Work and sick time ...

[Luanne]

It seems to me like this has become such a big problem these days with wherever you work (maybe I am incorrect in saying this ...) ... I know the place my father works is very understanding about when he gets sick which is great since he is 72 and when he does get sick it seems to take him longer to recover. He has also covered for my mother who manages storage units when she was sick (also causing him to miss work). Where I work, however, seems to think that no one should ever get sick and even if they do they are capable of working a full day anyway... mind you this is standing on your feet non-stop for 8 hours. One of our lower managers had a migraine headache today and was still expected to work her full shift without any accommodations at all. Maybe the people who set up this way of doing things have never been sick in their life so they don't understand that people DO get sick whether anyone likes it or not. What situations similar or not to this have you dealt with? ... or maybe it is just me.

[LisaK in VA]

Some places are like that -- and with plenty of labor available, don't really worry about replacing people. Or the boss just doesn't care.

I had a boss who thought if HE was at work, everyone else should be too. We had 2.5 feet in our driveway, the roads were not plowed -- and this was a-typical weather. Where he lived, they got an inch of snow. When I called in, because I couldn't get out of the driveway, or the development -- his response was, "there's no snow here... I don't see what the problem is." In another case I put my back out, it took me 2 hours to move from the floor to the bed. I couldn't stand. I couldn't walk. I couldn't drive. He still insisted I should come in. This was the most stressful job I ever had -- not because of the work, but because of my boss! If I went to the bathroom, and he buzzed me while I was out, he'd be in my office waiting for me when I got back asking me where I'd been.

Awful.