Calling in....

Nurses General Nursing

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so i am a little perturbed and just wondered what others experience is about this.... :madface:i called in the other night d/t not feeling well and gave the supervisor on duty 5 1/2 hours notice that i would not be in. i called in and stated i was feeling ill and did not believe it would be a good idea for me to come in. rather then getting an "sorry your not feeling well or hope you feel better soon" the reply i got was "i am going to need some symptoms" what?!?!?! i am sorry but i never call in sick ever, am never late to work, and on average put in at least 15-20 hours ot per week. all i am asking for is one night. i explained to him that my dog had passed away that morning and due to her being ill the last few days had gone 48hours without sleep and was beginning to feel like i was getting the flu, finally with that he agreed to take me off the schedule but even then it seemed like he was fairly reluctant. am i being a too sensitive and is this normal, i just felt like i was being called out on trying to play hookie when i really did have a legit reason to not be there. i am sorry but i would not want someone passing meds who had not been to bed for 2 days. :bugeyes:

Back when I still worked in a cubicle farm, I had a boss that was that way -- well, why can't you come in, we've got deadlines, we're going to lose a contract, yada yada, if you're throwing up, take some pepto, if you've got the 'rhea, take some imodium.

I'm like the OP, it's rare that I call in, and if I do, believe me, I'm sick. I called this jerk to tell him I'm sick on a Saturday morning, and I'm coughing and gagging like I've got whooping cough. He tells me to take a cold med and come on in. About that time, I cough up something and go...."oh, that ain't good, I gotta call the doc, bye." I call my doc, who tells me to meet him at the ER. Turns out I had walking pneumonia. They're taking xrays, giving me a neb treatment, etc., and the doc keeps looking at my purse, which is ringing off the hook. I pull out my cellphone, and I'm really not able to talk. I tell Dr. A it's my boss, then go back to gagging and coughing.

Dr. A introduces himself, listens about 30 seconds, and then proceeds to rip my boss a new one. I wish I was able to remember it word for word, but I remember it being priceless, and apparently the idiot told the doc to give me a cold pill or something and send me in, because I do remember him yelling, "and where did you go to medical school? And what is your DEA number, because you sound like you're trying to tell me how to practice medicine? She is sick, she is being admitted, and I don't want you to call her again until I have discharged this young woman." Dr. A was so mad, he asked me how many days off I wanted so I could get a vacation from this moron.

I am in love with him!

Specializes in Psychiatric Nursing.
I am in love with him!

LOL me too, this is real life Dr. McDreamy in my opinion :loveya:

It really is not OK to delve for symptoms without a specific reason (like has there been some cluster of something at your facility). Even then it wouldn't be for your supervisor to do the symptom checking over the phone.

Much as I am not a fan of HR you should ask them what the policy is on this.

My goodness, as professionals, you would think we could manage to know when not to come to work.

Maybe u misunderstood my post. I am n total agreement with sweetlemon they had no business asking for symptoms, I was simply stating a fact of why managers get all n a huff when they get call ins.

I only called off 2 nites in 9 months and they questioned me what is wrong with you. THey want to know how sick you are and it is put in your file. I don't even remember why I called off it was so long ago. I know many nurses who call off at least once a month. You would think other nurses would understand that if you call off it must be for a good reason.

I can relate to your situation. When I first started working at this one LTC facility. I put in 25hrs OT my first week. That pattern continued for about 3 months then I woke up one morning vomiting and a fever of 102. When I called in I got the Inquisition. "Are you sure you can't come in?", "How many times have you thrown up?", "Is your fever really that high?" GEEZE, I never call in. I need the money too badly. I would not call in unless I was certain I couldn't make it through my shift and I could give someone else my virus. I had worked 3 months straight with very little time off. **** happens and they should have a few people on call PRN for when these situations arise.

I hope you feel better and I'm terribly sorry about your pooch.:( You had every right to call in.

Specializes in LTC, Acute Care.
Maybe u misunderstood my post.

I wouldn't know why...

OP, the only symptom I think I would list is that you had an uncontrollable urge to put in your 2 weeks' notice if they asked you to list your symptoms again (or so I wish...).

I would probably leave the dog explanation out of it, too, considering some managers are notoriously unsympathetic to workers with childcare/child illness issues. I'm sorry about your doggie.

Sorry for being such a smart butt. This kind of scenario with management just irks me. I had a nursing home administrator insist I work my shift as a CNA on the same day I was diagnosed with strep throat. (I gave more than the requisite 2 hours' notice.) The doctor forbade me from entering the nursing home until I had been on antibiotics for at least 24 hours. But, of course, the administrator, who is supposed to pretend to facilitate keeping her residents healthy, knows better than the MD, right? I stayed home that day so I could be sick and left that job soon after. Blah.

Specializes in ER, ICU, Education.

I am quite the opposite. When I am ICU charge, I get really angry when people show up who are obviously ill. I don't want my already critically ill pts being exposed to your illness, or for you to expose the rest of the staff, who will then call in sick. Stay home, don't come up here and breathe your nastiness on me.

It would be a different matter if someone had repeated unexcused absences...

I also don't want to hear about symptoms! Not only does it tread on dangerous legal ground to ask about it, but I think we all already have enough people in our lives who want to tell us about every BM, wart, and hemorrhoid them have.

If I were vomiting and someone asked me a stupid question like "how many times are you vomiting?" or "are you sure you're really sick" I would be tempted to pay someone to courier over a bag of it with a note saying "are you happy now?"

Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

There is not much that a manager can say these days to make me feel guilty these days. I am tired. I have done quite well this past year not taking sick days until last week, when I took two. I slept well, cleaned the house and read some good non-nurse related books and watched Lifetime TV ALL DAY LONG!!

I understand your point, though.

livetolearn I soooooooo agree. It makes me bonkers when someone shows up coughing up a lung.

Specializes in Acute Care/ LTC.

i know how you feel. (to original op), friday my doctor sent me to the emergency room d/t very abnormal labs and needed hospitalized. my boss acted like i was putting her out. she also knew i hadn't been feeling well for weeks.her response was "i guess if you have to go". she said that after i told her my doctor would talk to her if she had a problem. (my doctor knows how she is from past issues.) she was the same way when my son was sick and needed picked up from school. (103 temp). she wanted to know if i planned on taking him to the babysitter. i told her most babysitters don't take sick children, she said, "well are you going to take him to the doctor then?"

i haven't called off since december 2007 for having the flu. then in january of 2008, i came to work only to ask to leave for having horrible toothache. i asked to leave so i could have the tooth pulled. i found out when i covered as the DON..i saw on my attendance sheet that she counted it as a call off for leaving. Even after i had already worked extra hours the weekend before. i could go on and on..the point is, what hurts is i always work over my 40 hours per week (i am salary), rarely take lunch, and i even covered for her for three months as the DON when she needed back surgery.

i don't work directly on the floor so it wasn't like someone else had to cover me. as a matter of fact, i cover everyone else when they call off or take vacation, but no one knows how to do my job, so no one covers me when i need time off.

i just don't get why managers treat us like this. i am a true believer in treating others how you want to be treated.

i am sure our administrator doesnt count the DON's hours and minutes when she leaves early or comes in late for her physical therapy for her back.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!

Specializes in OR.

Well I had to work memorial day and I was totally okay with that I need the hours anyway. Well I get up that morning feeling really sick to my stomach it was truly a mystery why I was sick but I still went to work even though I was under the weather. I finally had to call my supervisor in the middle of my shift I was even worse then I had been before. She called back stating we would "talk" about me being sick then the VP called me moments after the sup had called . OH man I was mad they would not let me go home because they had no one to come and fill in for me at my next client in the afternoon......so basically I suffered all day and work through being sick and on the verge of collapse!!!!

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