Dear Dr. Holier-Than-Thou: So today shit is rolling uphill. Usually it just rains down on me. When I hire an employee I have to risk that he or she is not a lazy good for nothing waste of space that will sap my patience and bank account and call in sick all the time. So I have a policy of requiring a doctor's note after the first ten sick days off in a year. It's cheaper than firing them. Sorry. Too bad for you. If humanity was more trustworthy in general my company would not need this policy. But it's not.
Non sequitors, poor grammar, excessive verbosity, and inappropriate emotional investment, etc. lead me to believe that the note is a fraud, and a poor one at that.
I don't care if you are sick, lazy, dealing with personal stuff, out drinking, or screwing the volleyball team. It makes absolutely no difference to me as the employer why you are not here. What matters is how much time you miss. It's either too much or not. Too much and I fire you, but if it's acceptable in degree, what business of mine is it how you spend it? In fact, I would rather that you were having a good time - like with the volleyball team than be sick.
I can't ever remember calling sick when I was actually sick. When I was sick, I went to work. When I called in sick, it was usually because I needed to stay home and put up hay.
If you don't miss very much work, they will never question you about calling in sick.
So I have a policy of requiring a doctor's note after the first ten sick days off in a year.
I doubt you have any evidence that this applied to him.
Hires are never a 100% sure-shot. OTOH, if you haven't recognized how fucking ridiculous the majority of management (i.e. >50%) is when it comes to allowing for their workforce to have a basic life of any sort, you've not been paying attention. We're one of the only countries in the world that doesn't even provide for new mothers to take off, for Christ's sake.
I don't care if you are sick, lazy, dealing with personal stuff, out drinking, or screwing the volleyball team. It makes absolutely no difference to me as the employer why you are not here. What matters is how much time you miss. It's either too much or not. Too much and I fire you, but if it's acceptable in degree, what business of mine is it how you spend it? In fact, I would rather that you were having a good time - like with the volleyball team than be sick.
That's a good, healthy attitude, and one that I'm sure most successful employers take. A place I know used to have pooled PTO before the new Masters of The Universe came in and broke it down into an inane formula of a certain amount allocated to vacation versus a certain amount to sick versus "personal", whatever that means. I have no idea how applying such a quack calculation can make anything more efficient by any means.
I come into work, even though I am sick. I wear a mask so everyone knows I am sick and I'm protecting them from my germs. My boss will see, my co-workers will tell him that I'm wearing a mask, and he'll come over to me and waste my time in asking if I'm sick, to which I will answer in the affirmative. Then he will go away with the seed planted in his mind that I will come to work sick and that if I ever should call in sick, it's because I am really fucked up beyond the hope of crawling my near death carcass in, then he'll know I'm legit, but you have to use the long game on that though. See how that works? Thank you.
So, to refocus, requiring a doctor's note after the first 10 sick days is an oppressive "management" regime which fails to allow the "workforce" to have a "basic life of any sort?"
I want people to take days when they feel they need it, but some never do. I worked for 15 years straight without missing a day other than scheduled vacation once a year. My perfect streak ended when I hit the top position in the company. Then I asked my boss how he felt about that. I told myself: Dude, you earned it, so go get hammered, get laid, and get sick - in that order. I always try to do what my employer wants.
Let me explain to you uppity-ups how this worked for some of us hard workin' factory rats.
You had 1) paid vacation days, and you had 2) excused, unpaid days/time off, and you had 3) unexcused absences. Three of those unexcused absences put you into a progressive disciplinary system. If you needed to go to the doctor you could use one of your paid vacation days (or half days); or you could make an office visit to get a doctor's excuse to get the excused, unpaid day off; or you could be a bad boy and take the unexcused day. The latter was frowned upon by management.
Unlike this Doc, the local MD's had preprinted, generic "excused from work" slips that just needed their signature rather than a blank sheet which they could use to reveal the worker's medical condition and give his boss a lecture.
I'm thinking this is fake because the Doc isn't allowed to reveal a patients medical condition under normal circumstances. Or he's just stupid.
Rabel, we were given 8 sick days a year. However, once you reached 5 sick days, you were called into the office and asked WTF?
I was a pressman on a four color web offset press. Not exactly uppity-up. When people crushed a hand or finger, or lost a finger, they wanted you back at work after a couple of days off. You didn't have to do your regular job, but they just wanted you there sitting in a chair doing nothing. They knew what they were doing because after a couple of days doing nothing, you were ready to get back on the press.
I'm not an "uppity up." I don't even know what that means. I do run my own business - oh dear, is that "uppity?" I've worked in the trenches all my life, since I was 13 and working field jobs in the summer which transitioned into working year round after school, etc. etc. and on from there. I've been in the "work force" and now I guess I'm "management." Here's a secret: "Management" answers to people who are much less forgiving and understanding than management, whether it's other management further up the food chain or customers. So consider that it's not unreasonable, in any way, to ask people to do what they're paid to do and show up to work. Nobody's out sick over two weeks in a year without some genuine illness/underlying problem or, the more likely explanation, faking. So I ask for a note after two weeks and the fakers keep their faking down to two weeks. Every time. I let it slide for the one person who had a genuine need to take additional time off.
It's apparent that I did not make my point clearly. Uppity ups referred (jokingly I thought) to those who assume that paid sick leave is the norm for the average worker and were unaware (as was the doctor featured) that there is a systemic reason that a doctor's note is often required.
20 comments:
A gf who was a social worker told an applicant for disability checks to get a doctor's note.
The applicant returned with the note pencilled on torn-out notebook paper, with the doctor's address pencilled in, containing the mesage
"Jimmy White is totally disable to work."
"You're going to have to do better than that," my gf told him.
The note wound up on her kitchen wall.
I accumulated a ton of sic time and when the company was sold, the new company had a different more stringent sick time policy.
I lost all of it.
The idea behind it was that if I got really sick I wouldn't have to go on disability.
Dear Dr. Holier-Than-Thou:
So today shit is rolling uphill. Usually it just rains down on me. When I hire an employee I have to risk that he or she is not a lazy good for nothing waste of space that will sap my patience and bank account and call in sick all the time. So I have a policy of requiring a doctor's note after the first ten sick days off in a year. It's cheaper than firing them. Sorry. Too bad for you.
If humanity was more trustworthy in general my company would not need this policy. But it's not.
Non sequitors, poor grammar, excessive verbosity, and inappropriate emotional investment, etc. lead me to believe that the note is a fraud, and a poor one at that.
It's a good policy. I regularly cheated and claimed I was sick when I was a young snot like Schmendrik. Trust but verify, baby.
I don't care if you are sick, lazy, dealing with personal stuff, out drinking, or screwing the volleyball team. It makes absolutely no difference to me as the employer why you are not here. What matters is how much time you miss. It's either too much or not. Too much and I fire you, but if it's acceptable in degree, what business of mine is it how you spend it? In fact, I would rather that you were having a good time - like with the volleyball team than be sick.
I can't ever remember calling sick when I was actually sick. When I was sick, I went to work. When I called in sick, it was usually because I needed to stay home and put up hay.
If you don't miss very much work, they will never question you about calling in sick.
That is awesome!
So I have a policy of requiring a doctor's note after the first ten sick days off in a year.
I doubt you have any evidence that this applied to him.
Hires are never a 100% sure-shot. OTOH, if you haven't recognized how fucking ridiculous the majority of management (i.e. >50%) is when it comes to allowing for their workforce to have a basic life of any sort, you've not been paying attention. We're one of the only countries in the world that doesn't even provide for new mothers to take off, for Christ's sake.
I don't care if you are sick, lazy, dealing with personal stuff, out drinking, or screwing the volleyball team. It makes absolutely no difference to me as the employer why you are not here. What matters is how much time you miss. It's either too much or not. Too much and I fire you, but if it's acceptable in degree, what business of mine is it how you spend it? In fact, I would rather that you were having a good time - like with the volleyball team than be sick.
That's a good, healthy attitude, and one that I'm sure most successful employers take. A place I know used to have pooled PTO before the new Masters of The Universe came in and broke it down into an inane formula of a certain amount allocated to vacation versus a certain amount to sick versus "personal", whatever that means. I have no idea how applying such a quack calculation can make anything more efficient by any means.
I come into work, even though I am sick. I wear a mask so everyone knows I am sick and I'm protecting them from my germs. My boss will see, my co-workers will tell him that I'm wearing a mask, and he'll come over to me and waste my time in asking if I'm sick, to which I will answer in the affirmative. Then he will go away with the seed planted in his mind that I will come to work sick and that if I ever should call in sick, it's because I am really fucked up beyond the hope of crawling my near death carcass in, then he'll know I'm legit, but you have to use the long game on that though. See how that works? Thank you.
So, to refocus, requiring a doctor's note after the first 10 sick days is an oppressive "management" regime which fails to allow the "workforce" to have a "basic life of any sort?"
You insufferable tool.
I want people to take days when they feel they need it, but some never do. I worked for 15 years straight without missing a day other than scheduled vacation once a year. My perfect streak ended when I hit the top position in the company. Then I asked my boss how he felt about that. I told myself: Dude, you earned it, so go get hammered, get laid, and get sick - in that order. I always try to do what my employer wants.
Going to work sick can be a good thing or bad thing. I work in an office building and I'd rather have a sick employee stay home than spread his germs.
But that's just me.
Most companies I know have PTO, so no doctors note required.
Let me explain to you uppity-ups how this worked for some of us hard workin' factory rats.
You had 1) paid vacation days, and you had 2) excused, unpaid days/time off, and you had 3) unexcused absences. Three of those unexcused absences put you into a progressive disciplinary system. If you needed to go to the doctor you could use one of your paid vacation days (or half days); or you could make an office visit to get a doctor's excuse to get the excused, unpaid day off; or you could be a bad boy and take the unexcused day. The latter was frowned upon by management.
Unlike this Doc, the local MD's had preprinted, generic "excused from work" slips that just needed their signature rather than a blank sheet which they could use to reveal the worker's medical condition and give his boss a lecture.
I'm thinking this is fake because the Doc isn't allowed to reveal a patients medical condition under normal circumstances. Or he's just stupid.
Rabel, we were given 8 sick days a year. However, once you reached 5 sick days, you were called into the office and asked WTF?
I was a pressman on a four color web offset press. Not exactly uppity-up. When people crushed a hand or finger, or lost a finger, they wanted you back at work after a couple of days off. You didn't have to do your regular job, but they just wanted you there sitting in a chair doing nothing. They knew what they were doing because after a couple of days doing nothing, you were ready to get back on the press.
I'm not an "uppity up." I don't even know what that means. I do run my own business - oh dear, is that "uppity?" I've worked in the trenches all my life, since I was 13 and working field jobs in the summer which transitioned into working year round after school, etc. etc. and on from there. I've been in the "work force" and now I guess I'm "management." Here's a secret: "Management" answers to people who are much less forgiving and understanding than management, whether it's other management further up the food chain or customers. So consider that it's not unreasonable, in any way, to ask people to do what they're paid to do and show up to work. Nobody's out sick over two weeks in a year without some genuine illness/underlying problem or, the more likely explanation, faking. So I ask for a note after two weeks and the fakers keep their faking down to two weeks. Every time. I let it slide for the one person who had a genuine need to take additional time off.
It's apparent that I did not make my point clearly. Uppity ups referred (jokingly I thought) to those who assume that paid sick leave is the norm for the average worker and were unaware (as was the doctor featured) that there is a systemic reason that a doctor's note is often required.
I'll try to do better in the future.
Never mind
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