I work with someone who missed 31 days this year

[hollywood]

And got paid for ALL of them.

I've mentioned her here before, and I freely admit that I'm just using this forum to bitch and moan about it again.

For starters, let me go over my company's official policy (we're a newspaper BTW). You're allowed 2 weeks' vacation (10 days) and 1 week (5 days) sick leave after you've been with the company for a full year. And she's still in that first year.

Our direct boss, the editor, is every bit as frustrated as the rest of us. Hell, the people in advertising, circulation, the press room, and the rest of the building are all sick of it, because (1) they have to listen to us bitch about it, and (2) they're still showing up for work and making just as much money as she does when she doesn't.

However, the top dog of the place, the publisher, won't grant anyone the power to fire her (or anyone else for that matter, she's not the first bad egg here). Is he related to her? No. Are they friends? No. Is there any real personal or professional reason for him to want to keep her? No. (In addition to being a lousy employee, she's an abysmal reporter in every way imaginable.)

Basically, the reason she's still here is this...the publisher just doesn't want to be bothered---with ANYTHING. On a given day, he shows up for work an average of 30 minutes to 1 hour. His approach to problems is basically, "Well...how 'bout we just ignore it for now, and maybe it'll go away...?"

The editor's talked with him several times about this. Hell, I'VE talked with him. And it's gone nowhere. So now it's a new year, and she can start up a new tally. Maybe she can double her time off this year? After all, it's not like she has to worry about retribution.

As for me, I've taken the only route available. I've been looking for another job. Even had an interview with a radio station about doing video work for their website, but that's still an evolving thing for them so nothing yet. I've tapered off during the holidays, but after the first of the year I plan to get back to sending my resume out to any and everyone I can think of.

And if and when that great day finally comes, I'm going to tell the publisher, "Just so you know. I'm leaving. And the biggest reason is because you wouldn't do anything about this woman."

[Mozenrath]

Everyone knows newspapers are doing AWESOME, so I am sure the place has the money intake to bottle feed this woman, too.

Sarcasm aside, I feel your pain, I've known the type. I hope you find a job somewhere with more professionalism, and excel at it.

[Gerard Gerard]

Little to add other than follow the standard that's she has set and mention her as precedent should you find yourself in hot water.

Tres mature I think.

[Mozenrath]

Dec 31, 2009 10:41:50 GMT -5 Gerard Gerard said:

Little to add other than follow the standard that's she has set and mention her as precedent should you find yourself in hot water.

Tres mature I think.

If he's finding a new job like he says, though, he might not want to ruin his reference.

[Abadebe]

Every time she takes a day off, you should do the same.

What are they going to do, fire you? And you'll still get paid too.

You could probably convince a few coworkers to go along with you. When half the employees don't show up for work, the boss should start paying attention. If he fixes the problem, great. If he doesn't, then you'll keep getting paid for not showing up.

[Gerard Gerard]

Dec 31, 2009 10:43:16 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

Dec 31, 2009 10:41:50 GMT -5 Gerard Gerard said:

Little to add other than follow the standard that's she has set and mention her as precedent should you find yourself in hot water.

Tres mature I think.

If he's finding a new job like he says, though, he might not want to ruin his reference.

well, if his reference is left in the same hands as the guy who is keeping
this bird in a job then I doubt he has very much to worry about.

[hollywood]

Dec 31, 2009 9:27:57 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

Everyone knows newspapers are doing AWESOME, so I am sure the place has the money intake to bottle feed this woman, too.

Sarcasm aside, I feel your pain, I've known the type. I hope you find a job somewhere with more professionalism, and excel at it.

Community newspapers are actually doing fairly well these days. And this one SHOULD be doing better than it is. There's a whole list of things the publisher is doing wrong. (And they're all the result of sheer apathy.) It would take too long to list them all, but I'll just mention that, as of the end of 2009, we still don't even have a website. Not even a Facebook or Twitter account. Nothing. We use the internet to gather news via email and to make use of the Associated Press, and so on. But no web presence of our own.

Some people think it's because the people who actually own us are just old and refuse to stop living in the past. Personally, I'm convinced the publisher is just too lazy to care to bother with it, and he plays it off on the owners.

Our printing press is 30 years old. Our computers are over 10 years old. We're literally 3 generations behind where a standard paper should be right now. Quite frankly, even if this dips*** of a woman weren't here, I'd still be looking elsewhere.

Maybe someone will like my manuscript and I can be the next J.K. Rowling...except with religious thrillers and horror......

[deadmanlfc]

Maybe she has a secret identity as a world famous superhero like another news reporter I could think of who is probably also thought of in similar terms to this girl by his collegues and editor.

[Back to being Cenanuff]

Maybe she's got the Funaki reason for being employed...she knows where the boss hid the body.

[Throwback]

wouldn't you feel bad if she has a medical condition that causes her to miss work and she asked the boss to keep it confidential?

[hollywood]

Dec 31, 2009 12:28:09 GMT -5 Throwback said:

wouldn't you feel bad if she has a medical condition that causes her to miss work and she asked the boss to keep it confidential?

1) No.
2) She's not.
3) Another thing about this woman is her sheer lack of intelligence and maturity. Every time, she calls before anyone arrives and leaves a message saying she's sick and can't come in. And she always does it on either a Friday or Monday. Or, sometimes, she'll even call in sick on a Wednesday, which means she'll be calling in sick the rest of the week, too.

Honestly, at this point, the woman's arm could fall off right in front of me, and I wouldn't give a rat's ass.

[Mozenrath]

Dec 31, 2009 12:28:09 GMT -5 Throwback said:

wouldn't you feel bad if she has a medical condition that causes her to miss work and she asked the boss to keep it confidential?

Not really, at least in my case. If she's gone that much, odds are she is not doing her share of the work. If she needs help due to a condition, she should at least tell her coworkers in general terms that she might be gone sometimes with little warning. It's common courtesy. She doesn't have to show them doctor's notes or something, or even name the condition, but if she just disappears all the time without apology or reason, that's worthy of contempt no matter what.

[Red Impact]

I work at a medium sized metropolitan newspaper. One of my coworkers (on the same desk as me) likes to leave early. I don't mean 5 minutes, I mean, whenever I'm working with him, I tend to count on him not working 2 hours of his shift.

The worst part is, He's full time, I'm still part time, so he still gets vacation and sick days, I don't. Even though some works, despite not taking a vacation, he works fewer hours than me and I get called in to cover for him leaving.

[Hypnotix]

I work with someone like that. She always takes off on a Monday or Friday, she's of absolutely no use to our store. Customers don't like dealing with her, co-workers don't like working with her because she does everything in her power to NOT work, and she makes the workplace an all-around dreadful place to be. In fact, not only is she worthless, but she's even said that if the company fires her, she'll sue the company for discrimination because she says she has asburger's syndrome, and she's a lesbian. The company won't fire her because she's a "special case" and I understand, they receive money from the government for keeping her employed.

Even worse, we've gone through 6 assistant managers in the past 3 years who have either transferred or quit because the company won't allow them to fire or even reprimand her for her bad performance and blatant disrespect for her co-workers. She mouths off to customers, co-workers, and talks back to the store manager. All the reasons someone would normally be fired, but she won't be. I'm looking for a new job and cannot wait to tell my boss that I'm leaving and will no longer have to deal with our problem child.

[CM Dazz]

You guys hiring?