jaydoes t1_ir7uehi wrote
Reply to comment by laplongejr in TIFU by not showing up to work and leaving my new co-worker all alone by [deleted]
As a former manager, I do have to say, this is every managers nightmare. With enough notice I can either find someone to cover, or maybe rework the schedule to at least cover some of the shift, but I do need you to make sure I know, and 5 hours is pushing it. Managers are often so busy that checking all the apps several times a day isn't realistic. On the other hand I always made myself available pretty much 24/7. Everyone had my number or knew where it was. I think there's fault on both sides here. And I'm not sure menstrual cramps would count as an excused absence unless you told me ahead of time that it was a recurring problem and you couldn't work that couple of days.
St3phiroth t1_ir8i6lb wrote
Do you have a uterus? Because it sounds like you haven't had bad menstrual cramps before. I have PCOS and sometimes "menstrual cramps" is truly debilitating pain with basically no notice for me thanks to irregular cycles. I've had vomiting from pain, I've passed out from pain, etc. I was definitely not able to work in those conditions. Doctors blew me off for years and just told me it was "normal cramps." Thankfully it's finally diagnosed and I'm able to manage it better than I could as a late teen. But it should 100% be as much of an excuse to miss work as a cold, stomach bug, or other very painful condition.
jaydoes t1_ir8rlku wrote
Yes, I understand and if she's aware that happens every month, I at least, would have been willing to make arrangements. My only point was that 5 hours, without even direct contact will not be enough time to find a replacement, especially if she hasn't talked to the manager directly. I do agree that the manager not providing employees with direct contact means is a big part of the issue. I always made sure everyone had my number and I was like call anytime for any kind of an emergency.
Artemisa_vv t1_ir8ug4e wrote
>if she's aware that happens every month
It's not like a pre-scheduled thing. Teenagers have incredibly unpredictable cycles, even more so if they have any gynaecological condition.
If it's PCOS it often happens unrelated to a period, as cysts usually occur during ovulation.
I've been a manager in fast food, it really does suck to have to cover shifts on the fly but it is the most crucial part of the job. That's why hiring is so important, so that you get people who can cover gaps in a short notice.
And 5hours isn't even that bad, our industry agreement says 1hour notice is all casuals have to give.
jaydoes t1_irblx98 wrote
Wow, that would drive me insane. I thought reliability was one of the most important things.
laplongejr t1_ir98btd wrote
> My only point was that 5 hours, without even direct contact will not be enough time to find a replacement, especially if she hasn't talked to the manager directly.
Not her fault when the manager didn't make sure everybody had emergency contact. A employee which is sick or enjuried literally need the simplest way to raise the issue. You can't even be sure THE EMPLOYEE will be the one calling : my wife once lost her voice and they didn't want her husband to vouch for her... yet at the same time only accepted vocal calls.
And in particular, that means a single point of contact that doesn't change depending on the manager. Sick policy shouldn't need a service-wide update because one person quit.
> I always made sure everyone had my number and I was like call anytime for any kind of an emergency.
And that's what that shitty manager didn't do. They sent an email and never checked for confirmation. You would say that it's how some humans behave... but again, the work of a manager is to manage humans.
jaydoes t1_irbjtxi wrote
Right. I agree with all of that. All of my employees knew how to contact me and that if it was important it could be at any time. This whole thing only really started for me because of all the people saying 5 hours is enough. Those people gave never managed a store full of 21 year Olds who just need enough money to party.
laplongejr t1_ir9825o wrote
> With enough notice I can either find someone to cover
As a manager, what do you do when you have no notice at all?
My wife got sent in the hospital in emergency because she fainted around 4pm. She was 18 at the time and not allowed to call her parents, because you know, she's an adult. She had to plead to be allowed to call... at 10pm.
> but I do need you to make sure I know, and 5 hours is pushing it.
In our country, emergency hospital procedure is that the patient is not allowed basically anything if there's no doctor to examine : no eating, no calling. If no doctor is available you're basically in prison because they have no idea what is or is not a danger to yourself.
The fact is that you are running a business, and you need to plan for the case where an employee will not even be good enough to follow the sick policy.
If your employee get hit by a car, do you let the coworker handle the entire shift?
jaydoes t1_irblota wrote
Depends on the employee and how busy, but for me if it's someone experienced, I trusted that person to make the call and maybe I can get them some help or the next shift person to come in early. I generally hired compassionate people so in the case of something major I could get someone a lot of the time. If necessary I would cover it myself, but working 50 or 60 hours a week gets really old really fast. Usually my policy was as long as we get 24 hours notice or it is actually an emergency, that wouldn't be reflected on a person's record. Short notice or not showing up was considered an inexcused absence and there's still no consequence unless you rack up 3 of them in a year, at which point we would call the person and and talk about what we can do. I tried to be nice, so if it's like a scheduling problem or something we can resolve then we will do that. But it's not fair to the other employees to just let it go.
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