Work Vent!!!!

[luvsJack]

I am so mad right now I could spit!!!

I work in a 4 person department, but I am the only one here and have been the only one here all week. My daughter is home sick (possibly strep throat) and I haven't been able to take her to the doctor because no one is here so that I can leave to take her. I am giving up trying to get her to her own doctor and taking her to an urgent care place tonight.

This happens all the time. If one person is out, at least one other is out and usually both of the others. Have a dr.'s appointment? Means being out all day. NO ONE can possibly get an appointment in the early am or late pm (except me) and every time they go to the dr. he tells them to stay home for 3 or 4 days, regardless of what is wrong with them. Stubbed toe? Oh, by all means stay home all week. And you can forget anyone having the sense to say, "oh, maybe I should schedule this appointment at another time because xxx has to be out"

I am not the supervisor of this office, in fact in order of seniority, I am third. But, yet, it is always me that doesn't take off because of someone else, or comes in to make sure the others get here. I am SICK of it. I do not, by any stretch of the imagination make enough money for this.

I took this job because of the holidays and the great number of personal days we get each year. It should make me more available to my daughter. And it did until I moved into this department. Now I cannot always take off when she is sick or even when I am sick because no one else is here!!! And if I want to take off for one of her school holidays, I have to tell everyone months in advance to try and beat everyone else to the punch.

DH tells me to go to the higher ups and complain. But that has been done and nothing changes.

And THEN when one of my co-workers can't get her job done, us other two will be asked (or told actually) by the supervisor to work Saturdays to help her catch up. Hello! Come to work!!

Today, to really tick me off--one co-worker is on vacation, one calls me (why she calls me and not the supervisor, Lord only knows) and tells me she is deathly ill and the doc told her to stay out until Tuesday (how convienent, we are off Monday); I can't get our supervisor (who is also not here) to answer her phone so I send her a text that co-worker #2 won't be here tomorrow. She makes some comment and then says she hopes she will be back--she has two different complaints than she had when she talked to someone from another dept. earlier today (both of which I believe to be BS). I tell her my child is sick and her answer--I hope she feels better. Not, do you need to be off with her; not, do you need to take her to the doctor; nothing like that. And after that comment she doesnt' answer.

And let me add that the supervisor is out because of a procedure that she had done, that could have waited until my other co-worker was not on vacation. She CHOSE this time for this. And because of something they did her voice is effected and she is hoarse. Not hurting, not sick from it, hoarse. Of course after she found out coworker 2 is going to be out she had serious ailments. She was out one day this week because she had a dr. appointment at 8 AM!! She was out of the dr. by 9 and still could not come to work. Incindently, she will take off when her 16 year old son is sick, but acts like its a hardship when I take off with my 11 year old.

Now, I will admit that I am here and on the DIS. But, I read and post between seeing students. So I may be reading for 30 seconds, and then 10 students come in and then I read again for 10 seconds and 15 students come in. I am at a desk at the front of the office and help every student that walks in this office, they see me before they see anyone else; but there is a break here and there between them. Its not that I think I am working too hard, but whether I am on the DIS or seeing students all day; I can't leave because the office has to be open. So, I had to leave my sick child with her grandmother and will be taking her to the doc tonight.

 

[Christine]

That's a real shame that upper management tolerates and enables this behavior. Especially in this job market where they could just dump those people and find replacements.

I am in an office of 6 people. Three of us work on the same team. There was one woman, no lie, for the last 18 months has never made it through a full pay period. She never had anything really wrong with her, just one of those people who stayed home for every little thing. Since I work for the government, there is really very little that can be done; however, my supervisor was very disgusted by it and the woman certainly paid for it in her annual review. Still didn't stop her behavior. Luckily the rest of us never suffered for it. Our supervisor sucked it up and picked up her slack.

 

[Handbag Lady]

When the supervisor gets back, schedule a meeting with them to go over expectations and your specific issues.

The response they give you should tell you if you need to stay, suck it up, or if they will actually change something.

 

[Stacerita]

What does the policy and procedures manual say about sick time, days off and such? Have you talked to HR?

Sometimes it stinks being the responsible person in the department. But like my nana always said "the more you bend, the more they see your (not dis friendly word for hiney)."

 

[Tink888]

I am so mad right now I could spit!!!

I work in a 4 person department, but I am the only one here and have been the only one here all week. My daughter is home sick (possibly strep throat) and I haven't been able to take her to the doctor because no one is here so that I can leave to take her. I am giving up trying to get her to her own doctor and taking her to an urgent care place tonight.

This happens all the time. If one person is out, at least one other is out and usually both of the others. Have a dr.'s appointment? Means being out all day. NO ONE can possibly get an appointment in the early am or late pm (except me) and every time they go to the dr. he tells them to stay home for 3 or 4 days, regardless of what is wrong with them. Stubbed toe? Oh, by all means stay home all week. And you can forget anyone having the sense to say, "oh, maybe I should schedule this appointment at another time because xxx has to be out"

I am not the supervisor of this office, in fact in order of seniority, I am third. But, yet, it is always me that doesn't take off because of someone else, or comes in to make sure the others get here. I am SICK of it. I do not, by any stretch of the imagination make enough money for this.

I took this job because of the holidays and the great number of personal days we get each year. It should make me more available to my daughter. And it did until I moved into this department. Now I cannot always take off when she is sick or even when I am sick because no one else is here!!! And if I want to take off for one of her school holidays, I have to tell everyone months in advance to try and beat everyone else to the punch.

DH tells me to go to the higher ups and complain. But that has been done and nothing changes.

And THEN when one of my co-workers can't get her job done, us other two will be asked (or told actually) by the supervisor to work Saturdays to help her catch up. Hello! Come to work!!

Today, to really tick me off--one co-worker is on vacation, one calls me (why she calls me and not the supervisor, Lord only knows) and tells me she is deathly ill and the doc told her to stay out until Tuesday (how convienent, we are off Monday); I can't get our supervisor (who is also not here) to answer her phone so I send her a text that co-worker #2 won't be here tomorrow. She makes some comment and then says she hopes she will be back--she has two different complaints than she had when she talked to someone from another dept. earlier today (both of which I believe to be BS). I tell her my child is sick and her answer--I hope she feels better. Not, do you need to be off with her; not, do you need to take her to the doctor; nothing like that. And after that comment she doesnt' answer.

And let me add that the supervisor is out because of a procedure that she had done, that could have waited until my other co-worker was not on vacation. She CHOSE this time for this. And because of something they did her voice is effected and she is hoarse. Not hurting, not sick from it, hoarse. Of course after she found out coworker 2 is going to be out she had serious ailments. She was out one day this week because she had a dr. appointment at 8 AM!! She was out of the dr. by 9 and still could not come to work. Incindently, she will take off when her 16 year old son is sick, but acts like its a hardship when I take off with my 11 year old.

Now, I will admit that I am here and on the DIS. But, I read and post between seeing students. So I may be reading for 30 seconds, and then 10 students come in and then I read again for 10 seconds and 15 students come in. I am at a desk at the front of the office and help every student that walks in this office, they see me before they see anyone else; but there is a break here and there between them. Its not that I think I am working too hard, but whether I am on the DIS or seeing students all day; I can't leave because the office has to be open. So, I had to leave my sick child with her grandmother and will be taking her to the doc tonight.

VENT AWAY!!!!!! I have been there done that at my last job. It's infuriating!!! LET IT OUT!

I understand, I sympathize and I hope your daughter feels better soon. It's such BS that those things go on at work and management turns a blind eye to it. Makes you want to scream!

 

[taylor1293]

I'm sorry for your frustration! It's so aggrevating to work with people who do not pull their weight.

However, may I suggest this...if you need time off for a sick child and you are allowed the time by your work, then take it. You are not the office supervisor and the department isn't your responsibility. Until your coworkers change their "Oh, we can take time off, LuvsJack will be in the office" attitude, they will continue leaving you to work the office understaffed. JMO.

Hope your daughter feels better soon

 

[ShesAPirate]

Ugh, I know EXACTLY how you feel! There are double-standards alllll over the place in my department (and I work for a large company). It's incredibly frustrating. And what makes me even MORE crazy is sometimes when I do vent about it, I get the whole 'blah blah blah, in this economy you should be happy you have a job, blah blah blah'... I've been trying to look at it that way, but... it's just not enough for me to just have a job, you know?

Anyway, thanks for letting me hop on your vent! I hope your daughter gets better soon, and that things improve at work. I wish you the best of luck!

 

[kilee]

I agree, you are not the supervisor, so it's not your responsibility to keep things running smoothly. The way I see it, if you have the sick time to take and you truly need it-- then use it. Possibly once the supervisor has to start picking up some slack she'll start to be more strict about the abusive time off of others.

However, to play devils advocate the fact that you are a reliable steady in the department, probably represents well for you. In this job market, I'd want any edge I could get.

 

[manning]

I worked in a dept where one person was a goof off. Our work was structured in a way that you couldn't tell who did what and abused the phone. We did a lot of phone work. The supervisor was useless. He would make the rest of us to take up the slack.

We had a phone system that you could progam speed dial and we could get a printout of the calls made. The company would monitor the list. I arranged to be the one to program the system and made sure all our suppliers numbers were 800 numbers. I also was able to get the supervisor to rearange the work so you could identify who did what.

After that his personal calls stood out like a sore thumb and you could tell who wasn't carrying their own weight in regards to workload.

Problem solved. Our supervisor had to address the issue or explain things to his boss.

 

[JessicaR]

Every one of them know you are dependable so they don't have to be. They even call YOU when they will be out. That is a horrible atmosphere to have to work in. It would be nice to be able to do as they do.

I'm sorry your daughter is sick and I hope her appointment went well. That is so unfair that you were unable to take her because they are all inconsiderate!

 

[luvsJack]

Took dd to the doctor last night--had a horrible time finding an office open at night. We have several places called "urgent care" or "immediate care" or "after-hours" and they all closed by 6! That seems to defeat the purpose But I did get her to a doctor (and thankfully it was one that my mom used to see, so I knew him and knew I could trust him--that was a big relief!) and she does have strep and they gave her meds. So, I feel better now that I have gotten her to the doctor.

On the one hand, I feel like I need to quit being the responsible one in the office and just start calling in or leaving when I need to. But, otoh, I keep telling myself I don't want to stoop to their level and this job market is a big factor because I am looking for something else plus I know that our "big" boss is retiring soon and someone new will be coming in (its not a position they will hire from within for) and I can just about guarantee that he/she will make some major changes.

Everyone in every other department knows this goes on, including all the way up the ladder--but they just don't do anything! People from other departments that are calling about something that is really one of the other's job will call me because they know that I am there and they don't know about the other 3!

The good part is though, that I have learned parts of everyone else's jobs, so if there was any restructuring done--I could do any of the positions in our department (or transfer to any of those positions at the other campus). And it has given me the chance to network with people in offices all the way to the president and vice-president's offices. If something opens up further up the ladder, my name will be someone they recognize.