Fun Facebook Drama at the Office

[spleen1015]

So, what's the atmosphere like for Person C around the office now?

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

So, what's the atmosphere like for Person C around the office now?

Well.. two weeks ago I had a conversation with C that went something like this:

me: "Hey, your office smells good today."
C: "Yeah, my officemate hid air fresheners all over."
me: "Oh, cool, because it doesn't smell like feet today."
C: "Oh, that's because I have clean socks on today."
me: "Umm.. as opposed to others days?"
C: "What, like you wear a clean pair of socks every day?"
me: "Um. Yes."
C: "You would need like 80 pairs of socks!"
me: "How often do you do laundry??"
C: "Once every week or two."
me: "At most that's 14 pairs of socks."
C: "Whoah! that's way too many!"
me: "How many pairs of socks do you have?"
C: "I don't know.. I mean, they're not really 'pairs', but probably 4."
me: "4?!"

...that about sums up whether he is embarrassed about news that he ate his own boogers.

[RainMaker]

This is just from my experience running a small business. I'm assuming medium-large businesses are much different (can afford to train new employees, etc).

It would entirely depend on the person and their history. Are they a good worker normally? Is this completely out of the ordinary? If the person was valuable, I wouldn't let them go over something like this. Would say something to them and that I was disappointed that they felt they needed to lie. Then again we are pretty loose on personal days and if it's on a day that won't hurt us, I'd have let him have it off to do whatever he wanted to do.

But if the guy was always calling in sick, always taking off early, always sort of doing everything he could to avoid work, I'd see this as a good reason to let him go. Sort of the icing on the cake.

I know it's easy to say that you'd fire him in a second, but if the guy is valuable to you and it would cost you more money to let him go than to keep him, that has to be taken into account no matter how angry you are over the incident.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by molson

We must have some real sickly people in this country, the way they hand out these sick days. I think I have 3 months of sick time saved up or something just after a couple of years. I've never used any. I guess it's a nice insurance against major long-term illness, or something, but seriously, anyone who calls in sick more than once in a blue room is taking some "personal time", or they have Lupas or something.

My dad retired with like 200 plus sick days. I think he got a check for around 15K. Must be good to be a teacher.

[molson]

Originally Posted by stevew

My dad retired with like 200 plus sick days. I think he got a check for around 15K. Must be good to be a teacher.

Wow, the check is nice. If I don't use 'em, I lose 'em. So I can only hope for some kind of debilitating illness or injury before I move on from here.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by molson

Wow, the check is nice. If I don't use 'em, I lose 'em. So I can only hope for some kind of debilitating illness or injury before I move on from here.

I am in the same boat that I either use sick days or I lose them.. but one of the interesting developments of working from home is that even when I'm sick, I end up working most of the time these days. Unless I'm deathly ill and can't get out of bed, I pretty much can work since there are no concerns of being contagious.




So yeah, I have something like 6 weeks worth of sick time stored up (which is max for someone that has been in the company as long as I have). I guess if I come down with the black plague I'll be ok!

[Suburban Rhythm]

Does this help?

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by molson

Wow, the check is nice. If I don't use 'em, I lose 'em. So I can only hope for some kind of debilitating illness or injury before I move on from here.

Why not take a few 3-day weekends? You shouldn't let sick/vacation days go by unused.

[JediKooter]

The dude eats his own boogers? W...T...F...??

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

The dude eats his own boogers? W...T...F...??

As opposed to eating other peoples' boogers?

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

As opposed to eating other peoples' boogers?

I guess on a relative scale, one would be worse than the other.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

As opposed to eating other peoples' boogers?

Who knows? Maybe he's related Eric 'Stumpy Joe' Chiles or something.

[Ksyrup]

Not too long ago I saw something online about a guy who claims that eating boogers helps the immune system. He was like a hardcore, pro-booger-eating activist or something.

Anyway, I saw this on another board and thought of this thread.

I feel old for saying this, but what the fuck is with people these days? Especially a good portion of the younger generation. The instant gratification and "I want mine" attitude is just mind boggling.

My reason for bringing this up is, the Mrs had to fire an employee of 2 years yesterday. This girl is 21 years old and last winter, she had been given more money and responsibility. Keys to the store, managing when the Mrs and her sister weren't there, etc.

But since March, she has been late opening the store NUMEROUS times, fucks around on Facebook on store time, complains about everything and on and on. The Mrs has given her chance after chance to straighten up, but Saturday was the last straw.

We were on our way to the mountains for a nice getaway. The Mrs gets a call from another employee and they were waiting in the parking lot for this girl to show up and unlock the store. During that time, 4 customers THAT HAD APPOINTMENTS left. That's thousands of dollars that just walked away. The Mrs calls the girl (who lives 30 minutes away) and WOKE HER UP. The store should have been open 45 minutes ago and she is still sleeping! She didn't say "oh no, sorry" or anything.

So we drive back to the store so the Mrs can let the other employee in. Then we left for the mountains. The girl showed up later. Yesterday, the girl was still just ho hum about it and didn't say she was sorry. They fired her and she acted surprised, even when presented with a list of all of her offenses. Oh....and one Sunday she was hungover and she and another employee put a griddle on the counter and cooked bacon!!! It's a fucking bridal shop!! Who doesn't know that it's not OK to do that?

[lordscarlet]

Yeah, we get 10 sick days per year. It's ridiculous. I'd rather have half that number and convert it to use as personal days. The only reason I really use sick time is for doctor's appointments, or taking my dad to the doctor. I have 205 sick hours. They do rollover, so it will be good if I ever have a long-term illness, I guess.

[sterlingice]

And I wish that if people came to work when they were sick that they be docked their sick days for each day they came to work sick.

SI

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by SteveBollea

Or we could use the rest of the civilized world where you get mandated vacation time and companies understand that if you need to call off sick, you call off sick without their being "sick days."

But, that's dragging politics into a thread about people not working to their full productivity at an office job, which we all know never happened before the Internet was invented.

Yeah, everything that I have ever read says that people use the least sick days if they are "unlimited." My wife's company has "unlimited" sick days, and people only call in when they are sick.

Originally Posted by sterlingice

And I wish that if people came to work when they were sick that they be docked their sick days for each day they came to work sick.

SI

+1

[Comey]

So what happened today, anyway?

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by Comey

So what happened today, anyway?

They (or at least one of them) got so scared they showed up at work at like 4:00 yesterday. I will again defer to my manager's fb posting:

Ok, for those of you interested in how Z handled this situation. Well, Z is pretty laid back, and knew that posting this question on Facebook, along with several other messages, would be read by A & B, and would totally ruin their time of being two Ferris Douchebags out and about. This was a success, so much so that they ended up more or less freaking out and coming into work. I then let them know what is cool/not cool, and how to handle this in the future. Fact is, as for permission and I will more than likely give it, especially if it isn't often. Sneak around and get caught, I love to make a huge joke of it. Do it often and then the repercussions will be more severe.

This is my, err Z's management style.

and some other tidbits following that, an exchange between Z and A...

It's awesome that everyone assumes Person A is like the worst employee ever and doesn't do any work when he/she is "working from home." If he/she doesn't bill time for it, then why does it matter? Let alone that he/she may work from home throughout the week just to keep things "rolling smoothly" and on schedule without even billing for those hours.

‎@Person A, long winded answer to your question. When someone calls in sick but requests work from home privileges, and is granted work from home privileges, especially work from home privileges without a caveat (i.e. I can work from home today but will be unavailable from 12:00pm-3:00pm), then it is expected that the person is working from home during normal business hours and will be reachable during this time. The question of "If he/she doesn't bill time..." shouldn't even be posed, because there should not be an instance when you work without billing time. Essentially, if you perform work and do not log time for it, you are cheating yourself, your co-workers, and your company. You cheat yourself by not giving management an accurate picture of the time you spend vs the output or product you produce. You cheat your co-workers by placing them on an uneven playing field, since you and your performance will ultimately be judged against their performance, and a skewed result in your performance will make a similar level employee billing true time appear a lower level, and you hurt your company by having a hired rate of output for a lower dollar amount, making your team and company unable to justify a higher staff need.

Unless you are working at a startup or similar company, where the only thing that matters is effort, it is a much better idea for you to bill the hours you work, lest you end up skewing the platform you are judged against. If you would prefer to not be paid for all time billed, that is a another matter and something you can discuss with your supervisor. I'm sure they would be willing to negotiate a way to funnel that extra pay into some sort of party fund that can benefit the entire office.

Effort, keeping things rolling smoothly, etc, those are all admirable and greatly appreciated effects, however, that also takes your time and you should be compensated appropriately.

This may not be something you agree with at this point in your career, but speaking as someone who has seen both sides of the coin, this is a common frustration and question from younger people in the work force who have a decent work ethic. Coming from college, where the harder you work, the better you do (theoretically), it is an adjustment to fully understand this. Also, if your management is typically, they will just see the worker who gets a lot done and let the habit continue once they know, but that manager isn't helping themselves or the team the way they think they are. End result is a team overworked and underpaid once the habit has extended for enough time. Then the next result is a group of employees that resent the work they do because they aren't being paid enough for the output expected of them.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I would've thought that this would become a private discussion between the employees and the manager, but I guess they'll just keep leaving it out in the open for everybody. Entertaining.

[Comey]

Thank you. Not a bad way to handle it.

[Poli]

I can't stand Pumpy posting serious junk.

[Ksyrup]

Yeah, that's bizarre. So this is not just going around the office out in the open, but on FB in general? I guess that's "sandwich board punishment"?

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Yeah, that's bizarre. So this is not just going around the office out in the open, but on FB in general? I guess that's "sandwich board punishment"?

Everything I have pasted in quotes is from facebook, yes.

[spleen1015]

Sweet.

Hello Mr. New Hire. To read the company policies, please log into your facebook and friend Z. All of the policies are covered on their Wall posts.

[Ksyrup]

Kinda blows the "don't waste company time on the internet" edict out of the water.

[molson]

"If he/she doesn't bill time for it, then why does it matter?"

Person A sounds pretty clueless.

Is person A a hot chick?

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by SteveBollea

Or we could use the rest of the civilized world where you get mandated vacation time and companies understand that if you need to call off sick, you call off sick without their being "sick days."

Unfortunately, we have too many people who take advantage of that.

The set sick days always made me laugh. I remember working at a major furniture manufacturer years ago. They gave us 3 sick days a year. I came down with a horrible virus that left me sidelined for the whole week. I'm talking 100+ temperature everyday, could barely talk, wasn't eating, just didn't even leave the bed much. They never gave me shit about it, but it shows how dumb those set days really are. Sickness is rarely something you can predict.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

The set sick days always made me laugh. I remember working at a major furniture manufacturer years ago. They gave us 3 sick days a year. I came down with a horrible virus that left me sidelined for the whole week. I'm talking 100+ temperature everyday, could barely talk, wasn't eating, just didn't even leave the bed much. They never gave me shit about it, but it shows how dumb those set days really are. Sickness is rarely something you can predict.

I never thought of them as any attempt to predict anything though, just a company telling you up front how many days they're willing to pay you for if you get sick.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Kinda blows the "don't waste company time on the internet" edict out of the water.

Heh, those can get a little weird anyway. Case in a point a client of ours has a fairly strict "no Facebook other than on your lunch hour" policy internally, to the point that they've started warning people that they're going to drop the hammer on violators & Big Brother Is Definitely Watching You emails.

Problem is that there's at least a half dozen people whose job responsibilities include at least some social media, but those folks were warned just as harshly.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by Poli

I can't stand Pumpy posting serious junk.

Heel turn. Slow heel turn.

[EagleFan]

Didn't read the entire thread but I think the manager crossed the line with his FB post. Airing out a company situation like that on FB. Just because he cales them Person A and Person B doesn't mean a thing. It's pretty easy to figure out who he is talking about if you are an employee there and read his post.

A and B should get a warning but by no means should they be fired; unless this is, or has been, a continual problem.

Personally, I think that what the manager may have done enough to get his ass fired.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by lordscarlet

Yeah, we get 10 sick days per year. It's ridiculous. I'd rather have half that number and convert it to use as personal days. The only reason I really use sick time is for doctor's appointments, or taking my dad to the doctor. I have 205 sick hours. They do rollover, so it will be good if I ever have a long-term illness, I guess.

Yah, I've accrued something like 58 sick days. I guess if I'm ever struck down by some illness it will be great, but it's not like I get them paid out when I leave.

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

Yah, I've accrued something like 58 sick days. I guess if I'm ever struck down by some illness it will be great, but it's not like I get them paid out when I leave.

I think that is one of the keys. We get paid out all of our vacation. By giving us "sick" time they can make us feel like we get more days off without getting paid out. Having said that, we have a very generous pay-out setup compared to many people that have "use it or lose it" vacation time.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

Yah, I've accrued something like 58 sick days. I guess if I'm ever struck down by some illness it will be great, but it's not like I get them paid out when I leave.

Why wouldn't you use them? Take some 3-day weekends, rest up after a long weekend. I don't get why you guys let them accrue like that.

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Why wouldn't you use them? Take some 3-day weekends, rest up after a long weekend. I don't get why you guys let them accrue like that.

Because they're sick days, not vacation days.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by lordscarlet

Because they're sick days, not vacation days.

I don't think I've ever used a sick day as a personal day. I always figured that personal days are perfect for those three day vacations. I guess having worked for my company since the 1990s, I don't really feel starved for vacation time anyways though.

[molson]

It's not fun (or easy) to call your boss and lie. I'd rather go to work.

[Chief Rum]

Originally Posted by lordscarlet

Because they're sick days, not vacation days.

My company moved to considering all such days (vacation and sick days) as simply PTO days. Before, we got our alloted vacation time (based on time with company), five sicks days and one personal day.

Now we simply get 6 automatic PTO days plus our vacation alottment's worth of PTO days every year.

No need to be all sneaky with it when we call out. Try to schedule things in advance where possible, of course, but if we need to call in on short notice we can (whether we're sick or the car broke down or a family emergency or even just because I need a day off).

There's a cap on the hours of course, but we do get paid out if we leave the company with a share of days in the bank.

[wade moore]

I'm lucky - we get ours combined as well - and we get 23 days a year.

Ah, working for a British owned company in the states has its pluses .

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by Chief Rum

My company moved to considering all such days (vacation and sick days) as simply PTO days. Before, we got our alloted vacation time (based on time with company), five sicks days and one personal day.

Now we simply get 6 automatic PTO days plus our vacation alottment's worth of PTO days every year.

No need to be all sneaky with it when we call out. Try to schedule things in advance where possible, of course, but if we need to call in on short notice we can (whether we're sick or the car broke down or a family emergency or even just because I need a day off).

There's a cap on the hours of course, but we do get paid out if we leave the company with a share of days in the bank.

I would be all for that, but ours are designated specifically as sick and vacation time.

[heybrad]

Originally Posted by wade moore

Ah, working for a British owned company in the states has its pluses .

Hey, I work for the Brits as well and having worked for them for a while, my vacation time is spectacular.

[lordscarlet]

hey, brad!

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by lordscarlet

Because they're sick days, not vacation days.

But they are given to you, without penalty. So every day that you don't use, you've given them a free day of work.

[Philliesfan980]

Z needs to tell A & B that they both owe Z one favor, at any time, at any place, of Z's request. Or else it's just malfeasance for malfeasance's sake.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

But they are given to you, without penalty. So every day that you don't use, you've given them a free day of work.

I'm glad you don't work for me.

[lordscarlet]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

But they are given to you, without penalty. So every day that you don't use, you've given them a free day of work.

No, they are not just given to you. Read your employee manual and see what those days are intended for. Vacation is not one of them. The reason you have Vacation days (or personal days) is so that they can be requested and approved and so that your manager/team can plan around your absence.