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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder about this person calling in sick at peak time

217 replies

bestfakesmile · 02/12/2017 10:26

Had a crazy busy week at work with a major project on. One of our team who has been very involved in all the planning for this project and was supposed to be supervising the completion of it has been off sick for the entire week with a cold. This has put massive pressure on our team, we would have been stretched even with that person, so without them it’s been very difficult. It has meant that everyone on our small team has had to put in loads of extra hours to cover her work between them. She could have helped out a bit by doing some work from home even if she couldn’t make it in but no.
The irony is, I know she is still going to expect the credit and the sales bonus in her pay packet this month. Even though the sales would not have been fulfilled without everyone else stepping in to do her work while she’s been off.
If the rest of us hadn’t done that work there’s no doubt we would have lost a number of important clients and that would have had a devestating impact on the business. Quite literally she would have put herself out of a job. She must be mightily naive if she hasn’t worked that one out.
Obviously it’s a time of year when coughs and colds are running riot, almost everyone I know has had something in the last month or so but most people know they can’t just drop out of life when they have a cold. But this person is the type to refuse to have a lemsip because they don’t like the taste, and won’t take a tablet either cos she can’t swallow it. It’s as if she actually enjoys being ill and wallows in it.
Personally, it would have taken hospitalisation for me not to come in to work this week. Firstly, I would feel absolutely awful if I let my colleagues and boss down at a crucial time. I don’t think I could face them afterwards knowing I’d left them in the lurch. Secondly, I’d hate to miss out on the satisfaction of completing this project that we have all worked so hard for, I could not bear to let it all go down the drain and see these clients walk away.
It feels a lot like she couldn’t be bothered or possibly couldn’t cope with the higher than usual workload this week so just bailed out and left everyone else to pick up the pieces. I’m going to find it hard to work with her when/if she manages to drag herself back in next week.

OP posts:
JaneEyre70 · 02/12/2017 14:25

If she does it again, it's going to be pretty obvious that she can't either cope or be bothered when a little extra is demanded of her. She's not going to be able to hide that every time, and in theory she will need a sick note to cover her for last week anyway so will have to have seen her GP. It is plausible that she's used the cold excuse to cover for something else, so I'd give her the benefit of the doubt this time but if it happens again, I'd be quite vocal about her absences and their pattern.

Neverender · 02/12/2017 14:25

The pattern of sick leave looked very suspiciously lazy

Wow! Unless you're her boss it's not your business to look at her 'pattern of sick leave'. Jesus, I hope you never end up managing people!

Neverender · 02/12/2017 14:33

I manage a team of 9 people and one of them had to leave early the other day so she could collect her glasses. If I'd have told someone else that they may have thought WTF? But...last week she nearly crashed because she couldn't see properly. I care about the people I manage and they are more important than just what they do.

BastardGoDarkly · 02/12/2017 14:33

Yes, kudos op, for taking getting your arse handed to you so gracefully Grin

Fwiw, I totally understand the frustration, of having to pick up the slack again when someone's coincidently been sick at peak times again

It really is up to your boss to sort, surely they can see what's going on?

Glad that you're considering supporting her more though, its worth a try.

shouldnthavesaid · 02/12/2017 14:43

Sallysmiley I had a colleague like you re periods. She timed how long it took me to change my sanitary pad and complained that I went to the loo 8 times in one afternoon. She didn't know I'd spent the morning having local anaesthetic injected into my cervix , now bleeding and unable to pass urine without a fight.

I was delighted in an odd way several months later when I was taken into A&E for emergency treatment for same gynae stuff and she was one of the nurses on duty. I took great pleasure in loudly informing the doctor she was not to be looking after me. I presume when 3 nurses and 2 doctors were trying to help me that she'd have realised what a nasty person she was , that I wasn't lazy or lying or hiding in the loo and I did have genuine ongoing health concerns. I hope she thinks twice in future.

jalpie · 02/12/2017 14:49

Maybe she had to take the week off to avoid working with you OP!

In your eagerness to point out of this poor person's flaws, you're definitely showing yours! You sound like the worst kind of colleague there is.

DailyMailReadersAreThick · 02/12/2017 15:09

Daily mail reader, I believe I have taken on board what people have said

I don't see any evidence for that. You started on the premise that she's faking being sick and is selfish and horrible for landing you in it. The majority of people have said you have no idea how ill she is and should butt out. Instead of taking that on board, you've changed your premise to "she's faking being sick because she's incompetent."

And it's hilarious that you bang on about her not being a team player but can't see how awful a team member you are...

MeMeMeMe123 · 02/12/2017 15:19

Interesting thread. ... i can recall occasional periods of sickness when i was stressed or under massive pressure.

thing is - as humans - we cannot mitigate entirely against mishaps, frailties, accidents, ill health; yet, these awful employers with their 'You're not roboty enough for us' attitudes, contintue to apply dreadful pressure on people.

I may be being daft here but why is there such a flurry of activity in the final week of a project? If its a pattern or part of the process then it should be planned for surely? As in, if a project has a team of 10, we can expect at any one time to have 8 peoples worth of activity or expertise be working at an optimal level; and tasks allocated accordingly
Seems nuts to be expecting 100% capacity at ALL times...

Stressful all round, I should think.

spidey66 · 02/12/2017 15:25

Sometimes I think mumsnet is some kind of parallel universe. There's a thread currently where someone is moaning about their husband spreading germs by licking his fingers as he's turning the page in the paper. And then there's this thread, insisting someone with a cold come in and spread their cold germs around.

EmilyChambers79 · 02/12/2017 15:31

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gamerwidow · 02/12/2017 15:38

You have no idea how sick she was. I would hate to work with your team if someone who has contributed all year can’t be ill for one week without everyone trying to rip their bonus off of them.

happypoobum · 02/12/2017 15:38

You have a lot of problems with your colleagues don't you OP? Judging by your other threads..............

Don't you ever wonder if it's not them, it's you?

tinysparklyshoes · 02/12/2017 15:44

I'm with you OP and have no idea what these lot are talking about.

dawnc27 · 02/12/2017 15:54

i dont think its been asked but is her bonus bigger than yours by any chance OP?

rookiemere · 02/12/2017 18:19

Mememe - it's the nature of project work. When you make changes to the systems people use, or processes, then no matter how much planning you've done, the implementation generally requires a lot of extra effort - particularly if things don't go as planned.

Ohyesiam · 02/12/2017 18:31

What a warm and kindly sort you are op. You should have gone into nursing.Hmm

retirednow · 02/12/2017 18:40

OP, of course it's 'safer' to vent on an anonymous website, would your dare spout all this hatred off at the office? Seriously, calling someone despicable, I would not welcome your support or understanding, I would keep as far away as possible. Is this even a genuine thread?

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 02/12/2017 19:00

I don’t know what trust this poster works in but I’ve worked in the NHS for several years and have never known this to be the case.

Ours will put you on informal monitoring for a month if your absence lasts 5 days or more, but it doesn’t really matter what the reason is. It wouldn’t be because you had a cold.

PinkyBlunder · 02/12/2017 19:05

Exactly Rafals

If you’ve had over a certain amount of episodes in a period of time, they put you on informal monitoring so they can see if there’s a pattern and ask if you need a referral to occupational health/if there’s anything they can change at work to help. It has nothing to do with why you were absent. It could be because you had a broken fingernail or because your head fell off, it’s treated the same. You certainly wouldn’t go straight into a disciplinary situation which is what a PP was suggesting. It takes a lot to get to that stage.

Yura · 02/12/2017 21:28

i'm working in a similar type of environment- short of hospitalisation, you work at least a bit from home if the project is crucial. its just normal (its in nobody's interest if the company folds). so, she's been very unreasonable

ReanimatedSGB · 02/12/2017 21:59

Oh FFS. No, people are not unreasonable for feeling nothing but contempt and dislike for a lazy whinyarse who's always going off 'sick' at the busiest times.
Even when someone is genuinely in poor health, it's not unreasonable to get fed up with having to cover for the same person again and again.

It can be really difficult for colleagues and employees if there is one person in a department who's always either unwell or malingering. Even if that person has a specific condition, there comes a point where an employer has to get rid, because the situation is not sustainable - the employer is either having to pay two lots of wages (one for the ill person and another for the temp they have to get in) or the rest of the department is having to make up the ill person's work to the point that they start going off sick with stress and exhaustion.

user1497997754 · 02/12/2017 22:09

What has it got to do with you....keep your thoughts to yourself...

mirime · 02/12/2017 22:23

YABU about her not taking medication. Some people do have difficulties swallowing tablets and Lemsip tastes revolting and makes me throw up.

Maybe she didn't want to work from home because of your attitude? Why make an extra effort for dinner who had such a low opinion of you.

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 02/12/2017 22:24

I agree Pinky if they disciplined you for taking 5 days off, they’d be doing nothing else but dealing with disciplinaries. And I suspect the unions would have something to say.

TidyLike · 02/12/2017 22:34

Even if that person has a specific condition, there comes a point where an employer has to get rid

Wow. Fired for being sick. Back to the dark ages we go. Though this is probably the sort of thing we can look forward to post Brexit when employers don’t have to worry about those pesky EU employment rights.