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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To pull a sicky to go to an interview for a better job...

89 replies

falulahthecat · 06/05/2014 18:11

That's it, really.
I 'job share' with a girl, who does NO work (seriously, in 2 weeks she has answered 6 emails, I stopped counting after 150 of mine, basically she's not very good with pcs and didn't realise there was a sent folder!) and when I brought it up the manager said she understood why I'd not been able to do any of the other stuff I'm supposed to dop now (she'd thought I was taking all day to answer 5 emails) but then made excuses for this girl, saying she'd been 'busy' counting car park money. Well, that means she took 2 days to count £3,000. The other week I did £2,600 in 2 hours.
I know she can't help but work at a different speed, but she also gets paid more than me, and keeps assuming I've made mistakes because "I'm new" the 'rectifying' them, then it turns out there never was a mistake, she's fucked it all up and then calls it a 'miscommunication' between us. Err... right.
If it was just her I could probably sort it out, but I also have to work Bank holidays on 20p above minimum wage (they do love to harp on about the 20p) and the way they do holiday means if you take a week off you basically get NO pay at the end of the month.

Anyways, I've been asked to go in for an interview during the week on a day I work. I know she won't swap the day with me because the last time she said she'd look at her rota when she got home, ignored 3 emails from me then when we next worked together in the other side of our job acted like it'd never happened. What's weirder is we seem to get on but when I know she's being so two faced it's very difficult to be rational, especially when she keeps saying MY desk, MY folder, MY phone, she can't see me as an 'ally' and it's really frustrating. The manager, even knowing what she's been doing, hasn't said a word because we're a 'small team' and she doesn't want to rock the boat, which is fair enough but doesn't justify me doing 5 times as much work for less pay and being stressed by being accused of making mistake I haven't, on what is actually a very mundane, easy job.

So, can I pull a sicky to go to this interview if she won't swap the day and the new place, a great job with a charity, can't change the interview day?
I don't want to miss out :/

Sorry for the long ranty post!

OP posts:
Fullpleatherjacket · 06/05/2014 18:52

If you're on a zero hours contract there's no need to do anything other than say you can't work that day.

AndHarry · 06/05/2014 18:55

My former colleague had intermittent 'car trouble' with her brand new car over 3 months last year. Guess how long the interview process for her current job took...

Cornettoninja · 06/05/2014 18:55

Definitely try the person interviewing, it only shows your conscientious if your struggling to get cover.

If that's an absolute no-go pull a sickie. I'm pretty sure you're entitled to unpaid time off for interviews, but frankly with a zero hour contract in a job you've been there only a short time - lets face it they'll play by whatever rules they like.

Good luck and if this one doesn't work out please keep on trying for other things - that place sounds horrendous and not worth the hassle for a minimum wage job.

SelectAUserName · 06/05/2014 19:01

I wouldn't tell your current boss about the interview if Jobshare Gal won't swap; I'd speak to boss privately and stress that you really need the day for personal and sensitive reasons and can you take it unpaid instead.

DIYapprentice I do a lot of interviewing in the course of my job and it is much harder to be flexible about interviews than it is about the day to day job. When you have panel interviews with members who may be based at different sites with three different diaries to coordinate, HR on one side insisting that there must be a minimum of X days between closing date and interview and the jobholder's boss on the other side screaming for a quick replacement, it can be a miracle to manage to get everyone together for the two/three days you need - shortlisting, first interview and second interview if required - without throwing in requests from candidates to reconvene because the day doesn't suit them. We would try to do so if it fell in the middle of their holiday abroad or clashed with a hospital appointment or funeral but beyond that, the candidate is expected to be the flexible one.

RoganJosh · 06/05/2014 19:08

If you have to pull a sickie, could you make it just half a day (or less), for a hospital appointment?

AreYouFeelingLucky · 06/05/2014 19:14

Be careful if you tell anyone about needing the day off. Your sickie will become a while lot more suspicious.

loveableshoulder · 06/05/2014 19:17

If you do, just be really careful. My friend did this and got caught and escorted from the premises. They read her emails. She was quite naive using her emails to email a friend to say she was going to pull a sickie though Hmm

HotSauceCommittee · 06/05/2014 19:23

Fuck 'em; they sound like a conflab of cunts.
And do go for a massive shit on the manager's desk before you leave, as suggested by a PP.

whois · 06/05/2014 19:32

Pull the sickie. Normally is say that's not on, but when work are so unreasonable it's hard not to be so unreasonable too.

SheherazadeSchadenfreude · 06/05/2014 19:32

Push for a date change. If they won't change the date, have a hospital appointment you can't change. You're not going to be out of the office all day, so 2-3 hours should do it - the journey there, the interminable wait, the seeing the doctor, and the journey home.

wowfudge · 06/05/2014 19:34

What a ludicrous way to pay someone. So in order to cover your holidays as paid holidays, you'd have to set money aside. Have I understood correctly? And when you do take holiday, they've already paid you for it so you get nothing? What utter nitwit thought that up?!

Seriously, never mind the jobshare numpty, I'd get out of there because the way they are operating is bonkers and your manager is crap. Is there anyone in HR you could talk to?

The problem with telling them you are going to an interview is that you might lose the job. What are your chances of getting another job with hours that suit you and similar or better pay? If you could walk into a temp job then I would bite the bullet and tell them.

Alternatively, could you ask the prospective employer whether you could attend interview on a different day?

wowfudge · 06/05/2014 19:36

The problem with a hospital appointment is that the employer might ask for proof. You might be better off, depending on timing, ringing in sick on the day and saying you are going to the doc's for xyz. You've already asked your jobshare to swap days though so it'll look suspicious.

StealthPolarBear · 06/05/2014 19:50

I dont understand the holiday thing

StealthPolarBear · 06/05/2014 19:50

Sorry just realised huge x post

HaroldLloyd · 06/05/2014 19:54

Pull the sickie and don't give it another thought.

But don't ask to swap or it will look obvious.

TequilaMockingbirdy · 06/05/2014 19:54

Just go, pull a sicky.

Lots of employers are really unreasonable and won't let you have time off for appointments and annual leave on short notice, it's the only way sometimes.

It's their own faults for making it so impossible.

ilovesooty · 06/05/2014 20:01

I agree with NeartheWindyMill

It sounds a horrible place to work but if you get the job and your new employer asks for a reference there's every chance of two and two being put together.

I work for a charity and they'd withdraw a job offer from anyone who was discovered to have done this.

StealthPolarBear · 06/05/2014 20:04

Id tell my boss I was going for an interview.
I never pull a sickie but in this situation id do it without guilt unless you think it will come back to bite you. They're treating you badly

StealthPolarBear · 06/05/2014 20:05

And I know nothing about zero hrs contracts but as someone ekse says is it not just a case of telling them you cant work that day. You owe them no loyalty

HotSauceCommittee · 06/05/2014 20:10

OP, if you said, "I have this interview and I absolutely have to go to it" what would happen? Would they really give you the boot, knowing that you cover so much for the other colleague who does fuck all?

blackteaplease · 06/05/2014 20:13

I did read your bit about holiday pay, but you worded it as a week and presumably you only need one day off. They seem pretty unreasonable about short notice leave.

I would either speak to your boss about the need for a short notice day off and get him to swap the shifts around or pull a sicky. But I would be crapping myself about getting caught.

LoveSardines · 06/05/2014 20:18

I would never tell an existing employer that I had a job interview elsewhere, and have never heard of anyone doing that either. I think that is a terrible idea.

OP in your situation I don't know what I would do, sorry. Probably ask to change the interview date, and if they refused, erm, think again.

Sorry cant't be more help.

FunkyBoldRibena · 06/05/2014 20:20

I'd best go put dinner on! thanks for the advice, I think I'll just push for a date change, then try the copying in on the email, then if she STILL won't swap days I'll just have to tell my boss I'm going for a new job and hope she understands and doesn't become petty over it, especially if I don't get it.... eep.

Never ever ever tell your boss you are looking for another job. If you don't get it then they can really start to take the piss. You are on zero hours so either tell them you just can't do that day or pull a sickie. She WILL become petty over it so just don't do it.

You asked if you should pull a sickie and most people are saying yes - so why on earth are you quivering about it?

Ijustworemytrenchcoat · 06/05/2014 20:21

Be honest, it may backfire on you when they contact your current employer for a reference. You could get in serious trouble, your current employer could get get arsey about you lying to them.

Could you try to get the interview moved to the start or end of the day then make up the lost time?

HaroldLloyd · 06/05/2014 20:22

I really wouldn't tell them you have an interview.

It's a bad idea.

I used to think honesty was the best policy, but with some employers sadly it really isn't.