Calling in sick...

Topic: Calling in sick... (Read 1346 times) previous topic - next topic

Calling in sick...

December 14, 2006, 02:27:35 PM

You know, rarely am I upset over stuff like this, because I've come to expect it, but something that happened today really upset me.

I woke up yesterday morning feeling the effects of a cold, severe sore throat, and some lower right arm pain. I started taking ZICAM yesterday as that seems to work better than anything else to cure me of this stuff.

Then forward to this morning, I wake up feeling like total and utter . Very tired, achy, and both nostrils clogged badly. I took my pen 15tail of medicine accordingly, and waited to see how things would go. It didn't get better...

So, I'm scheduled to work 4pm-10pm tonight. Considering I work at a big-box home improvement store, constantly in contact with random people, I have no doubt where my illness came from.

Anyway, I'm scheduled 4-10, but I feel like I would be very inefficient at work If I showed up, and I could pass on whatever I have to others. Not a good idea. So, about 30 minutes ago, I decided to call in. Give a 3 hour advanced warning.

After waiting on the phone for a good 10 minutes until a manager picked up, I said "hey, I'm not going to be able to come in tonight". I promptly am asked "why is that?". So I say "Well, I woke up this morning feeling like , and I'm still not doing to well. I don't I could perform my duties at an efficient level, and I don't want to get anyone else sick".:barf:

The guy snaps at me! "Ahhhhh geeze, we've had a freakin' million other people call in, and now you? Can't you try to work? C'mon dude!"

So I say "Well, I'm just not up to it, and I really would be distracted if I did try to perform normally".

He pipes back "Christ, all right. Fine. Just remember I warned you!".

Here's the thing. In the total of 1 year and Two months I've worked at this place, I've called in a grand total of 2 times! 2 times! (Once to go purchase the current T-bird I own, and the other because of a family trip). I'm always on time, and do my job well! Other people I work with make it a habit to call in at least once a week! But i get harped on over my 3rd call in in 1 year!

Anyone else have similar stories to share which would comfort me? The best part is when I go in tomorrow I have to deal with what will surely turn into an interrogation.

Calling in sick...

Reply #1 – December 14, 2006, 03:04:52 PM

When you get called in the office just go in, blow your nose in a Kleenex and ask him to toss it in the trash for you....
.

Calling in sick...

Reply #2 – December 14, 2006, 03:04:56 PM

My manager is pretty understanding when I call in sick due to a 102+ fever, bloody feces, and severe arthritis.

Err, onto the comforting.
Any reasonable manager wouldn't want you coming in running half-speed while being contagious. But, it sounds like he just wants bodies.

Calling in sick...

Reply #3 – December 14, 2006, 03:20:33 PM

He wants cart pushers, that's what he wants! That is by far the most annoying part of the job. Being held late after work because all the carts are not it. It's so time consuming! These guys are like something out of office space.

"Yeah....we're going to need you to go ahead and come in tommorrow....so if you could just get over that sickness as soon as possible....that would be great! Thanks!"

Calling in sick...

Reply #4 – December 14, 2006, 05:17:54 PM

It's a big box home improvement store. Expect shiznitty treatment. shiznit runs downhill in places like that and the employee/associate, whatever is expendable.

Calling in sick...

Reply #5 – December 14, 2006, 05:23:29 PM

Quote from: Ifixyawata;118352

It's a big box home improvement store. Expect shiznitty treatment. shiznit runs downhill in places like that and the employee/associate, whatever is expendable.

Hate to say it but that's true of more than just big box stores. It's what they teach at Harvard Business School these days and applies to every industry in this country. Even NFL teams dump veteran players for draftees so they don't have to pay them so much. In his case there's an illegal alien with stolen identity paperwork waiting to take his job. Ok, maybe that's extreme unless you work for a meat packing or construction company, but the managerial attitude is the same - we have many more applicants that prefer our wages and working conditions to McDonalds'.

Calling in sick...

Reply #6 – December 14, 2006, 11:15:46 PM

I've got a "calling in sick" story:

After my car accident (the one I was injured in 9 years ago and that prevents me from doing full mechanic duties to this day) I worked at a Pontiac store as a service advisor as part of a get-back-to-work scheme by the insurance company (kind of an "if you can't work on cars you can work behind the counter" thing - without a doubt the very worst job I ever had). One evening I woke up with a sharp pain in my lower back. It was the most painful thing I had ever experienced, and it scared the hell out of me - I went to hospital and was told it was a kidney stone. They gave me drugs (found out I am allergic to Demerol that night) and I pissed the stone out. It was Friday night so I didn't miss time at work.

It turned out, however, that the stone was one of several. I was passing them on average of 1 every 3 days, but they were only little ones (kind of like earthquake aftershocks), so the pain wasn't as bad, and they all happened at night. Then, one day at work, a big one hit. I nearly passed out from the pain. I told the other service advisors I was going, and I went straight to the hospital (try driving a standard car when you're in too much pain to move). They gave me drugs and a buddy picked me up and brought me home (no point in taking up a hospital bed, I can be in pain at home just as well as at the hospital). So I'm lying in bed in absolute agony - actually, because of the drugs I'm pretty sure I was floating a few inches above it - and the phone rang. It was the service manager from the Pontiac store, calling to give me shiznit for leaving. He told me I should have stayed 'til 5. Given the drugs I don't remember exactly what I said, but I told the guy what I thought of him and about three generations' worth of his ancestors, told him he could stuff his job clear up his ass, and hung up. Anybody who has ever had a kidney stone knows two things: There's no amount of painkillers that will take the pain away, and you are in no mood to fvck around with anyone.

The next day at about noon I went to the dealership to get my separation papers. The service manager asked me into his office, where he told me he realized that I was under the effect of painkillers and may not have meant what I said, so if I apologised he'd ignore my quitting. I told him I meant every word of it and demanded my papers. I never went back again (and happily, have never had another stone since). I ran out my 8 months' worth of pogey, then took a job building cop cars.

DMC24Guy: I guess the moral is this: No job is worth putting up with bullshiznit, especially a minimum-wage big-box store job. All the stores are crying for workers (at least they are around here), so if you quit you shouldn't have trouble finding another.

Calling in sick...

Reply #7 – December 15, 2006, 03:35:39 AM

Quote from: Thunder Chicken;118426

No job is worth putting up with bullshiznit, especially a minimum-wage big-box store job

tru dat

I worked at walmart for WAY too long then at a call center and I always did my job properly and efficiently (Top sales on my call for 3 months in a row) but since i'm not one to kiss ass (never have and NEVER will) I went unnoticed, till something went wrong that is. Its a shiznit job with shiznit treatment and likely shiznit benefits, keep that in mind and have some fun with them till you get fired or they just plain tell you to leave. I had tons of fun at walmart, imagine customers faces when they find you sleeping in the bedding isle, totally priceless! I could write a book on my last few months there.

The main thing is DONT TAKE IT, your manager is just cranky because hes probabally nearing his midlife crisis while working at a teenagers job making 30K a year and scrounging to support his family. Thats what I seen the walmart managers as, and let me tell you, they do not like it when you point it out to them

Scott

Calling in sick...

Reply #8 – December 15, 2006, 10:26:46 AM

Believe me, there are times I have lots of fun. Mainly when using the Overhead Paging system. I always make it a point to sound like Bill Lumbergh from office space when making my pages.

"Yeah.....I'm going to need all departments to the return desk to pick your items....so if you could get up here as soon as possible....that would be great...Thanks!".

And sometimes I end my page by sounding like elvis and saying "Thankyou Very Much!". Everyone cracks up every time I do that.

Calling in sick...

Reply #9 – December 15, 2006, 10:54:18 AM

No reasonable boss can or should be upset with an employee who has been honest and honorable. Your boss was definitely more upset about the army of people all calling in sick at the same time, rather than at you specifically. Add in that it's probably your busy season, and you end up with loads of customers and not enough employees. Take heart - when YOU call in sick, it becomes someone else's problem. Imagine being your BOSS!! If he has eight employees, they are ALL his problem!

Calling in sick...

Reply #10 – December 15, 2006, 10:58:22 AM

I hate it for you man. But I think what makes the problem worse is all the other people you mentioned that call in every week in addition to managers that don't pay attention (or just don't care) about the performance of their employees. Places like that have such a high turnover rate even for a lot of the middle management that it becomes impossible to develop any kind of working relationship with anyone except the most loyal ones that have been there for a while.

Dude was wrong for treating you like that though.

Calling in sick...

Reply #11 – December 15, 2006, 11:13:04 AM

I worked at Sams Club for 5 years and called in like maybe 4 times and never had a vacation. I asked for 2 days off on short notice and was told no so I said goodbye.

Durning my 5 years there I called in one of those day becasue my son was born the night before. I called in and told my manager that I would not be in becasue I was at the hospital untill 3am with my wife and son. He promptly replies with "Well I don't feel sorry for you. If you didn't have a kid you would be here today!" then hangs up. I decided to take this up with higher athorities in the company. Needless to say I got a public appoligy out of it.

Calling in sick...

Reply #12 – December 15, 2006, 12:26:05 PM

Well mine isn't as bad as you guys but I'll share...

I worked at a about 3 grocery stores for about two years. Getting more corporate with each job. The last one only lasted two - three weeks. It was getting close to my shift being over and all of a sudden this wave of customers comes in. Instead of clocking out and going home, being that it was a school night... high school that is, I stayed and helped out my co-workers. Anyhoos, when everything calmed down I get ready to clock out and the manager promptly tells me to go out a pull in all the carts. Now I'm pissed because he just let two other people go home early and I got to stay and round up some carts because he screwed up! Then he starts bitchin at me about how I'm "lazy" and how he doesn't like me because of my "attitude". And I just stood there and smiled the whole time, knowing it pissed him off... walked outside threw my company shirt on the ground and went home.

Just like ThunderChicken said, those jobs aren't worth it. They would screw me on hours all week and then expect me to jump through hoops when I'm on my time. But it's whole different ball game when you've got a family to support.

Calling in sick...

Reply #13 – December 15, 2006, 12:46:17 PM

Our store doesn't close until 10pm (except on sunday, at 8pm), and the latest I can be scheduled is until 10:30. Same with everyone else in my position.

The past few weeks I swear it's 10:30 And I'm ready to go, and all of a sudden one of the managers comes over to me..."Yeah....we still got a lot of carts outside, especially in the far corners of the lot...so if you could get all those, then you can go home". It's even better when I'm the only one getting all of them. When you have 3-4 people outside getting carts, it goes by so much quicker, but when I'm going solo....half-hour....minimum. , why can't we have one of those Auto-Cart pushers like wal-mart has? I could get 30 carts at a time!

Calling in sick...

Reply #14 – December 16, 2006, 12:28:51 AM

Quote from: DMC24guy;118460

I always make it a point to sound like Bill Lumbergh from office space when making my pages.

Thats awesome.

Try this, next time or if ever a manager is giving you attitude or a 'talking to' tell them to 'hold on for a sec' go to the nearest phone and page yourself to your department, tell them you 'gotta go, you have customers waiting' and leave. Unless they are really quick witted (which most department store managers are not) they will be speechless.

Solid gold right there.

Scott