To ignore work when they tried to call me in

[Ihavehadenoughalready]

Just worked the weekend, both days, first shift. Relaxing now, relaxing on my day off tomorrow, then work Tuesday through Friday.

Call comes I ignore it as I do when I don't know the number, listen to voice mail; they want to know if I can come tonight on third shift because X has called in again, leaving one person to cover our hospital department.

Company has told us last week that there will henceforth be no more call-in pay, no more incentive pay (we were getting that for being soooo short-staffed), and the only incentive left is if the extra day happens to make the week over forty hours, thus time-and-a-half. Which this would be for me.

But X keeeeeps calling in on third. X is not ill. X is burnt out because of working full time plus attending school. X has overbooked himself. Too bad for X.

OTOH, I feel sorry for the person left to fend for themself.

OTOH (I think I'm up to three hands now), I'm tired of the fact that we are so thinly staffed that one call-in makes for a catastrophic situation.

But I seem to have lost all incentive.....because our incentive and call-in pay was taken away.

So I thought about going in, such is my feeling of guilt, but dag nab it, I deserve days off. I ignored the voice mail and if anyone asks, my phone was on silent (it wasn't) and I didn't see that they called (I did).

When will our Overlords understand if they want hospitals to function, they must increase staffing or increase pay?

No, theres way more than that.

Years ago I worked in a shop that was around the corner from my home. Every time one of the other two staff that worked there called in the big boss, who didn't even work at that location, would be on the phone expecting me there in seconds.
One day I had enough and ignored it. Big boss went mad when I was in the day after as she'd had to close the shop for the day and lost a whole days takings. Apparently I'd been employed because I lived close so I could cover.
I pointed out that this was the first I was hearing of this arrangement, but if she could let me know by the end of the day what my 'on call' bonuses were I'd let her know if that was acceptable 😂

Why not just answering your phone and replying with a "no thanks i do not want to come in today. See you Tuesday"

She's said why. She'd feel pressured into agreeing to alleviate the pressure on her colleagues if she answered the call.

I have never come across a Brit who says "dag nab it" - I think I've only ever heard that in Bugs Bunny cartoons so I was wondering if OP was furrin

Also the first post at 2ish am !

that's why nurses and junior doctors are on strike. So that their employers will get it into their ignorant skulls that they should be paid what they are worth

Supermarkets should recruit more people rather than expect people to work overtime for free.

Yep, this and the time of posting as you say.

For me it was also the phrase “calling in on third” plus the use of “school” to mean college/university.

@LakieLady I know that.

This is why I left adult social care. The constant messages and phone calls to see if I could come in was ridiculous. No overtime rate just basic bad pay and long hours

I'm a carer. We were being paid £1 over NMW but now NMW has caught up and my wage isn't going up. Boss called and left a message to see if I could come in on my AL. I didn't even bother phoning back. Pay me the minimum you can get away with and I'll but the same effort in. A workplace who that doesn't have decent staffing or incentives to retain staff willing to go the extra mile gets what it deserves.

The problem though is there is almost always somebody who will pick up the shift and they think it's the right thing to do

If there really are people who do that because it’s the right thing to do-I’m sure the boss will ring them!

So if your hubby had done 5/6 x 10 hour shifts in a row and he got called to cover someone who had called in sick on his rest day / day off then he would do it ?

My response tends to be: sorry, I have other commitments. They need to be reminded that you have a life outside work.
You'll burn out without rest days, and that would be an even bigger headache all round.

me and DH say it - I think we got it from cartoons
(English born and bred)

(I dont want to derail the thread and I'm not being arsey, but what was it that is more than that? I'm just not seeing it)

@Tealsofa

also tuesday through friday, call ins, the fact that the healthcare setting is run by a company, with incentives and payments etc. Obvious.

@notsayingmuch im I’m the UK and found the humour in her saying ‘bless your heart’ 🤣🤣

I work in care so I understand the constant need for people to work overtime and the guilt trip for not doing it. But I’ve also seen that the more you say yes to overtime the more they rely on you for it, and the more annoyed they get if you suddenly say you can’t do it. So make your boundaries and stick to it. I do some overtime if it suits me, but if I can’t or don’t want to, I just say that.
Especially with the incentives being taken away, hopefully if enough people refuse the overtime now, they will realise they need to reinstate the incentives to make it more appealing.
Of course a one off is fine to go the extra mile and help out. But it’s a constant nowadays with health and care work so the bigger picture needs looking at.

Your husband's a bloody doormat then, isn't he?

I've worked plenty of retail jobs over the years, and would say yes to the odd extra shift at short notice when it was a manager I liked at a job I liked. Otherwise I always said "sorry I've made plans, I need more notice" and leave it at that.

Shops make absolute BANK while relying on there being a certain number of staff who are either desperate for cash or drink the company koolaid and run themselves ragged. Once you've flagged yourself up as being one of those mugs, your manager will feel entitled to you giving up your free time at the drop of a hat!

@Kittycash
My partner works for Lidl, they get paid more than minimum wage. A fair bit more. They are constantly under staffed and have to work long hours. He gets called in early at least twice a week.
Some people, just don't like to work. They took on some new employees. One woman quit, because they wouldn't let her finish early, to watch the football. Start pay £11 an hour. I have said to him, when he is on 5 days in a row not to go in, when they phone him on his day off, but he tends to go in, feeling sorry for the others.

For a long time people in vocation jobs have been guilt tripped into seeing it as more than a job - ie. you cant strike because of the patients, children, etc, forget how we are fucking you over. But it is a job. And you dont owe any job more than the hours you are contracted for. If you wish to do more, that is up to you. But there is NEVER any obligation. And until people decide to stick to what works for them, there is NO incentive for management to fix this. I actually feel sorry for some hospital management as they are in impossible situations with the funding they are given. But it is not the employees responsibility to fix this situation. PS. I am NHS. I once got a call when I was on holiday in Paris. The person calling said they knew I was on holiday and would not have my work phone, so were calling on my personal phone because they did not want to wait for me to come back. I hung up.

100% this!