I hate fake call outs.

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I am a nurse.

On my off days, I make sure that I am getting plenty of rest, because I am a nurse and my duties at the floor requires my full attention.

So when I have to come in during my "off days" so that one of you who mysteriously calls out sick for the entire weekend, placing a call on Friday afternoon saying that you will be sick on Saturday and Sunday..

have no doubt that you have caused ill feelings and I hope that your words will come true for you. ?

I'm just not mean enough to place a "sick call" on the day that you're scheduled to be "on call." Maybe I would, but no..I'm not that mean. Although, it would be sweet. To see a cluster of your "off days," and placing a sick call just to get even with you.

But I live with a honor system. So what do I do? I join Allnurses to rant my feelings here.

I'm just ranting as you guys can see.

Specializes in Pediatrics, Pediatric Float, PICU, NICU.
1 minute ago, michksmith14 said:

Our hospital also does the multiple days out in a row only = 1 absence. It's crap. We have one nurse who now has been approved for FMLA for migraines and so every time she calls out sick, she claims to have a migraine. This doesn't count against her absence total and so she can never be fired.

Never mind the fact that these nurses who consistently call out are the first ones to be upset and complain when someone calls out during their on shift! Ridiculous. ?

Just curious if you have evidence that she doesn’t always have migraines when she calls out, or if you’re just assuming?

I personally like the fact that if I call off for three shifts in a row it counts as one occurrence/absence. It makes no sense to be penalized with three different occurrences if you are sick on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

2 Votes
Specializes in Army Nurse, CEN.
10 minutes ago, JadedCPN said:

Just curious if you have evidence that she doesn’t always have migraines when she calls out, or if you’re just assuming?

She has made multiple comments when she comes back in that lead us all to believe she did not really have a migraine. Things like enjoying watching victorian era shows all day.... that doesn't sit well with everyone. Of course I don't have hard evidence but when she is open about what she has done with her time off, we can assume some. I understand many people have migraines and it is a serious issue, some of my close friends have them. They sure as heck can't watch TV with a real migraine. If you're calling out every single week, it's a problem. This is an integrity issue.

I also agree with many others who have pointed out that it is also management's problem to ensure staffing is adequate and accounts for potential call outs. With a small clinic like ours, the budget does not include more than one PRN nurse.

Edit: It should be noted that I do believe that she does get migraines. But when she is calling out every. single. week. it is frustrating for everyone.

2 Votes

Seriously, are we in high school? How is it any of your business why someone calls out? Yeah, maybe they really are sick, but maybe they're overly stressed by management and need the time to cool off because going in is going to affect their care. Maybe there's a serious issue in their family. Or maybe they just feel like using their sick time and going to the beach.

It's absolutely none of your business.

4 Votes
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

I just tend to MYOB with this. I don't call out unless I am sick; what others do is not under my control. Working short, sucks big time. But I can only control my behavior.

3 Votes
Specializes in Pediatrics.
4 hours ago, michksmith14 said:

She has made multiple comments when she comes back in that lead us all to believe she did not really have a migraine. Things like enjoying watching victorian era shows all day.... that doesn't sit well with everyone. Of course I don't have hard evidence but when she is open about what she has done with her time off, we can assume some. I understand many people have migraines and it is a serious issue, some of my close friends have them. They sure as heck can't watch TV with a real migraine.

I'm a nurse who gets migraines and so did my mother, also a nurse and much more severely. At first, yes, you cannot bear sound or light so TV isn't an option. But after several hours of hard sleep and your medications kick in, a little stimulation is possible. After a really tough one, you can tolerate most things but it takes a bit to feel like yourself again--rather like being post-ictal. So you need more rest, usually in bed with the TV on quietly.

All of this to say, ain't none of your business judging whether she "really" had a migraine. Some of my "migraine" call-ins over the years have been to deal with depression and PTSD that is adequately treated, but every once in a blue moon I need a day and don't want my mental health history laid bare for management to see. People have a right to privacy.

2 Votes
Specializes in school nurse.
4 hours ago, tonyl1234 said:

Seriously, are we in high school? How is it any of your business why someone calls out? Yeah, maybe they really are sick, but maybe they're overly stressed by management and need the time to cool off because going in is going to affect their care. Maybe there's a serious issue in their family. Or maybe they just feel like using their sick time and going to the beach.

It's absolutely none of your business.

Well, actually, abuse of sick time does become a co-worker's business when their lives are disrupted because of either working short or being mandated...

Also, people are quick to come up with all the possible non-abuse reasons for these type of sick calls. Okay, yeah, those happen. But... come on now. If you've been in the business for awhile, you've met the type of sick-caller the OP is referring to...

3 Votes
Specializes in Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation.
28 minutes ago, Jedrnurse said:

Well, actually, abuse of sick time does become a co-worker's business when their lives are disrupted because of either working short or being mandated...

Also, people are quick to come up with all the possible non-abuse reasons for these type of sick calls. Okay, yeah, those happen. But... come on now. If you've been in the business for awhile, you've met the type of sick-caller the OP is referring to...

Not necessarily. Business is business, private life is private life. If my call out causes you "burn out" or "mandated issues" or whatever, sure I guess it is my fault? But my actual call out and the reason for it is NONE of your business in regards to my private life.

To keep things simply with myself, when I call off, I don't tell anyone what happened and why. I simply tell everyone I am sick. There are no laws that force me to prove to you or anyone else that I am sick (with the exception of my call off being too much and/or too long; I'm simply talking about a one or two day in a row call off once in awhile).

I've been in situations where my unit has gotten busy and short-handed because others have called off when they we're legitimately sick. Does it suck? Kind of, but I'm there to do my job for my patients and to help my team. If you're not clocked in, that's your business. I have NO grudges to anyone that calls out, even if it's repeatedly. If you notice a fellow nurse doing frequent call offs and nothing is being done, bring it to your manager. If not, bring it up with HR. Then again, not sure why anyone would do that. I still stand by holding no grudges against anyone calling off even when they're not sick. They do what they need to do on their call off time. Leave them alone.

1 Votes
Specializes in school nurse.
59 minutes ago, barcode120x said:

Not necessarily. Business is business, private life is private life. If my call out causes you "burn out" or "mandated issues" or whatever, sure I guess it is my fault? But my actual call out and the reason for it is NONE of your business in regards to my private life.

To keep things simply with myself, when I call off, I don't tell anyone what happened and why. I simply tell everyone I am sick. There are no laws that force me to prove to you or anyone else that I am sick (with the exception of my call off being too much and/or too long; I'm simply talking about a one or two day in a row call off once in awhile).

I've been in situations where my unit has gotten busy and short-handed because others have called off when they we're legitimately sick. Does it suck? Kind of, but I'm there to do my job for my patients and to help my team. If you're not clocked in, that's your business. I have NO grudges to anyone that calls out, even if it's repeatedly. If you notice a fellow nurse doing frequent call offs and nothing is being done, bring it to your manager. If not, bring it up with HR. Then again, not sure why anyone would do that. I still stand by holding no grudges against anyone calling off even when they're not sick. They do what they need to do on their call off time. Leave them alone.

Well then, we definitely and wholeheartedly disagree with each other.

C'est la vie...

3 Votes
Specializes in Army Nurse, CEN.
4 hours ago, ShadowNurse said:

I'm a nurse who gets migraines and so did my mother, also a nurse and much more severely. At first, yes, you cannot bear sound or light so TV isn't an option. But after several hours of hard sleep and your medications kick in, a little stimulation is possible. After a really tough one, you can tolerate most things but it takes a bit to feel like yourself again--rather like being post-ictal. So you need more rest, usually in bed with the TV on quietly.

All of this to say, ain't none of your business judging whether she "really" had a migraine. Some of my "migraine" call-ins over the years have been to deal with depression and PTSD that is adequately treated, but every once in a blue moon I need a day and don't want my mental health history laid bare for management to see. People have a right to privacy.

Thank you for sharing. Yes, everyone has a right to privacy and the reason as to why they called out. The point of my post was frequency and that was just and example. It is made my business and my coworkers’ business who show up everyday when we constantly are dealing with it. It not only affects us, it ultimately affects patient care.

I see both sides of this argument. I don’t think anyone is wrong in their opinion, either. We all know what it feels like to call out and we all know what it feels like to be short staffed. We can only trust that our coworkers are making the best decision. That’s all I have left to say on this matter!

1 Votes

Now now what about those who just need a mental health break. I’m not saying do it all the time, but there have been times when I have called out not for being sick but due to the high stress of our jobs. I just needed a mental health day. Nothing wrong with that!!!

1 Votes
Specializes in school nurse.
48 minutes ago, xanderx said:

Now now what about those who just need a mental health break. I’m not saying do it all the time, but there have been times when I have called out not for being sick but due to the high stress of our jobs. I just needed a mental health day. Nothing wrong with that!!!

Those can be a little more problematic if they always occur on a staff person's weekend to work, when staffing is already tight and mandating is more likely to affect a co-worker's life and plans.

1 Votes

A coworker that fakes a illness, to have a nice weekend of rest while placing burden on his/her coworkers.. is nothing but a selfish arrogant jerk.

We know your kind. And we do not trust you, or will help you when you start calling wolf.

2 Votes
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