Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My 2 cents worth, Businesses have become more business-like, and less family oriented. Everyone wants to know they have all their employees there, and if they can persuade you not to have to make them work harder to find someone to cover for you, then they will. You say you work in a 10 hour a day office, so, I assume you have one day Mon thru Friday off, in my company we get off at 1pm on Fridays, so I suggest to all employees to schedul as much personal stuff as possible for after 1:30 on friday so as to not interfere with work. Its a job and they pay you to be there, not to be a personal assistant for relatives and its not their fault you have car problems. Its business, you have to have your priorities straight for you. I hear it everyday, from Im not gonna have a babysitter next week to My car had a flat and Im not coming in all day.
In the best of all worlds, "life" would only happen in the off hours, when work isn't happening. But it doesn't always work that way, unfortunately.
This has happened more than once in my workplace. Not often, because I don't ask, often.
But most recently this past week when a sudden need arose with regard to my elderly mother in law. My husband (her son) and myself are the only ones here in town, for her. She is old, she's feeble, and probably if the truth be known, shouldn't be living on her own. But try telling her that!
At the same time, my husband, who has been working long hours (self employed) and takes Ambien so he can sleep at night, discovered only when he went to bed, he was taking the last of his sleep aids. They are a necessity for him to get any rest. He works a very labor intensive field. So he called in a refill, but obviously it wouldn't be ready until the next day, "business hours".
Both of us would be out of pocket the next day. Me, completely outside of the operational hours of the pharmacy. Him, also, on a job, away from this area. Nobody available to go pick up the rx, and they don't deliver. Believe me, I tried, all day, at work, txt'ing, any/everyone I could, to see if I could get someone to pick up the rx, no one was available.
Mil (aged mil) in need of some assistance, also, the very same afternoon, with an issue of her own.
I asked, put in, thru the appropriate channels, at work. And as is always the case, "denied", "deficient staffing".
It's very frustrating.
Yes, I understand my husband is a grown man, and if he's out of his rx for his sleep aides, thats his own problem, too bad. Mil, she's aged, and she shouldn't be living on her own, and so other arrangements need to be made. But in the real world, "stuff happens".
If I were an employee who is constantly running to put out fires on the home-front instead of attending to my job, I could see this would be an issue, and that I need my attitude adjusted. But that isn't the case. I rarely ask. Precisely because I diligently try to accomplish what needs doing in off hours.
Yes I have time off during the week, and mostly I do attend to personal/home-front issues on those days, so that I won't have to attend to those during work hours, so that I can be responsible to my employer. But as I said "stuff happens".
It makes an employee grow resentful when there is a refusal on the part of the employer to realize that the person working for them, while responsible and professional and dutiful to their job, also has a life and responsibilities and things in their personal life that tug at them too, from time to time.
Fine and good that I am given time off to utilize throughout the year. Very generous of my employer to do so. However, in the setting where I work, one has to submit to utilize it several mos. in advance. One doesn't always know, several mos. in advance, that they may need an hour and half off on a given afternoon, to go handle a personal matter, on occasion. That allowance, apparently not acceptable these days in the work-a-day world.
In the best of all worlds, "life" would only happen in the off hours, when work isn't happening. But it doesn't always work that way, unfortunately.
This has happened more than once in my workplace. Not often, because I don't ask, often.
But most recently this past week when a sudden need arose with regard to my elderly mother in law. My husband (her son) and myself are the only ones here in town, for her. She is old, she's feeble, and probably if the truth be known, shouldn't be living on her own. But try telling her that!
At the same time, my husband, who has been working long hours (self employed) and takes Ambien so he can sleep at night, discovered only when he went to bed, he was taking the last of his sleep aids. They are a necessity for him to get any rest. He works a very labor intensive field. So he called in a refill, but obviously it wouldn't be ready until the next day, "business hours".
Both of us would be out of pocket the next day. Me, completely outside of the operational hours of the pharmacy. Him, also, on a job, away from this area. Nobody available to go pick up the rx, and they don't deliver. Believe me, I tried, all day, at work, txt'ing, any/everyone I could, to see if I could get someone to pick up the rx, no one was available.
Mil (aged mil) in need of some assistance, also, the very same afternoon, with an issue of her own.
I asked, put in, thru the appropriate channels, at work. And as is always the case, "denied", "deficient staffing".
It's very frustrating.
Yes, I understand my husband is a grown man, and if he's out of his rx for his sleep aides, thats his own problem, too bad. Mil, she's aged, and she shouldn't be living on her own, and so other arrangements need to be made. But in the real world, "stuff happens".
If I were an employee who is constantly running to put out fires on the home-front instead of attending to my job, I could see this would be an issue, and that I need my attitude adjusted. But that isn't the case. I rarely ask. Precisely because I diligently try to accomplish what needs doing in off hours.
Yes I have time off during the week, and mostly I do attend to personal/home-front issues on those days, so that I won't have to attend to those during work hours, so that I can be responsible to my employer. But as I said "stuff happens".
It makes an employee grow resentful when there is a refusal on the part of the employer to realize that the person working for them, while responsible and professional and dutiful to their job, also has a life and responsibilities and things in their personal life that tug at them too, from time to time.
Fine and good that I am given time off to utilize throughout the year. Very generous of my employer to do so. However, in the setting where I work, one has to submit to utilize it several mos. in advance. One doesn't always know, several mos. in advance, that they may need an hour and half off on a given afternoon, to go handle a personal matter, on occasion. That allowance, apparently not acceptable these days in the work-a-day world.
That is how call centers work. Had this been a typical office environment where you can make up your own work the next day or at home you would not have an issue. Call centers however, are all about the numbers.
I do understand, as I have been in retail and have had to miss events because someone called in/needed time off I was not able to get.
However, while all of that does sound terrible, I can't help but think of the person who was not able to leave to take care of their needs, because you needed personal time off. There are 2 sides to this and while I understand that the person who would have had to stay was possibly not busy that afternoon, it is a really tough call for someone in HR to say "Hey, person B, person A has things going on in their personal life, so you are going to have to put your life on hold for person A". That's a pretty tough sell.
I have also just gone back to work after being a SAHM for 5 years. Fortunately so far the higher-ups seem to be pretty flexible about time off. It sounds like the type of job you have, more so than the new way of the world. FWIW a lot of pharmacies are open late, some even 24 hours. This seems like something that could have been done before or after work or on a lunch hour. I know things do come up unexpectedly though.
I've always tried to 'do the right thing' in regards to company policy, time off requests etc until it
came abundandtly clear that it was much more to my benefit to simply call-in 'sick' for the day rather
than try to explain anything to anyone who really could care less...
Koale
When I worked for the airlines. Vacation or planned sick time had to be requested at least 30 days out. Reguardless you are charged for all time off. When you use your time up. Leave without pay is charged. Very little sympathy or leway in that company. I was exempt management with a union workforce.
I do understand, as I have been in retail and have had to miss events because someone called in/needed time off I was not able to get.
However, while all of that does sound terrible, I can't help but think of the person who was not able to leave to take care of their needs, because you needed personal time off. There are 2 sides to this and while I understand that the person who would have had to stay was possibly not busy that afternoon, it is a really tough call for someone in HR to say "Hey, person B, person A has things going on in their personal life, so you are going to have to put your life on hold for person A". That's a pretty tough sell.
FWIW, this is a *virtual environment* with sites throughout the country, manned/staffed, 24/7, 365. So it isn't a setting whereby, ostensibly, person A has to stay late because person B cut out early due to personal issues, or something on that order. There are staggered shifts that folks work, and as I said, there are sites throughout the country, all doing the same job. So it isn't a situation whereby if one person cuts out, suddenly it's a matter that the company now is short-handed.
I suppose, like some have proposed here, it's a numbers game. And it's the nature of the beast.
And like another poster had put forth having had to call in sick, when it's become evident, that it doesn't matter what the personal needs are. I hate the thought of having to be dishonest. I am given a bank of sick leave to utilize, but want to only utilize it for that purpose solely.
I had heard that very same proposition by one of the folks I work with, put forth in a conversation we had over this very topic. Her words were "this company makes good people do bad things". She proposed the very same approach. I don't know because I haven't run afoul of it, but the company also has a sick leave policy whereby one has too many of those, and they get a "write up" in their file. So, they have you pretty much stuck in your chair for the hours you are theirs.
I don't know. I got the answers, I appreciate the input. Seems the answers are mostly that it's the line of work I'm in, not the new world order, for the most part.
This is not a management type position. I work in a low-level techie call center position for a huge company. In other words, I troubleshoot techie issues on a low-level basis. If it gets too high-tech, it has to be forwarded on to other levels beyond myself (read - folks a whole lot smarter than me). But nonetheless, a call center type environment.
This is why you dont get time off. These positions are normally highly monitored, people cant easily replaced if someone needs to come in late or slip out early. I have some friends who work call centers, they have to let a supervisor know if they need to go to the bathroom because every incoming call in monitored. It's the nature of a call center (or any type of retail/help desk/sales desk) environment.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
for me...
