Call-out sick policies of different jobs in different countries.

["Melyssa K" Kennedy]

America certainly seems assbackwards in yet another way. I can only briefly touch on the subject, as I have, you guessed it (or maybe not) work in an hour. In jobs where you are dealing with the public and come into contact with many people throughout the day, such as cashiering (that's all I know of personally) you are expected to come in to work, even if you are sick. It is your responsibility to find a replacement and you are not even provided with means to contact any co-workers and you have to see who's available on the schedule. So you are expected to show up and chance getting your co-workers and customers sick by handling all their items. I was given a cold my one of two customers last year, one co-worker was forced to work with a stomach flu, one of my co-workers or a very sick customer got me sick now, and I had to work the day my wisdom teeth extraction was canceled due to severe laryngitis. Yes, we have to work when we can not even talk!
Whereas, with desk and other such office jobs, where you are largely separated from the public and don't have quite as much contact with your co-workers, you can call out sick usually with no issue. There is no chance of infecting a large number of people. I know this because I've been to my mom's work a number of times over the years and I've asked her questions about it.

Yes, I know that office jobs are typically full-time and so you are given sick days to use, but that is not my point. My point is that you are expected to show up sick to a job where there is a high risk on infecting others are you can call out of a job with a low risk of infecting others.

I'm curious to know the policies of other jobs and jobs in other countries.

[Llamas]

It depends on the company.

My part-time jobs in college were Domino's, Target, Perkins, two jobs at my university (one in biological research, one in a call center), two garden centers (cashiering and working with the plants/customers), teaching, and Perkins. At all these jobs, I called in when I was sick. At Target and Perkins, I was supposed to give a certain amount of notice (I think 8 hours before the shift started), and if I failed to give enough notice more than once, I could've been written up. I was sent home from Perkins and Domino's for being sick more than once, but Target wouldn't let me leave if I was already there - I had to call in ahead of time.

I've been working in Europe for the last 3.5 years, but I've never held that kind of job here. I work as a freelancer and independent contractor, and if I cancel a lesson within 24 hours of the lesson, I offer to make it up for free.

Sounds like you work for a shitty company. I recommend finding a new job.

["Melyssa K" Kennedy]

It's called the Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, which owns many popular stores in the States. The manager's an insensitive prick. I really do need another job.

Those policies of your other jobs are all quite different. Interesting.

[_Lost_]

I've only had one job that had a stupid policy like that. And I never bothered with it. If I called in, they just had to deal with it themselves.

When I worked at steak'n'shake, their policy was that you have to bring a doctors note, no exceptions, or you lost your job. I once went to work with a throat that hurt so bad talking put me in tears. and you also weren't allowed to get a scheduled day off for a funeral unless it was an immediate family member. If your best friend died, your ability to go to the funeral was entirely dependant on the boss' mood.

[bornlie]

Yeah I agree with everyone here. I have only had one job like that and that was at Walgreens. The manager was a real dickhead. The rest of the jobs I have had haven't made such a big deal in missing days. I haven't even had a job where I had to find a replacement... Ive never heard of that concept till now. Shouldn't finding your replacement be the manager's job?
I have to disagree on what you said about the office position. I work in a cubicle in a building that includes 500+ employees. I got sick because of work, if someone's working they better call in sick if they come down with someone that is contagious. We don't get paid sick days, either.
.
I called in sick for today and we get points taken off for each day we miss. We have a certain amount of points a month. They are basically preparing for us to be absent a few days. Who would want to be absent from my work though? We get $15 in overtime and if you have a perfect attendance record you are rewarded. They gave employees $50 gift cards for perfect attendance last week. That is if you are okay with old angry people yelling at you on the phone all day lol.

[Static_Martyr]

Actually, almost every job I've worked at has been like that. Every restaurant job, anyway. I worked at one restaurant where, when I would call in sick, the manager would interrogate me as if she thought I was lying every single time (I called in maybe two to four times a year, average). "What? Why are you sick? What do you have? You looked fine yesterday. When will you be back?" I got so irritated with it that I just started telling her every time she asked that I had explosive diarrhea. She would say, "I didn't need to know that," and I'd say, "well, you asked." lol.

When I worked at a Waffle House in the area where we used to live, everything was air-tight, since there are three shifts and it's open round-the-clock. If you're going to miss a shift, you need to call in during the previous shift (not your shift, not the one before your shift, but the one TWO shifts away). Which keeps you from doing what I normally do, which is if I feel sick several hours before I have to work, I take some medicine and try to nap it off and see if I feel any better before I call in. So basically, if I had the slightest inkling that I might be getting sick, I would have to call in in advance just to be safe. And if you have to call in after that for some reason, then you're personally tasked with finding a replacement for you, which is very difficult unless you're well-connected with the other employees, so usually it's not worth the effort. But at least WH had a policy and clear guidelines as to how you go about calling in; it's the only restaurant I've ever worked at that does.

And when I worked at a hospital cafeteria before that --- a HOSPITAL cafeteria --- they would write me up for calling in sick on weekends. They have a policy that you can NEVER call in on a weekend, ever. I called in one day because I had worked for 21 hours straight (due to a scheduling "accident" on their part, I basically worked a triple shift), and they expected me to go home, sleep for 2 hours, and come back the next morning as well for another double shift, so I called in and said, "I need to sleep sometime." They said, "Okay, but I'm writing you up." So I shrugged, hung up and went back to bed.

["Melyssa K" Kennedy]

I have to disagree on what you said about the office position. I work in a cubicle in a building that includes 500+ employees. I got sick because of work, if someone's working they better call in sick if they come down with someone that is contagious. We don't get paid sick days, either.

It's not a matter of agreeing with me or disagreeing, I never gave my opinion. It's a matter of different policies. You can't disagree with what I said about it because how I described my mom's work's sick policy is just how I described it. She's worked there all my life.

I wish my work gave rewards for perfect attendance. In 3 years there, aside from the 11 months I missed, I have called out without finding a replacement less than 5 times.

[Static_Martyr]

It's not a matter of agreeing with me or disagreeing, I never gave my opinion. It's a matter of different policies.

I think he/she/they were referring to when you said:

Whereas, with desk and other such office jobs, where you are largely separated from the public and don't have quite as much contact with your co-workers, you can call out sick usually with no issue. There is no chance of infecting a large number of people. I know this because I've been to my mom's work a number of times over the years and I've asked her questions about it.

which actually was an assessment, with which it's entirely possible to disagree.

[bornlie]

I think he/she/they were referring to when you said:



which actually was an assessment, with which it's entirely possible to disagree.

^ exactly.

["Melyssa K" Kennedy]

Then you should have specified which part you were disagreeing with.