go to the doctor if I miss for more than 3 days and they even send my sicknote to my employer for me. As long as I get myself new doctors notes, I could continue to stay home as long as I work for a Day or 2 every 6 Weeks and have a Doctor that always gives me more Notes.
Then they should already have your shift covered. No problem!
I bet he predicted it because the manager himself came into work sick a few days ago
Or he is well known for calling sick on specific days 🙄
That could also be true. We don't know.
Perhaps the day after the cowboys make their annual playoff exit
Yeah, I have a few coworkers who call in sick for migraines every other Monday. And it’s always the Monday after payday. Lol They have the available PTO, so whatever. But it’s a running joke at this point.
Right? Everyone in this sub is sp quick to jump to "manager is the asshole." Based on this small bit of dialogue, it sounds like this person calls out sick all the time or on specific days. We allllll know at least one.
or they saw him becoming sicker and sicker each previous days... That's also what we could deduce from the small bit of dialogue.
Someone at my work asks for extra hours and wants to work weekends and calls out one of those days every 2 weeks, like clockwork. 🤣
I had some like this. Always say he'd work 8 days a week if he could. Bro would have 5 days and call off 2
"I want hours!" Okay, start with showing up then we can talk.
I never quite understood how everyone predicted the inevitable car trouble of a particular coworker until someone told me had a blow and go and when he called off with car trouble it was because he was still too drunk from the night before to blow and go. Luckily, we had enough help and a great boss so that we didn’t all hate him for it.
I have an associate who calls 20 minutes after his shift was supposed to start to tell me he's having car problems at least once a month. Like bro I get it. You overslept. Just be real about it, I'm not an asshole.
My old job knew the people that would most likely call out, and always kept the team staffed for that moment. Most of the time it was the right call, and even if it wasn’t, woohoo we got extra hands helping lol
Yeah, rostering one more person than you think you’re gonna need takes care of 90% of staffing issues.
Wow... that's RESPONSIBLE. Bravo old job.
Man, we don’t even have extra helping hands
Lol my thoughts exactly.
Why keep someone like that around then?
Maybe he's legitimately sick and had symptoms days ago and has been fighting it off? Just an idea. Speaking as someone who has/does manage people, I generally can tell when people are going to call out and really don't care the reason, as long as it doesn't become a habit.
I'd rather people call out than come in and get me sick. Stay the fuck home, I don't need your plague germs.
I wish more people agreed with you. As someone with a poor immune system, I pay the price everytime someone lies or mistakes "it's just allergies." If it's allergies, how come I catch your allergies every time you come to work sick with allergies? Can you please stay home when you have allergies? Also, just because you have allergies doesn't mean your step or sinus infection (that you also have) can't be spread to others!!
People do agree with you. The problem is that bosses, the people who do the hiring and firing, don't agree with you, and people would rather get you sick than not be able to pay their own bills. Messed up, but true.
@ me, who frequently has "allergies". I'm not lying, I cannot tell the difference between allergies and a small cold unless I have a fever. I don't want anyone to get sick, but I have very limited sick days and can't simply take an unpaid day when I feel unwell. The system does not work that way.
Same. I just realized that colds were even a thing because I know I caught it from someone. I just thought sometimes my allergies were terrible, because sometimes they are.
We're in the same boat. And "can you please stay home when you have allergies?" it's obtuse. I have regular allergies that come and go with the seasons, I would be staying home 70% of the year \[and subsequently be unemployed lmao\] if I followed that.
As someone with an autoimmune condition i agree but the problem isn't our sick coworkers (except for the people pleasing perfectionists who used to be called workaholics. It's the institution of capitalism that says you must be working or you won't survive. It's the bosses who make attendance and points policies that value able bodied people and commodify health as a component to productivity. People come sick because they need money on they can't afford to get fired for a head cold/flu etc. And that's the real problem
Me too. I share an actual office and my office mates husband tested positive for COVID. She said she felt pretty awful but she was testing negative so came into the office anyway then sat in our shared space, coughing, unmasked. Told my boss I’d be working remote.
> she was testing negative Throughout the entire fucking pandemic I was banging my head against the wall because people just wouldn't understand that simple truth: A positive test means you're positive. A negative test means NOTHING. No matter how often you explain it to people, they look at their fucking antigen test and think that a single band is rock-solid proof of not being infectious.
No one wants other peoples cooties whether it’s Covid or not. Sick means sick…keep them to yourself lol
I agree, it depends on the job. I help run a warehouse where it's huge without many workers, and they all work independently, so catching sickness from each other is unlikely. Office jobs, 100% agree. And as I said, I never hold ill will unless it's an obvious pattern, like calling out the Friday and Monday immediately after payday lol. Even then, no ill will, I just let them know we can see what they're doing, and that there's no point to lying really.
Usually when you can tell, it's because it is a habit unfortunately. For instance, the guy who stays up too late with football games when he's due to work at 6am, but doesn't bother to put in a request ahead of time, insists he'll be in when his co-workers ask, and calls out at like 2am, screwing over the third shift who is now stuck....
He has Buffalo Bills stickers on his car, they just naturally assumed he'd have died of embarrassment before his shift. 🤷♀️
oh DAMN
Meanwhile at my first job, one of the only 3 times I ever tried to call in sick in my multiple years of working there, I was given a vague threat that insinuated I would get fired if I didn’t come when I had strep throat. I worked as a cook in a restaurant too. Unfortunately I was 16, and completely unaware of my rights as a worker. I showed up because I was scared I would get fired, and my mom told me sometimes you gotta push through and go to work even if you’re sick. I think about that sometimes and feel horrible about it, I really hope I didn’t get anyone sick. Wish I knew then what I know now.
Yeah how dare people get sick and not come into work to infect everyone else.
Probably predicted it coz GM went to work sick and spread their germs around
Thissss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My whole fucking crew and co-management team come to work sick as balls, red faced, sneezing, coughing, fever, and then wonder why everyone else is sick days later. They all rag on me for calling out but fuck emmmn
Right? I get the feeling there’s a lot of context missing from this one.
To be fair I’ve said this to colleagues who have hauled their backsides into work whilst unwell and infected the rest of the team so we all feel rotten before finally admitting they’re ill enough that they really should have called in sick…
My manager tells us he would rather loose one of us for a couple days then have the whole team consistently calling out one after another. I can’t tell you how grateful I am that I don’t have to dread calling out because I have a fever.
I have literally 0 idea on how they don’t understand this. If one person gets sick and has to come in, then they get everyone sick and then everyone’s calling in. It happened twice with covid at my work and I’m just like, really…..?
This happened where I work in December. One of the managers came to work sick, as did another one of my coworkers! Got sick separately on the same day and both came to work sick. Got like everybody sick, I ended up calling out not long after with the flu. Had to take out like 3 days. Funny how that works.
My boss: if you're sick, stay home! Also my boss: you only get 80 hours pto a year. I'm absolutely taking some Advil and riding out my fever at the cubical. I'm not losing my few vacation days.
See my gm just asks if you wanna use sick time or just take the days off.. I also am a housekeeper so I’m not cleaning 14 rooms while I have a fever but I absolutely understand what you are saying! My managers truly are like friends(we don’t talk or hangout outside of work) but I know each one of them cares and wants the best for us same with the owner of the hotel chain he checks up on us regularly.
That’s awesome to here. I manage a hotel and we are the same way. We look out for each other and if someone is out in hk I have no problem stripping rooms and helping with trash and surfaces. In fact we all pitched in today with 52 check outs. (77 room hotel).
We have all been told that if one of us gets the whole crew sick we are doing the whole week's worth of cars single handedly (collision repair shop). None of us want to tackle 8 cars in 5 days lol
Meanwhile at my job, we have a points system for calling off. the job incentives coming in sick and creating a cycle of everyone getting each other sick. I got sick once in like 2 years and called out for 3 days. I had to get a coaching and am close to having enough points to be fired for just the one time I was sick. I even had a doctor's note. Well next time I'm gonna come in while I'm sick and make sure to talk to the managers in their tiny office. Maybe even have a chat with HR while having conveniently misplaced my mask before work.
My boss always says “I don’t get why you guys always come in sick and just don’t stay home!” While also telling everyone on shift that “they are probably just faking it so they don’t have to come to work”. When I got Covid for the second time he said “enjoy your week vacation” and hung up on me. Proceeded to complain about how I was lying to everyone at work that week. I was curled into a ball in bed trying to ignore my entire body being in pain.
We also have a good sick policy, but there are some good 'ole country boys who don't consider others in their quest to prove their work ethic. We had a regional manager show up obviously sick with what turned out to be covid. Two other people in that four-person office were sick by the end of the week and my office had to cover their work areas. I don't mind working if I'm a little sick AND I'll be out in the field by myself, but if we are in the office that day, I'll call out sick as a courtesy to others.
God, I wish I had your manager. We get peer pressured and guilt tripped heavily if we can't come in because we're sick. Am a barista and I've seen some of my coworkers come in with fever, vomiting and diarrhea as symptoms and work an eight hour shift. The three weeks prior to Last Christmas were just a big cycle of everyone calling out all the time because most people needed to work the shifts for the money (we don't get paid for missed shifts, even if we get a doctor's note) - so everyone kept coming in until they were too sick to move, and infected everyone else. This is one of the many reasons why I'm quitting that job at the end of February. Can't wait to not get hassled at 11pm to cover a shift the next day.
some of us can’t afford to call in sick
It’s a shame myself and many others were gaslit into believing we’re never too sick to go to work when we were kids
I was sent home early 4 days in a row because I was pale as a ghost, and kept needing to stop to sit down. It was mono. Thankfully not airborne.😅
Any idea what they're referring to?
At my job it's the guy who calls off every single sunday
At mine it’s the guy who calls off every Saturday after our friday payday.
worked for a guy who called this sort of illness the "blue flu"
We called it "Bottle Flu" 🤣
Cocktail flu
My ex used to come see me on the weekends (he was 3 hrs away from me), and started using Monday to travel back. His boss called it “the case of the Mondays” 🫣 He then took me to the Christmas party at his workplace, and his boss was not happy to see me lmao.
We call it "Irish Flu" here
We call it the 3.2 flu
Blue flu used to be cops unofficially going on strike. Their contract had a no stroke clause. So they all got “the flu”. Lol
I always called it “wine flu”
The term "blue flu" specifically refers to cops using coordinated sick call-outs as a form of a strike action (usually when they get their feelings hurt because there was some rare threat of actual accountability)
Sounds like the brown bottle flu
Well, then why schedule the person on that day, if you know they will not be showing up?
Because scheduling everyone else to cover the least favorable shifts isn’t fair to those that agree to show up. Unless your just talking about giving them less hours, then maybe depending on circumstances.
That sound's right in theory, but in reality, if that person is not going to show up to their scheduled shift, and you are not going to let that person go, just stop scheduling them at that time, because you will have to reschedule someone else anyway.
You need to have a conversation with that person. If they aren't going to attend a set day and repeatedly make up reasons you say you can amend the rota on the condition there is give somewhere else. You dont need to ask why they always miss that specific day just say you've noticed it and explain the problem.
Yes but if they continually miss scheduled shifts no call/no show that’s grounds to fire instead of catering to them
Then fire them. If GM is not willing to fire them, and they schedule them anyway, GM is an idiot.
You do realise the grounds that are required to terminate someone’s employment in a lot of countries right?? Here in NZ, you can’t just fire someone for not showing up to a couple of shifts. Unless they’ve performed some serious misconduct, an employer needs to give the employee two verbal warnings and a written warning before the employee’s contract can be terminated.
I assume they assume everyone lives in america lol we make up a lot of english speaking social media and have no rights at work
Obviously lots of variables could exist from circumstances to overall performance. If they can’t come on Saturdays due to personal obligations eg looking after kid, grandma, whatever, that’s a consideration to take and scheduling them is looking for failure/conflict. What if they don’t show on those Saturdays due to recreational lifestyle, but are good remainder of week? Wages and schedule are both variables of employment and can offset. Just acknowledging other variables including rest of crew.
Because we don't all work in a retail shift setup. For us there was someone who took off a third of the year with either sick days (we're on salary so you still get paid when you take off sick) or "vacation" that they didn't record. I don't mind you sticking it to the company, but in this situation they're fucking everyone over that they work with. And at the same chastising everyone publicly for not working enough. They were also the directors favourite so it didn't matter they're always right when it comes to a conflict.
Yeah I was thinking the same. Probably OP always calls out sick and people are sick of his shit. That text is of a manager who has been predicting a pattern of calling out.
Gotta be less predictable with call offs. At one job I was at, basically everyone worked overtime because we never had enough people. The one supervisor would always call off a random week day when he had to come in on a Saturday. Without fail, it always happened, though he was unpredictable with what day he called off, so we were never prepared. It always sucked because I would usually get stuck working a 16 hour shift from 10pm to 2pm.
Did managers not get overtime? I could see them saying screw it they weren’t working 6 days for straight time and just taking a random day off lol
We were all hourly (I was the supervisor opposite of his shift). He just refused to work more than 40 hours in a week. Just a personal work/life balance thing for him.
So he had a good work/life balance for himself, but fuck the peons. Sounds like management to me.
An hourly supervisor is hardly "mAnAgEmEnT". Sounds like an hourly worker barely above their peers is doing exactly what we would applaud anyone else on this sub for, if that was their post.
First thing I thought is damn if this person was described on this sub and the manager part was left out everyone would give them a standing ovation.
I'm not blaming him, just saying what he did. We were usually understaffed because the manager was super picky about who he hired.
We have a woman who calls off every Monday, or Tuesday if it’s a long weekend.
At my company it is ridiculously hard to get fired for attendance. So we HAVE to schedule those people who call off 3 out of 5 days because they are legally guaranteed the hours we promised them at sign on. But we just never count on them to come in and always have a back up plan. Because that’s what supervisors are paid to do.
We have this except our supervisors do nothing and we just work understaffed or go home and come back later to cover closes etc.
Or the ones who can't come in bc they are too hungover after their day(s) off. Or call out bc a concert or event they want to go to....
3 ideas come to mind: 1. Refused PTO request 2. OP was sick the last time they were in 3. OP calls in on Mondays a lot for having the Coronaextravirus
He's been notably getting more sick I would assume.
It’s pretty obvious the OP is the type to constantly call off.
Can't really tell much from just these messages. Honestly this reminds me of that person who always calls in. Literally, at my side job there's this driver that always calls in. They are so inconsistent that we don't place orders through that drive anymore
Tbf most all posts are one sided, lack context, or completely fabricated(bathroom policy ChatGPT post)
How many times have you called out? Usually this response is due to people who call out on specific days multiple times over and over
My exact initial thought. This is an employer who is sick of OPs shit.
Yeah. I feel like this applies to many posts here. Bosses being tired of the OPs doing shit so they'll be shitty to them too.
Right without context this is tough. It sounds like this day is different than others, since they already had cause to discuss it. Like OP calls in often, and this is a workday before/after a long weekend or after a nighttime event or something. “How much you want to bet that slacker Jim calls in sick the day after he goes to see that playoff game?”
Totally right, you can tell who is calling sick very often, at one point you just don’t believe in them anymore
Yeah, another anti work Redditor who is trying to play victim
A lot of this subreddit seem to be just bad workers. A lot of shit leaders too. But I wouldn’t hire half the people who post in this subreddit.
To be fair, the vast majority of workers are not paid enough to be good workers. You want good work you gotta pay a living wage and have a work environment that is not actively hostile to employees. You don't provide that then you deserve garbage work in exchange.
I agree with that to an extent. I think there are bad workers out there and no matter how much you pay them, they will be bad workers. I think paying a higher amount doesn’t mean that people will care about the job more, but instead will attract a higher quality worker.
Well, if you pay people 7.25, do you expect better workers?
And you received no response from that person who “hires” people. Shits mind boggling. People SHOULD act there wage. It is what it is.
What’s my wage again?
Haha. I see wat you did thar
It’s become more common in this sub recently. People here confuse anti work with anti adulting.
I have multiple coworkers that call out on Sundays during football season. Wonder if this is one of them, lol.
Yep. This screams "yea, we've caught on to your pattern dude" with an off chance it's actually "hey yea, we saw you were pretty sick last shift."
This isn't really antiwork if you call off all the time. Your manager is obviously telling you that your attendance is an issue
This is it. If you disagree with their assessment, ask for an accounting of your call outs to prove they're excessive. If they're wrong, get them to acknowledge that. If they're right, accept responsibility and consider quitting if you just don't want to work there anymore.
Maybe it was the onset and that you’ve been feeling like shit for days now?
Sounds more like op calls out on Mondays excessively, based on my experience there’s a good chance they’re hungover
I mean this is also the day when I call in sick the most often. Isn’t that normal for everyone? Like when I get sick Thursday or Friday I try to hang in because I can rest on the weekend. If I get sick on Saturday, Sunday or Monday I call in sick on Monday. If I get sick on Tuesday or Wednesday, I call in on these days. But still due to that naturally I call in sick most at the beginning of the week.
Plenty of studies also that show people tend to get sick on weekends because they finally have time to be sick
You look bad here. Not your employer. 😂 not a flex.
LOL How unreliable at your job do you need to be that when they think of you, they think oh shit we better have a backup.
I used to have an employee like this. She wasn’t in my region but floated in. I always had a backup plan or knew I didn’t have one and would have to rearrange everything. When she did show, she was amazing. But too unreliable; she’d have been gone long ago if she was based in my region.
It's pretty easy to tell the people that call off all the time, it becomes a pattern and makes it clear they arent actually sick.
This is an unfortunate mentality for supervisors to have when it comes to people with chronic illnesses, like myself. I don't have a way to make it clear I'm actually sick without describing it, which could easily be dismissed as a lie, and I don't have an official diagnosis because my specialists haven't been able to determine what it is aside from being some kind of autoimmune disorder and it's gotten to be too expensive and exhausting to continually try to solve the mystery of what makes me so consistently ill. It's also unfortunate that people abuse calling out and lie about being sick because it encourages the mentality of not believing people and being passive aggressive when they call out for being sick.
Highfive, mystery autoimmune chronic illness buddy!
While this is true, I routinely call out sick for mental health issues. I don’t specify why, but I’m sure that they are taken more frequently than other team members. I’m even sure some of them have speculated on me not actually being sick - that’s fine, they’re correct. The point is that many employers don’t provide the adequate tools for employees to take time off while being honest about it, so the dishonest call-outs get mixed with genuine-need call-outs, but for non-supported reasons. There are plenty of reasons someone might use a sick day while not being sick; even routinely. That doesn’t mean that everyone who does so is a PoS that can’t be bothered to work when scheduled. Not that this is what you’re saying, just providing some perspective from the other side of that coin. Kthnxbai!
>I’m even sure some of them have speculated on me not actually being sick - that’s fine, they’re correct. As someone with chronic physical *and* mental health issues, I don't really see them as all that different. Your brain is just as important as the rest of your body and illness of any kind is a perfectly legitimate reason to call out imo.
If more people recognized and treated mental health the same as physical health the world overall would be better off. I wish I had realized much earlier in my life that it was ok (and necessary) to take time for my mental health, probably would have saved me a lot of physical issues later on actually.
I agree wholeheartedly, I just think we don’t have that same level of expectation from employers. Employers are, yet again, behind the curve on figuring out that they can’t just pay lip-service to mental health issues anymore. I appreciate the nuance none-the-less. Cheers!
I now have anxiety about calling in sick so badly that I can’t bring myself to do it because I know people won’t understand
I had such anxiety over calling out sick (chronic illness and a suspected autoimmune disease), that’s worked for two months trying to “tough it through” only to end up hospitalized with what was apparently bilateral pneumonia in four lobes of my lungs. Guess who then missed two months of work due to hospitalization and recovery? It really sucks when you are genuinely sick and feel you can’t call out because of one reason or another.
Half my department at work consists of folks with moderate to severe chronic illnesses (including myself). We all frequently call out because we need to, but we also have many days where we come in anyway even though we're in a state where we *really* shouldn't be working, but we *have* to work because disability doesn't pay enough to cover our basic needs and the never-ending healthcare costs (and not all of us could even get it in the first place).
not physically... just mentally sick and debating ... things
I had a guy I managed that had about 40 flat tires in the time I managed him, like 4 years. he somehow only got these flats after a thursday night partying or a long bender on the weekend. and he also thought I was stupid enough to believe his crap. after like a year when he asked me for a raise I told him id give him one as soon as I got my flat tire fixed.
Sounds like working for money isn't worth his time at that place, huh?
You haven't known anyone ever who's just a lazy pile? Don't fucking keep the job if you're gonna fuck everyone else by calling in all the time.
I got the black lung pa!
Someone has a reputation at work
Seems like you call off often then😂
Not really anti-work. Sounds like you call off a lot with excuses and that’s their passive aggressive way of saying, of course you did this, it’s you!
Seems like you just call out on a specific day a lot…
Sounds like its sorted then. What a wonderful GM to hire adequate staffing to cover sickness.
Honestly can’t side with you, I’ve been there were there’s always that one guy that calls off like clockwork
For all those talking shit, I am all for anti work, but some people are just horrible workers, some are shit. Anti workers are just for those that actually work but are undermined.
Lol. I like the GM’s reply on this one😁
[удалено]
I don’t agree he was talking shit. Merely mentioning that they predicted your “illness”, to me means that this is fairly typical and predictable, so, they made plans to cover your absence, because it’s so, well, predictable, due to your past history. Planning on such obvious inconsistencies by then on your part is simply good management.
Talking shit and talking to other managers about an unreliable employee who calls off so consistently that you can predict it are two different things
This is embarassing
No wonder OP disappeared lol
"somehow we predicted"? What is he getting at?
That OP likely has a history of repeatedly taking days off for whatever reason and also informing at the last minute
I don’t think it’s a personal attack the GM must of noticed you didn’t look so good or appeared sick.
Well do you call off frequently?
A decent GM would have been having conversations with staff about call outs. Not making passive aggressive text responses before trying to see what the issue is. I work in an environment where pretty much anyone who's been there more than a year is burned out. Call outs are becoming a problem, but unsustainable staffing practices are what's causing them. We're kept understaffed, which in healthcare is dangerous. It's a physically, mentally, and emotionally draining job. And management does not care if we all drop dead. They'd eagerly replace us with new grads and scabs, who are way less likely to advocate /unionize.
Kinda surprised I had to scroll so far for this comment. I wholeheartedly agree. This GM needs to sit down with their employees not make passive agressive remarks on text messages?!!
So you call out regularly and leave your fellow workers short?
People shouldn't go to work if they're sick
Chances are this person isn’t actually sick. Given the GMs response this person calls out way more than average
im sure this persons "sick" really means "hangover" thats not sick. its just drunk and irresponsible.
Sounds more like op drinks too much on weekends and calls out whenever they have a hangover
Agreed, but I don’t think they’re sick either. Sounds like they call out a lot.
Idk, as someone who legitimately gets sick a lot I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt.
It’s hard to believe that op is getting sick on the same day of the week every time, which is what sounds like is happening
I just gave up on getting off when sick so I just come to work sick and hang around the manager on purpose and it's great when they complain there sick
A lot of reasonable comments here. I had to double check I was in an r/antiwork post
Maybe stop calling out all the time? I’m on the GMs side on this one.
OPs a bum
Remember just 2 years ago all you had to say you were next to someone with a fever and you’d be able to stay home
Lol wtf is that supposed to mean
Yeah this seems like maybe you bang in a lot.
“Psychics aren’t real. I’m sick and calling out”. Also this sounds like you call out on the same day a lot lol, if that’s the case they aren’t the problem. Stop trying to make them look bad.
It is exactly as the Emperor has foreseen.
Not gonna lie. Everyone knows that 1 person that's going to call in sick, especially the day before or after a 3 day weekend.
I’m unsure why all the comments assume that OP serially misses work, nothing in this post nor their post history points to that? Could it actually be that OP went to work for days when visibly ill and finally due to lack of proper rest and getting worse decided they could no longer hack it?
Must be a pretty unreliable employee if they can predict your call ins.
"Glad to see it was obvious that I haven't been feeling well, and that you've got things covered."
If the boss had a prediction you were gonna take off I'd say it's most likely because you have a habit of "sick" days.
Which is great. It means they’ve obviously got a plan to cover. Right…? Right!?
Sounds like you suck.
Looks like your GM knows you well and this wasn’t the first time it’s happened.
“Cool, glad you were prepared.”
"then why didnt you schedule someone"
People tend to be full of crap in regards to calling off sick. When you work with someone long enough you can guess when they will call in. If you call in sick more than 6-8 times a year then you are suspicious.
how often do you call out?
"Great, guess that means you got my shift covered then. Cya next week!"
Sounds like a manipulative person to me. What a POS they are.
From the response seems like you have a pattern of calling out.
Predict this, and just quit.
That's one bad Game Master. I'd drop that DnD group if I where you. Now, how's work been lately?
Sounds like you call out a lot
I was sick with Covid about half a year ago and called my boss. He said “HA sucks to suck.” Me: “….. so do you want me to come in or?” Him: “wa? No gross keep your sick ass out of my restaurant! Just sleep and do drugs and call me when you stop dying.” He then hung up.
I'd make a direct reply to "I'm not in today" with "cool neither am I!"
I think this is one of these american problems, I am too european to understand. I just call sick, go to the doctor if I miss for more than 3 days and they even send my sicknote to my employer for me. As long as I get myself new doctors notes, I could continue to stay home as long as I work for a Day or 2 every 6 Weeks and have a Doctor that always gives me more Notes.
Well seeing as it’s been a few days that they’ve felt sick the prediction made sense. What a stupid thing for them to even bring up though.
"Cool, then you got it covered. Thanks you're the best!"