Fake call outs irritate me

Nurses Relations

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So, Labor Day weekend is over. We had a couple of obvious fake sick calls, leaving the day shift short. Both of them were by people annoyed with management, nurses who constantly, self righteously proclaim their dedication to patient care and safety, and deride the hospital for understaffing.

I believe that we have a moral obligation to come to work if we are able. We signed up for nursing, knowing that we will have to work on weekends and holidays. How can anyone hold their head up and say they are dedicated to patient safety, when they leave their co-workers short because they want to play?

Specializes in Critical Care.

Truthfully I think sometimes we need mental health days and emotional stress is no different than physical. There is supposed to be mental health parity now. Not to mention I'm guaranteed to get a monster migraine after a bad shift. It sucks. Also sometimes the only way to get off for an important occasion is to call off because management chooses to restrict vacations and time off! I don't feel guilty for that. That is essentially a personal day! Look at that poor nurse that was going to miss her dad's 75th birthday because management refused to let her off over their own short staffing issues. That won't be me!

Of course management loves the hardworking never call in sick folks who will jump to work extra at their beck and call. I'm not one of them. I hope you get excellent reviews and above average pay raises, but I doubt it leads to any more money than the average worker! But if you have a higher place in heaven then so be it!

Healthcare is a business and we are not angels of mercy! I think you have a self righteous work ethic which works for you, but not everyone else. Frankly management loves to short staff because they are saving money that is why they choose not to hire enouch nurses in the first place or have an adequate pool or use agency to fill the holes which is their responsibility, not ours!

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Specializes in Critical Care.
I suppose I feel that, if I call in sick, I actually enable my employer to save money on staffing. I get the feeling that they don't really mind the rest of us being left in a lurch. They can then force everyone to take heavier patient loads, and not take the rap for it. They especially don't seem to mind on holidays, when they are coughing up more money by paying time and a half. I think they like to make us sweat for that extra pay.

That is the point! They actually benefit financially by short staffing and really don't care about the physical and emotional stress the workers suffer. But they probably get rewarded with a larger bonus at the end of the year for keeping the budget down by not using agency, pool or oncall!

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Specializes in Hospice.

8:34 pm by brandy1017

Of course management loves the hardworking never call in sick folks who will jump to work extra at their beck and call. I'm not one of them. I hope you get excellent reviews and above average pay raises, but I doubt it leads to any more money than the average worker! But if you have a higher place in heaven then so be it!

Healthcare is a business and we are not angels of mercy! I think you have a self righteous work ethic which works for you, but not everyone else. Frankly management loves to short staff because they are saving money that is why they choose not to hire enouch nurses in the first place or have an adequate pool or use agency to fill the holes which is their responsibility, not ours!

Who said anything about working extra?

I'm talking about working your regularly scheduled shift when it's your turn to work a holiday.

I haven't worked overtime in years and then it was only because my relief didn't show up. My current boss knows not to ask. So, please, spare me the snark. I do a fair day's work for a fair day's pay ... if that's somehow a self-righteous martyrdom, I'd say we'll have to agree to disagree.

All these high falutin' excuses for not doing your fair share. If you don't like how management behaves, how is taking it out on the people who'll have to do your work as well as their own solving the problem?

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Specializes in Forensic Psych.

It bothers me to no end when people call in on holidays and we're guaranteed to be short staffed. At my last job, we were great about picking up holidays and showing up, but we would always end up short staffed when house supervisor would float people to other units who couldn't keep people staffed. I ended up doing three 1:1s myself last New Years, after I was begged to come in to "help out my coworkers."

It only took one time for me to promise I'd never pick up another holiday shift. I'll gladly work the ones assigned, but I'm not signing up for extra abuse.

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Taking an earned sick day isn't taking it out on my coworkers. Management is taking it out on my coworkers when they refuse to supply coverage.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I personally haven't called in sick for a holiday, but I reserve the right to a mental health day if need be! I don't feel guilty for that! I end up working most holidays because they only count the night before as the holiday and working 12 hrs I end up working the night of the holiday at 1900 while they are low censusing the PM staff that only had to work 8 hours. Also no extra pay for holidays, not one cent more! Lastly you can count on a low census, but only the sickest patients because the others get their dr to discharge them so they are not stuck in the hospital for the holidays. Also come to work and they choose to pull our aide so we have to work even harder than usual so no I don't feel guilty if I should decide to call in. Actually I'm kind of surprised I haven't called in for holidays all these years!

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Specializes in Forensic Psych.
I personally haven't called in sick for a holiday, but I reserve the right to a mental health day if need be! I don't feel guilty for that! I end up working most holidays because they only count the night before as the holiday and working 12 hrs I end up working the night of the holiday at 1900 while they are low censusing the PM staff that only had to work 8 hours. Also no extra pay for holidays, not one cent more! Lastly you can count on a low census, but only the sickest patients because the others get their dr to discharge them so they are not stuck in the hospital for the holidays. Also come to work and they choose to pull our aide so we have to work even harder than usual so no I don't feel guilty if I should decide to call in. Actually I'm kind of surprised I haven't called in for holidays all these years!

No extra holiday pay?

I'd be hard-pressed to work a holiday, ever. We get straight time if we aren't scheduled (I enjoyed getting paid to lie around at home yesterday!) and double time if we work. Knowing I'll make double time make me perfectly happy to work!

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Specializes in Critical Care.
8:34 pm by brandy1017

Oh, please ... spare me the snark. Who said anything about working extra? I'm talking about working your regularly scheduled shift when it's your turn to work a holiday. I haven't worked overtime in years and then it was only because my relief didn't show up. My current boss knows not to ask.

All these high falutin' excuses for not doing your fair share. If you don't like how management behaves, how is taking it out on the people who'll have to do your work as well as their own solving the problem?

What we should have is safe staffing ratios like CA where employers must provide adequate staffing and aren't allowed to short staff. It is up to them to hire enough nurses and use pool and agency as they were meant to be. Where I work the pool is required to work a couple holidays, but they will always be cancelled first because they cost more than the regular staff. No chance for the regular staff to get a break! Unless your a pet then you might get cancelled at the last minute and even then you have to be on call so you're not really off!

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Of course there's those that consistently call off on their holidays to work. In a field like nursing, we all need to take our turn working holidays. Those who call off on every holiday when it's their turn will soon be separated from employment. I have seen many employers willing to overlook incompetence or laziness, but not too many willing to overlook chronic, repeated absenteeism. That's usually a deal-breaker.

On the other side of the coin, I can appreciate why an employee might call off on their holiday if their employer is being completely inflexible. I once needed New Years Eve off for a party that was very important for me and my S.O. I told my employer this nearly a year in advance and was still denied because it was "my turn". So I called off. I'm more than willing to work my holidays when it's my turn. Like I said, I like the extra money. But reasonable accommodations should be made for reasonable requests. Asking for a holiday off a year in advance when I've never asked for one off in four years is a reasonable request. Plus I'd picked up uncountable holidays that weren't my turn. I imagine this is why many people call off on their holiday. If I am flexible to pick up extra holidays/weekends for my employer on a regular basis, they should be flexible enough to grant me the occasional one off. These things go both ways.

People who do it over and over 'cause they feel they don't have to work their fair share of holidays, yes, they're special snowflakes. Like I said, they tend to wind up fired.

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I find it very funny that the nurses that say that people calling in sick every once in a while (more than 3 times a year) when it's very obvious they are not sick (posting pic's of facebook, texting people at work they are partying, saying at work the night before they are calling in sick because they can, etc.) complain the most when people call in sick on THEIR shift. I have picked up about a month's worth of extra work the last year in OT, but yet the people who do not pick up any OT ever, complain when I don't answer my phone and come into work (Why don't you answer your's when we call?). Work ethic comes hand in hand with this not calling in sick because you can. Sick time is for sick time, physical or mental. People are just lazy.

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Specializes in OR/PACU/med surg/LTC.

What bugs me is when someone calls in sick when they have already asked everyone to switch or pick up the shift. Do they think that someone can miraculously be available after they have already asked.

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Specializes in Infusion Nursing, Home Health Infusion.

I never call out sick unless I really am. I accepted a position and believe it is my obligation to show up to work. If you need a day off then you need to plan it and not use your ability to call in as a strategy to get the day off for something you should have planned for. I have long accepted the fact that I will work holidays and weekends and that is part of the job. I also work in a department that is is near impossible to get a replacement from an agency. If one of our teammates cannot come in then you work alone. If I really cannot function safely even if is is an emotional reason I do not hesitate to call in as I think is is unprofessional to come to work ill. If you are sick and trying to work and I will be calling your manager. I will tell my coworker home if they come in sick or they just often pass around their illness and it makes it worse.

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