Accused of being drunk

Could you speak to her about it and give her the opportunity to put this right?
If so, do that first.
If not, HR .

Agree. What a piece of work x

Wow! I am so angry on your behalf. I would be confronting the "senior" directly and asking her why she felt it appropriate to discuss the reason for my absence with colleagues and why exactly she described me as "smashed" and "drunk" when she knew I had dental extractions and therefore had a numb mouth.

I would also tell her that I'd be summarising our meeting by email and I would be including HR as I am justifiably upset.

From a management perspective that is so out of order - obviously you never discussion valid (or even suspect invalid) reasons with other members of staff. That's awful. I hope you successfully resolve it and she apologies.

*this

Stop being so nice, she’s caused her own issues and she needs to learn from her his!

This. How awful.

Your Senior needs to learn from this.

This is bullshit. It's really unprofessional of the senior to be calling you 'smashed' and claiming your sickness was fake.

Presumably you explained your predicament to them so they knew why you sounded weird/slurry. I always say straight away ' sorry I can't talk properly, I've just had my teeth removed'.

You should escalate it higher up as they are smearing your professional reputation. Based on genuine illness.

Plus what 'smashed' person would phone up rather email when they knew they were fucked. In fact they'd call in when hungover the next day surely? Not the night before.

Hope all goes well for you today OP and please update us when you have chance

The point I am trying to make is that all a a manager should tell colleagues is ‘so and so won’t be in today.’
The type of leave they are on is personal private information and should be between the manager and the person who is off.

It could be sick leave, compassionate leave, parental leave, not sure what leave you take if you are in the cells having failed a drink driving test, leave for having a miscarriage when no one even knows you are pregnant, or there must be other circumstances I can’t think of, but all are private and colleagues only need to know you won’t be in today.

I would be very angry about this, and would be raising it with HR and making sure the manager could actually manage a much more delicate reason for not being at work today. It’s private, not office gossip.
Managers have to be able to hold confidentiality, and just keep repeating redfish cat is not in today.

“Since then, I have had some messages from colleagues/friends who have told me that the senior that took my call has told everyone that I was 'smashed' (i.e. drunk) and that's why I was calling in sick.”

So it’s not even one ill-judged comment, she has said this to multiple people and several of them have been so concerned that they let you know about it. You must report this. Don’t worry about her getting into trouble, she didn’t worry about you.

Smashed to me means absolutely exhausted rather than drunk.

Is it possible she said "poor op, she sounded absolutely smashed when I spoke to her on the phone" and they've taken it to mean drunk?

Well there are two issues.

Firstly spreading the untrue rumour the OP.was drunk when she was in fact recovering from dental surgery and seecondly breaking confidence about personal issues. IF the OP had called in sick because she was drunk it would still have been wrong of the manager to tell others.

OP I would raise it in person with the manager, saying your are hurt and disappointed by her spreading maicious and untrue gosspi about you that will damage you professional reputation Also make it very clear to her that sharing any personal medical details is a serious issue and you will be raising it with HR.

The thing is though, OP wasn’t drunk. I see the point you’re trying to make but that would not be a comparable situation.

This colleague has spread lies about OP and should face the consequences for that. She’s a nasty piece of work.

Could it be a case of Chinese whispers and what she actually said was that you sounded drunk on the phone - which you did due to the treatment ?

I would be absolutely fuming!

I am.raging on your behalf op!
Escalate this

She hasn't cared about you, or your reputation or career has she?

A very good point. Nothing personal should be shared like this. The saying "gossip can kill" needs to be harshly remembered here.

You have to report, what if the next person has been hospitalised by her abusive partner, that is definitely something that should not be shared

You need to squash this as soon as possible and make sure she understands that it was completely inappropriate to be making assumptions about you then telling others. How you do this is up to you.

How can you respect her after this...? Did she respect you when she spread this around?

This. Do not let it remain a "rumour". Escalate immediately.

Absolutely and outrageously unacceptable. You need to raise a complaint. I am in the middle of having this exact same work done and immediatel dentures fitted and it is agony. They had absolutely no right to share this with anyone, regardless. I would be raging.

I’d go straight to your manager and say you’ve heard office gossip has said I was drunk, but it was actually due to my teeth.

She has broken confidentiality rules in the workplace. She had no right whatsoever to discuss the phonecall, the details of the conversation and your personal business with ANYONE. She should also be taken to task on the spreading of slanderous lies, which could be damaging to your reputation. Don't go to your manager. From personal experience of something similar they will likely try to brush it under the carpet.
Go straight to your HR dept.