To ask what you do in this situation?

[altctrldel]

Couldnt go into work today due to personal circumstances. I only started 3 weeks ago and havent had my contract yet.

Contacted my boss when we opened today, i know he was in earlier but I honestly didnt have the time. Left a message for him and he hasnt called back. I left another for him at the end of the day apologising.

AIBU to worry?

[PurpleDaisies]

If I got that message is probably assume you couldn't find a babysitter. You'll need to explain to the boss what the issue was to avoid a telling off.

Has the situation sorted itself out how? When are you going to speak to the boss next?

[HermioneWeasley]

It would have to be truly exceptional to not go in after 3 weeks and not to have called earlier rather than opening time

[redskytonight]

If it's something that came up last night I'd have expected you to ring as soon as you knew you wouldn't be coming in today (which sounds like it would have been much earlier than you actually did). Is ringing the joint answerphone what you're meant to do in these sort of circumstances? No email/phone to get hold of your boss directly? No colleague you trusted to get the message to them? Unless the circumstances were so serious that you genuinely couldn't have been expected to get in and couldn't make more of an effort to get in touch, you do soud a bit flaky - sorry.

[228agreenend]

Why couldn't you phone again?

[icelollycraving]

Family difficulties? I'd be a bit pissed off,I'd think that was a troublesome teen or a row with your dh. If it's something more serious then I think you need to be more forthcoming.

[SparklyPenguin]

Afraid YABU. You need to be reliable for shift work, give the boss time to find cover etc. And I'd want to hear specifics too- there are very few circumstances where absence is acceptable at short notice. If I was your boss I'd think you were flaky- 3 weeks isn't enough time to have proved your reliability yet. Family doesn't always come first.

[cruusshed]

What do you plan to do now?

Either the messages were not received or were ignored.

To resolve/rescue the issue you need another communication route - would suggest a face to face asap.

[andsoimback]

If I were your boss I wouldn't be impressed especially that you expected them to call you. Onus is in you to call them not other way round.

[TestingTestingWonTooFree]

I agree that the manager needs more detail if you want to demonstrate that you're committed and not flakey.

[Griphook]

Family does come first but part of that is providing for them. If a new employee called me 3 weeks into their job leaving a message stating family difficulties I would be quite cross that they hadn't rung back later to explain.
So yabu/yanbu all depends on the family difficulties

[altctrldel]

I will of course provide extra detail when I speak to him. It is a serious situation and not one people would want all and sundry to discuss.

[andsoimback]

Oh dear. You better have a really good reason why you couldn't call.

[Griphook]

When are you meant to be in next op?

[Thisismyfirsttime]

At my work you have to call and actually speak to someone. I'd leave a message as soon as I knew I wouldn't be in and then follow it up until I knew the message had been received/ relayed. I know someone got a disciplinary for leaving a message and it wasn't received as their manager was off as well. That's been pretty much standard in the places I've worked but might be different for others?

[hiddenhome2]

If you leave enigmatic messages it implies that you believe you're above explaining yourself. You have to be open and honest. People will see you as flaky and unreliable.

[Wolpertinger]

You need to leave more info than 'family emergency'. It could sound like 'child had a mild cough'. Again 'family comes before work', well only if you have a policy for carers/unpaid leave. It needs a lot of context - as a blank statement it rings a lot of alarm bells to an employer who is relying on you.

You have to make the time to speak to your boss if that's the policy, whatever else is going on.

[HackAttack]

It also depends on your job. Was anyone greatly inconvenienced by your absence?

[cdtaylornats]

Just going on what you said here if I was your boss I would be seriously thinking about a verbal warning.

Three weeks in you probably caused a limited amount of problems, but I would be thinking are you going to do that in a year and potentially cause real problems. Once you had responsibilities would I as your boss be dealing with missed appointments, clients wondering whether the business was professional or not, deadlines looming ?

[lorelei9]

OP, I realise you don't want to out yourself here but you talk of a "serious situation" - which surely equals emergency?

the fact that you seem reluctant to use the word "emergency" confuses me and makes me think that it isn't.

[lorelei9]

it is lame that they don't have a number you can call which wouldn't leave your message open for all and sundry to hear.

[rollonthesummer]

Why didn't you go to work?


You're posting on here for advice. Give us some detail and we can actually advise you otherwise you'll get yes/no/maybe answers which mean nothing.


The entire issue hinges on what your reason was.

[ReginaBlitz]

You're sacked by the looks of it.

[Gabilan]

Personally I prefer to email and speak to someone. It's annoying when a shared answer phone means shared info but 3 weeks into a new job I'd suck it up. I think what happens next depends on how good you've otherwise been at your job.

[WonderingAspie]

I guess it depends how bad the emergency is tbh. I wouldn't say it's great that he hasn't phoned you back though. Why you couldn't spare a few minutes when he was in early this morning I actually don't know!