I called in sick last night at 2:25pm for my 7p-7a shift last night. Now, I just checked my cell phone and there's a message from the shift supervisor saying it's imperative that I call her back. She left the message on my cell phone at around 4pm yesterday. I was home and sleeping and as far as I know she did not attempt to call my house since I still do have a land line because my husband would've woken me to tell me. She made no further attempt to contact me last night so I have to guess she probably wanted me to reconsider my sick call as they probably had NO ONE to fill my spot since I work in ICU and you can't just put anyone in ICU. Really, though, that isn't my problem.
Who gave her my cellphone number is beyond me. Must've been one of my coworkers because as far as I know, they do not have it. If they do, then I will have to change it (AGAIN). And as far as I also know, I am not in trouble for anything.
So, do you think it's appropriate for them to call me after I called in sick, within the guidelines of having to call off(for 7pm-it has to be before 3pm) to try to get me to "un-call" off sick?
I mentioned to another coworker that I have an interview at another facility next week. Apparently someone can't keep their mouth shut because one of my friends tells me that I'm in trouble since I called in last night. Guess it goes to show that I'm better off keeping my mouth shut.
The funny thing is....had she called my home phone..my husband would've answered it, brought me the phone and woke me up. THEN I would've talked to her. I'm not obligated to answer my cell phone...or my house phone either for that matter but if she had called the landline...someone would've answered. Hubby doesn't answer my cellphone and I believe I had the ringer shut off from the night before.
Oh well. I'm done worrying about it. I'll be sure to come back and update all of you :)
After this thread, I'm curious what she wanted. It better be good!
My best guess is that she wanted me to reconsider my sick call. If it was mega important, she'd have tried my landline. If I was in deep trouble, I'd have been called on Friday and made to come in for a 'counseling session"
My best guess is that she wanted me to reconsider my sick call. If it was mega important, she'd have tried my landline. If I was in deep trouble, I'd have been called on Friday and made to come in for a 'counseling session"
Specializes in med-surg, psych, ER, school nurse-CRNP.
I have been sitting here worrying about calling out for illness and weather (I live an hour from work, and it's snowing in Alabama for the first time in 10 years), and I just realized, they KNOW when I'm sick! No one could accuse me of faking, especially after I missed projectile vomiting on one of the hospitalists by about 30 seconds. I barely remember that day, and I hate to think what my dictation sounded like.
I had pacer reps calling my cell all weekend, but it's work, and I was the only one they could get to answer. And when I texted my OM to ask her if she would please shoot me, and did Alexa still want my Black Eyed Peas tix, she KNEW it was bad.
Don't sweat it. Their loss, and they may as well know it.
Honey, life is too short. Call off and then block them. The end.
You know, this is what is sad. We are so brainwashed by our employers that we can't even take off a sick day without feeling guilty. Whether your sick or not is your business, and what you do with your sick day is up to you. Once you call off, then the hospital shouldn't even considered calling you at all... for anything.
I'm not directling this at you personally, I'm just making a general statement. YOUR SICK DAYS ARE YOURS PEOPLE!!! ENJOY THEM (OR USE THEM FOR ACTUAL SICKNESS, HEHE )
Employees in Europe take off several months each year, and they take long and relaxing lunches, and even work short work days to boot. In America, we work until we have arrhythmias, and only get 2 weeks of sick days per YEAR. Food for thought.
One year I got called into my Manager's office for calling out sick too much (it wasn't even that much). She basically called me lazy and ungrateful, and said I should take a multivimatin every day so that I could have "lots of energy and stamina like myself!" That only made me want to take a crap in her vitamin bottle.
Honey, life is too short. Call off and then block them. The end.
You know, this is what is sad. We are so brainwashed by our employers that we can't even take off a sick day without feeling guilty. Whether your sick or not is your business, and what you do with your sick day is up to you. Once you call off, then the hospital shouldn't even considered calling you at all... for anything.
I'm not directling this at you personally, I'm just making a general statement. YOUR SICK DAYS ARE YOURS PEOPLE!!! ENJOY THEM (OR USE THEM FOR ACTUAL SICKNESS, HEHE )
Employees in Europe take off several months each year, and they take long and relaxing lunches, and even work short work days to boot. In America, we work until we have arrhythmias, and only get 2 weeks of sick days per YEAR. Food for thought.
One year I got called into my Manager's office for calling out sick too much (it wasn't even that much). She basically called me lazy and ungrateful, and said I should take a multivimatin every day so that I could have "lots of energy and stamina like myself!" That only made me want to take a crap in her vitamin bottle.
Several months sounds nice...I'm not sure how much it truly is (since several months would be more than half the year, and I'm guessing they don't have more sick time than actual work time ) but I do agree and know it's much more than we get here. In my facility, we don't even get two weeks...it's one. And it's done by days, so like for me, I work 3 12's a week, meaning 3 sick days are allowed per year. THREE. That's ridiculous. Especially in a field where, you can't get by with things like you can in other areas...if you hurt yourself, like sprain an ankle, strain your back, etc, you can still perform an office job. Not quite the same doing a physical, on-your-feet, lifting patients job for 12 hours. Got a virus (upper respiratory or stomach, doesn't matter which)? Also with an office job, you can often get away with avoiding too much contact with others, cleaning your office surroundings a little more often, etc. At a hospital you can wear a mask, but that often just isn't enough, and also too many times you just feel too achy/sore/tired or are running to the bathroom too often, etc etc to be able to pull off a shift. Get a couple bugs like this a year, have a couple things happen, have other events happen (someone close to you passes away, but not "close enough" to be covered under funeral leave, say) and you've called in too much. Before my last surgery for endo, I had to sign up for intermittent FMLA...my monthly pain/symptoms at times could be too severe to be able to work with, and as you all know, this isn't a job I could camp out in a chair, put my feet up, and plug in a heating pad behind the desk. Without the FMLA protection, I would have been out of a job. Now, don't get me wrong....I didn't call in for several days a month, I could/would go months at a time without calling in at all, but it was more than 3 times a year overall. I only would have been safe had I never had to ever call in for anything else, which just isn't possible.
Sorry for the long rant. Guess I had a lot to say. :) It's just something I have always felt strongly about; I think the policies in this country (and where I work in particular) can be unrealistic. At my job, also, a doctor's note doesn't do anything for you. A call-in is a call-in, it doesn't matter why. (I will usually bring in a MD note, if I have one, just so that there is one in my file should I ever surpass that dreaded number of absences.) If you are absent more than 3 scheduled days in a row, you can then apply for FMLA and short-term disability, but when you work 12 hour shifts (which more of us do than not), that can be a whole week! An injury or illness can certainly be bad enough to warrant missing a day or two, but not enough to miss a week (3 shifts). Example: last time I called in was in October. I had severe abdominal pain, I thought it was a gallbladder attack. Labwork showed elevated amylase and elevated WBC. GB u/s was negative, EGD was negative, so they called it a mild pancreatitis of unknown cause (I don't drink alcohol, either, so we really don't know what brought it on). It started on a Monday. I missed work Tuesday and Wednesday, and wasn't scheduled again until Satuday. I was feeling well enough to return by Saturday, so it wasn't an FMLA issue, but a call-in (which I am fine with, of course, I was sick...it was just one of those things that can fall in to that "in between" range).
OK, now I promise I'm done. Back to the intended thread.
3 days per YEAR? that is a joke. an absolute, slap in the face joke. we are expected to show up to work with a willing attitude for 13 hours, but in return give us 3 sick days per year!? total j--o--k--e.
in a profession that cares, we sure are cared for quite badly. oh god, how i wish i owned my business. at least then i wouldn't have to decide between vomitting and body aches vs. going to work!
3 days per YEAR? that is a joke. an absolute, slap in the face joke. we are expected to show up to work with a willing attitude for 13 hours, but in return give us 3 sick days per year!? total j--o--k--e.
in a profession that cares, we sure are cared for quite badly. oh god, how i wish i owned my business. at least then i wouldn't have to decide between vomitting and body aches vs. going to work!
I earn 4 hours of sick time per month. My hospital has a silly rule that if you call in twice in a 12 week period, you are written up, which is the most ridiculous policy I ever heard.
One year on my performance eval, I got docked for calling in sick 3 times in one year( yet was NOT in violation of the hospital attendance policy as set forth in the HR employee manual)...the DON said it was a "pattern". Um, I could call off sick ONCE a year and you could call that a pattern!!
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
where i work you get three occurrences per year. i had the shingles and called in for three nights straight -- that was an occurrence. i hurt my back and was off for six months. that was an occurrence. my father died and i went to the funeral and then took care of my mother (alzheimer's) at home until we could get her into assisted living and that was an occurrence. i got sent home in the middle of my shift because i vomited into a trash can at the nurse's station -- and that was an occurrence. three occurrences and you're in verbal counseling, five and you're in written counseling, six and you're terminated.
i could go years without an occurrence when i was in my twenties and thirties, but i'm older now and so are my parents and parents-in-law. i have back issues, knee issues, recurrent shingles, and risk factors for cardiac disease. i have a mother and a mother-in-law with alzheimer's and a husband with a chronic disease. three occurrences can be reached rather quickly these days.
3 days per year? that is a joke. an absolute, slap in the face joke. we are expected to show up to work with a willing attitude for 13 hours, but in return give us 3 sick days per year!? total j--o--k--e.
in a profession that cares, we sure are cared for quite badly. oh god, how i wish i owned my business. at least then i wouldn't have to decide between vomitting and body aches vs. going to work!
i earn 4 hours of sick time per month. my hospital has a silly rule that if you call in twice in a 12 week period, you are written up, which is the most ridiculous policy i ever heard.
one year on my performance eval, i got docked for calling in sick 3 times in one year( yet was not in violation of the hospital attendance policy as set forth in the hr employee manual)...the don said it was a "pattern". um, i could call off sick once a year and you could call that a pattern!!
i could go years without an occurrence when i was in my twenties and thirties, but i'm older now and so are my parents and parents-in-law. i have back issues, knee issues, recurrent shingles, and risk factors for cardiac disease. i have a mother and a mother-in-law with alzheimer's and a husband with a chronic disease. three occurrences can be reached rather quickly these days.
i mean really, management needs to learn what compassion is about. 3 occurences per year is nothing. how can we expect to work and be healthy when the hospital wont let us? working 13 hours when you're sick is absolute hell and makes you feel 100x worse.
i work in a unionized hospital, and have it pretty damned good compared to you guys. we get 2 occurences per quarter, or 12 per year. we get 9 hours of sick time per check (every 2 weeks). our contract is up this year, and i suppose the union will demand more than what we have, or we'll go on strike like we did a couple years ago. fun! :)
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RNforLongTime
1,577 Posts
The funny thing is....had she called my home phone..my husband would've answered it, brought me the phone and woke me up. THEN I would've talked to her. I'm not obligated to answer my cell phone...or my house phone either for that matter but if she had called the landline...someone would've answered. Hubby doesn't answer my cellphone and I believe I had the ringer shut off from the night before.
Oh well. I'm done worrying about it. I'll be sure to come back and update all of you :)