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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that "my car won't start" is not a reason for not coming to work

104 replies

OhDearNigel · 02/01/2013 09:29

When you live on a bus route that will get you to your office ? Colleague phoned in with "car problems" which apparently mean she can't come in for the rest of the week Shock. She lives round the corner from my parents so I know full well that there is a bus route that goes pretty much from outside her house and goes past our office so it's not as if she can't get there

OP posts:
diddl · 02/01/2013 10:10

But surely the problem is with the bosses allowing/accepting this?

Even if it´s annual leave, it´s at there discretion to clear it at such short notice, isn´t it?

Can´t help thinking it´s not the real reason.

Did you hear all of the conversation?

diddl · 02/01/2013 10:11

there instead of their-oh the shameBlush

MrsMushroom · 02/01/2013 10:11

santa if the car breaking down was unexpected, then it is perfectly reasonable to think that some people may not have budget for public transport.

cinnamonnut · 02/01/2013 10:11

YANBU, another example of car dependency (or just a crap excuse)

Original poster
OhDearNigel · 02/01/2013 10:19

The car breaking down wasn't unexpected. She had problems with it on monday. Lift sharing with the colleague that lives nearby wouldn't cost her anything (he used to take another lady into work until she very sadly passed away last month). Furthermore we get free bus travel.

OP posts:
anewyear · 02/01/2013 10:19

My husband is a SE mechanic, has his own small business, hes been 'shut' all week, Xmas is the only time he closes. He went back to work today.
Possible her mechanic has only gone back to work today I guess.

I personally think shes gone away too tho.
With mobile phones its possible to call from anwhere and pretend your 'at home'!?

mrsscoob · 02/01/2013 10:19

Well I do think YANBU, I can understand one day but the rest of the week seems odd. However if she has cleared it with her manager and is taking it as annual leave then I don't think its any of your business, sorry Grin

Also up thread the guy with the snow list? I don't think this is fair as some people have cars that are safer to drive in the snow and some people wouldn't be a confident enough driver to want to take the chance. I know when it has snowed here I have got DH to drive me in his car as I didn't feel confident enough.

Original poster
OhDearNigel · 02/01/2013 10:20

Diddl - just heard the manager's side of the conversation, it was definitely about the car because he was talking technical things about engines

OP posts:
Original poster
OhDearNigel · 02/01/2013 10:23

mrsscoob - it is because I have been "asked" ie. told to cover her late shift on Friday

OP posts:
atthewelles · 02/01/2013 10:25

'Car problems' is a lousy excuse to take a week off but it could be a cover for something else going on in her life that she's not happy to reveal to her managers. To be honest, unless she reports to you, it's not really any of your business. You sound a bit judgmental.

As for the boss who kept a map of where people lived in case it snowed - I think that's very controlling behaviour. Some people go to ridiculous lengths to get into work in treacherous weather conditions; it doesn't mean everyone else in the vicinity has to follow suitl

SantasENormaSnob · 02/01/2013 10:25

Whether she can afford transport or not is not her workplaces problem.

It certainly wouldn't wash at my workplace. And rightly so.

By not turning in it puts patients at risk and adds considerably to my colleagues workload.

Neither of which are fair.

ginmakesitallok · 02/01/2013 10:30

Yanbu. How people get to work is of no concern to employers. It is her responsibility to be able to get to work. That said, if it has been agreed that she can take annual leave then it's not really an issue.

shesariver · 02/01/2013 10:31

Well she's using up a weeks annual leave that will come out of her allocation, that she won't be able to take further on in the year. I see what you are saying about others covering her work but that would happen whenever al is taken surely then.
The snow list - I feel that's sompletely out of order, I work in a big city and live 20 miles away in a rural town and it can vary from 1 street to the next whether I can actually get out of the street or not. We don't have a train station and the last bad snow in 2010 I missed a day because I genuinely couldn't get my car up the hill out of my scheme. Its hardly car dependency when public transport would mean a taxi to a train station and then 2 different trains and then a walk. None of which I had the money for.

incogneetow · 02/01/2013 10:32

Is this public sector by any chance?
In my job I would never go on mn whilst at work, and would get discplinary warning if caught doing so.

shesariver · 02/01/2013 10:35

And even if I had found a taxi I would have discovered there were problems with the trains to.

RedToothbrush · 02/01/2013 10:37

MrsMushroom Wed 02-Jan-13 09:48:14
Yabu she may have a tank of petrol and no cash at all. I know because we've been there.

Its still a bollocks excuse in the eyes of an employer though. Her financial position isn't the responsibility of the employer and by taking days off like this she still could be in breach of contract. She should get a disciplinary for it.

She needs to get her lazy arse to work, even if it means walking, cycling, begging, borrowing, bussing, getting a lift.

StellaNova · 02/01/2013 10:39

YANBU

One year I made it from one side of London to another to get to work on a very snowy day when all the buses had been cancelled and not many trains and tubes were running (and I didn't have a car). Also I was 6 or 7 months pregnant. Someone who lived 25 minutes walk from the office phoned in unable to make it because "he didn't have the right kind of shoes to walk in the snow". I was not amused.

showtunesgirl · 02/01/2013 10:41

Ah but the person I'm talking about had form for missing days. She would go away for a weekend and would always happen to be "ill" on the Monday as well...

LIZS · 02/01/2013 10:44

Sounds very flaky. Either she or partner could get AA etc out and make alternative travel arrangements , even if it meant she couldn't work her regular hours due to a liftshare.

atthewelles · 02/01/2013 10:44

Seriously, I can't stand people who make 'heroic' efforts to get to work in the snow and then start preening themselves when someone who lives closer to the office can't get in.
If you have nothing particularly urgent on your desk and your area has been hit particularly badly by the snow or the buses are refusing to come up your way then sometimes it makes sense to stay at home rather than spend hours and hours getting into work.
Obviously some people will take the piss and just not bother to come in but a lot of people are just making a sensible decision. It's not a competition.

OhlimpPricks · 02/01/2013 10:44

I agree with those who say, I think it may be a cover story for something else that she probably doesn't want to share with the people in the workplace. Already, people are talking in your place, and reporting things they 'heard', casting aspertions, sticking in the knife in. You are party to one half of the story and wrong to judge on that basis.
Are really that busy and understaffed if you have time to come on MN and discuss the situation ?

TravelinColour · 02/01/2013 10:45

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BlueberryHill · 02/01/2013 10:46

YANBU

I don't see how a broken down car, when she is on a public transport route is an excuse. It isn't a planned absence so impacts on everyone else's workload and OP has been asked to cover for her. Three days?????? Give me a break, it is her responsibility to get into work.

pictish · 02/01/2013 10:47

Yanbu, her excuse is a sack of crap.

Enfyshedd · 02/01/2013 10:47

I remember someone once not making it into work during the snow because she couldn't get the car out of the drive. As far as I could make out at the time, she lived about half a mile from the train station she was going to drive to... Hmm.

My situations a weird one though - I've always said to my bosses, I will only not come into work if I'm worried about my ability to get home. I used to live three quarters of a mile uphill from the train station and the only time I had a snowday was the day after we were sent home early and I'd got home to 6" deep snow, then woke up the next morning to another 8" on top (had deliberately cleared some off the front wall the night before so I could see). Where I live now (not as high up, but have to walk steep uphill out of street before going down almost as steep hill to town & station), I had 1 snowday last January, again after we'd been sent home early the day before, because I was 4 1/2 months pg - DP banned me from leaving the house for safety.

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