Does this sound like a lie to you?

I agree with you – it sounds perfectly reasonable but you know how some bosses are.

Its Reasonable but yes it is a lie…

Sounds reasonable to me, too, but some bosses always think their employees are trying to screw them. Perhaps you could have asked her originally if she could cover you on Monday as well as Tuesday. If she had said Monday was a problem, you could have then said you’d come in for a limited amount of time on heavy meds, but that you couldn’t be held responsibile for spreading germs.

It sounds reasonable, but it does not make sense if you were sick that you “planned” your illness.

In your bosses feeble defense, I think the gut reaction of every supervisor is to assume that people are lying when they call in. The unusual circumstance of that call in probably heightened that radar. We all know that people should not work when they’re coughing, sneezing, etc. but supervisors often accept this only begrudgingly.

The problem is that you’re probably being lumped in with others. If you have an unusually high rate of call offs that’s a different matter, but most likely when your boss heard that she was thinking “man, all these slackers calling off on me!”. It doesn’t matter if this is your first call in of the year of your fifth. In their mind you’re getting lumped in with everyone else.

In my experience as a manager that was always my initial reaction when somebody called off and I probably came off as something of a jerk when they called in. 10 minutes later I would calm down, look at their HR reports, determine that they rarely call in and feel bad for being a jerk. Regardless of your employment history, I can imagine myself reacting the same way.

Doesn’t really sound reasonable to me. If you’re sick, you shouldn’t be at work, passing out viruses through the air. Period. This isn’t just about you. Also, if you come in Monday, you really can’t know what you’ll feel like on Tuesday.

If you’‘re sick, you’re sick, and you lose the money. Or maybe people will reschedule. They should understand. If you think you might take Tuesday off, then you wait until Tuesday morning to tell your boss you can’t make it in. At that point, you can say you shouldn’t have come in Monday, because it really took it out of you.

But negotiating this in advance is very peculiar. It doesn’t sound good at all. And it really doesn’t make sense from any point of view except for your earnings.

You told the truth. after all, you laying out for a few days is much better than giving your cold to everyone else, right? you did the right thing

Check this out:

In 1998, we had a devastating tornado in Nashville. it formed in the western part of downtown and made its way east to my house. we were blessed with little damage. we had no electricity and no phone service. i did not have a cellphone at that time. my boss(not the police dept.) was throroughly ticked off that i had not arrived for a part time job. trees were down, roofs blown off of houses and cars upside down was the scene. we could not move because of the downed trees. pitch black. i had no outside communication with the world. finally, a neighbor came by and i used his cellphone to call my part time job. this idiot of a supervisor did not believe me, either. he said, “the storm only hit downtown, not in your neighborhood.” i tried to explain, but he would not listen. within three hours, this idiot arrived at my house in an all terrain vehicle. did he come to help? NO. he came to see if i was telling the truth. i politely directed him to my downed telephone line. he did not say much after this. he still did not offer to help us. as he left, i said to him, “Oh, by way, you can take your part time job and shove it! i will not be back”.

So, you see. i understand what you are talking about. good question. john

Thanks everyone for your answers.

@crazyivan That makes sense. I can only hope she is like you and did look at my history and reconsider afterwards – I’ve only called in twice in more than two years of employment. I hate to think she considers me a liar because I want a good reference in the future!

@john65pennington That’s terrible! I’d have quit, too. At least my boss is being mostly polite about it…

@wundayatta But this wasn’t just about my earnings: if I’d waited until Tuesday morning or even Monday evening to call my boss, she wouldn’t have been able to replace me and my clients wouldn’t have had any service. I wanted to avoid that for my own ethical reasons, but also because my boss has stressed repeatedly that ensuring no breaks in service for our clients is her top priority. She’s actually said to contact her the very second we suspect we may not make a meeting – if I’d waited until Tuesday, I’d have gone against her explicit directions! So, I can’t agree with you there. But you make a point about me not knowing for sure how I would feel on the Tuesday – I think now that I should have phrased it more tentatively, and suggested that if I did feel better I would call her and go to work after all.

As for spreading viruses, my boss has never indicated that is a concern of hers, it isn’t a company policy, nor did my boss mention it during our conversation. Certainly that isn’t what led to her opinion of the situation. So, maybe it’s an ethical factor worthy of debate, but it’s not really relevant to my question. But, as an ethical consideration worthy of debate, I disagree with you. I mean, I don’t entirely disagree – I don’t want to make anyone sick, and in an ideal world everyone who is sick would stay home – but your opinion is impractical. We live in a capitalist economy: no one will cover my ass financially, so I don’t think it’s reasonable to ask me to cover their asses health-wise. And your suggestion about my co-workers rescheduling to give me more hours is not possible in my work.

@wundayatta: Unfortunately, not all employers think that way. I had one tell us, specifically those of us in higher positions, that unless we were carrying our heads in our hands, he didn’t want us to ever call in sick. We were to set a strong example. I agree with you, though. Sick people should stay home!

Laughing, I think that’s twice in a month I’ve said I agree with you. WOOOOOO…time to take my temperature! :)

@EGGIE What do you mean by “yes, it is a lie”? It isn’t, it’s the truth. If it were a lie, why would I have posted this?

@nicobanks My employer is very concerned about infectious diseases. There are around thirty thousand people here, and if a virus gets loose, you could have a third of the professors and students out all at the same time. It would be impossible to stay open.

So they offer free flu shots to everyone, as a precaution. I suppose that’s a precaution that is easier for a large employer to take, but small employers could, potentially, face a much larger disaster if all the key people are down with the flu at the same time. Or, if they all try to come to work, if they put out a bad product as a result of being sick. It’s very short-sighted, but I understand.

@cak God forbid this should become a habit! Seems to me, though, that we used to agree with each other a lot more, a while back, so perhaps it wouldn’t be that much of a disaster…... on second thought, I think we better nip this little trend in the bud. So, my official position is that if you agree with me, then I disagree with you. I’ll leave it to you to figure out how that one works! ;-)

@wundayatta: I’m sure there is an application, algorithm…something, to keep track. Merry Christmas, friend.

@cak LOL! “There’s an app for that!”

Seasons Greetings! I hope you enjoy this one very much!

@nicobanks you obviously work for the government or on a government contract. All big organizations operate on the assumption that people are out to screw them, and in their defense, that’s usually the case.

I, however, believe your story. Unfortunately, the bigger the organization, the lower their corporate I.Q. I expect that there is a detrimental comment in your permanent record. Good luck on that and you better not screw up. I expect that your supervisor already has a friend or relative lined up to take your job at the next minor infraction

@Ron_C Almost government (actually, a college body that relies on a gov. grant); but yes, a big organization. /Sigh I hope you’re not right about my record… I generally don’t screw up at work, but it wouldn’t even have to come to that: I’m technically an independent contractor, so they don’t have to fire me – just not hire me next September.

Thanks for your input, though.

@nicobanks please find comfort the fact that you are not the only one in the bureaucratic shit list. I jumped to the head of the line years ago as a Navy Petty Officer serving on a small naval base in the Philippines. My boss was using our Philippine workers in his body shop during working hours when they were paid (by the Navy) to fix boat radios.
As a result, I was denied further promotion, a commission, and college education in a Navy program. I suspect that mark is still in my record.

@Ron_C Eek. My sympathies!

@nicobanks no sympathy needed. The first year that I was out, my pay doubled, the second year it doubled again. I stayed in the Reserves until it became clear that my military ties were broken but I never turned against the military, at least not the Navy. My daughter both joined and did extremely well. I was temperorily disappointed by my youngest joining the army but she did her research and had a plan so even the disgrace of a Navy vertern’s child joining the Army worked for the best.

I have no regrets and got an excellent free education from the military even if I got shot at a few times.

@Ron_C Well, congrats then!