When did this become acceptable?

[dakcp2001]

Tonight is my thrid shift in a row. The last two nights were bare bones because of all those that called in sick. I am hoping tonight they will start coming back to work, I am exhausted! To make matters worse the roads were icy so we were even further overextended. I do work at the kind of place where the turnover is very high, people quit midshift or leave and never come back. They really dont fire people, any warm body will do.

 

[christineann]

There is an epidemic of 24 hour illnesses in my office every December by employees who make sure they use every last hour of annual sick leave even though it can be carried over. It makes things very difficult for those of us who have to take up the slack. One coworker thought that sick leave was accumulated according to your employment anniversary and not calendar year and got docked several days pay. She was furious and said, "I would have planned my sick days better if I had known that!" Karma

 

[mickeymedic]

There is an epidemic of 24 hour illnesses in my office every December by employees who make sure they use every last hour of annual sick leave even though it can be carried over. It makes things very difficult for those of us who have to take up the slack. One coworker thought that sick leave was accumulated according to your employment anniversary and not calendar year and got docked several days pay. She was furious and said, "I would have planned my sick days better if I had known that!" Karma

I never understood this mentality. When I worked somewhere that had bankable sick time, my goal was to accumulate as much as possible so that if I got a major illness or if I got pregnant I'd get paid for all (or at least most) of my absence. I ended up getting pulled out of work for 2 weeks for medical reasons during my last last couple months there. So I was glad to have the time banked...even if I forfeited the remainder when I left.

 

[christineann]

Seriously! I don't get it either. If I get very sick or have an accident, I know I won't miss a paycheck for at least a month.

 

[tvguy]

I never understood this mentality. When I worked somewhere that had bankable sick time, my goal was to accumulate as much as possible so that if I got a major illness or if I got pregnant I'd get paid for all (or at least most) of my absence. I ended up getting pulled out of work for 2 weeks for medical reasons during my last last couple months there. So I was glad to have the time banked...even if I forfeited the remainder when I left.

I don't get it either. And it always seems to be the folks who are living paycheck to paycheck that burn up their sick time quickly, then either have to use vacation time or not get paid when they take more time off because they really are sick. We had one gal burn up all 7 of her sick days by March, (including one day when she called in sick because her DOG was having a panic attack, turned out to just be kennel cough). She took a week of vacation in October, and got back to find out she wasn't going to get paid because she had used those vacation days when she had used up her sick time.

 

[mhsjax]

I don't get it either. And it always seems to be the folks who are living paycheck to paycheck that burn up their sick time quickly, then either have to use vacation time or not get paid when they take more time off because they really are sick. We had one gal burn up all 7 of her sick days by March, (including one day when she called in sick because her DOG was having a panic attack, turned out to just be kennel cough). She took a week of vacation in October, and got back to find out she wasn't going to get paid because she had used those vacation days when she had used up her sick time.

There are people where my DH worked that could actually retire 2 years early with all of their sick leave.

Just like money, as soon as you go through all of it, a crisis hits. I would never burn all of my leave if it carried over.

 

[GeorgeG]

It's all pretty simple. It's called lack of work ethic and personal accountability!

I used to run a department that was a 24-hour operation, including holidays. Every new employee that came in was given the schedules and rules regarding vacation, sick time and holidays. I would make sure they understood going in that they were expected to work their scheduled holiday shifts, the logic being that everyone did their eight hours and went home so nobody got stuck having to work extra shifts. The unwritten rule for many years was you did not call in sick for a holiday shift unless you were flat on your back. That worked until the younger generation decided that shouldn't apply to them. The "me" generation didn't care that they were screwing their co-workers, not just the company. In shift work, you often need favors from your co-workers and that's where the payback kicks in. Unfortunately, they still don't get it most of the time. I'm glad it's now somebody else's headache.

 

[hereyago]

OMG the new Orleans stations managed to stay on the air even after Katrina

Well an update: Some of posted on the news facebook accounts that the Weather channel was calling for big amounts of snow. They did break in a couple times on the tv, but it wasn't a long broadcast.

Today in my city is about 13 inches of snow. The news did keep breaking in and essentially said it's snowing, really? They did have a broadcast of the news twice mostly covering the snow storm. But as a viewer, I shouldn't have to go look at another station to see the weather that is effecting my area, because it was Christmas.

On a another stations facebook, 1 viewer wrote about watching the weather channel and how the news had dropped the ball sort of speak and it wasn't being mean or nasty, just this is a storm, it is worse then first thought, report the news and his message was deleted and he said that someone from the news facebooked messaged him about it.

 

[Planogirl]

We can't bank sick time so either you use it or lose it. There are no consequences for calling in so people definitely use it.

 

[cm8]

So I worked last night, and I am dreading going back tonight. Most of the staff called out sick. I realize it is a holiday and no one wants to work,but you really make it hard on those of use that do show up. We were already scheduled bare bones before everyone decided not to come. According to my coworkers, this happens every holiday and there are no consequences. So people continue to do it. Please make this reason 100000000001 that I want a new job this year. I cant wait to go back tonight and experience it all again. What happened to work ethic? Sense of responsibility? It really makes me want to just not show up myself, but well, I wont. Sorry, had to vent.

, Thanks for doing your part, It will pay off in the future

 

[KAMLEM]

A friend was supposed to meet us for dinner on Veteran's Day. He had to work, and 2 of his coworkers called in sick that day. He ended up working a 16 hour day and couldn't meet us. That just seems really, really unfair, that he had to do their work. Couldn't things have been swapped around so the other people could have done their work on another day?

Not every job works like that, sometimes things have to get done within certain timeframes, such as payroll.