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Personal Calls Can Make You Sick
Sep. 24th, 2003 10:56 pmEdit: Everyone, please with James, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jamesbeary a very happy birthday!
Mike Lord quit today. Lately I've sort of passed by all the people leaving work. My team has been all over the place, the best and brightest are obviously being picked up - ether by other groups in the company, but for a few, other employers.
Mike Lord didn't actually work for me. He worked for three different areas of the customer service group. For the last year he's been working for the phones group, a group I never want to work for. Apparently Mike had made a personal phone call and told his caller that he was planning to take a sick day.
Sometime between now and then, his supervisor sampled the call. Now, just so you know, I do sample calls, and once I determine it's personal, I drop the call. period. Sure, some of you might say that the company has the right to monitor phone calls made on it's systems, just like they can monitor email and web usage. Legally, that's right. I have warned people about the amount of personal calls they make, but I don't listen to their personal calls. It's not my business.
So Mike gets taken in by his supervisor, and told about the call, telling him that he was committing fraud by setting up a sick day. Come on, others have done it before. People take mental health days The company makes no restrictions on what the sick days can be used for, unless you go over three in a row, then you need a doctor's note. Pretty reasonable, right?
People always take sick days for personal reasons. I usually don't, but I'm an exception, rather than the rule. It's nothing new. A day to play in the sun, relax by the pool, work is stressful.
The phones is a dog-eat-dog world. They've been hit had through attrition, and have been made to not replace the losses. A person being out does make a difference. They run a tight ship. They also, unlike say, my old cable company which kept me on hold for 30 minutes just to be able to cancel their ass, have to work to answer every call in 15 seconds. 15 seconds, you probably took that long to read this paragraph. See why I don't want to work there?
It doesn't help though if you threaten people based on listening to a personal phone call. It's just another way to find yourself out another associate.
Don't worry about Mike, though. Mikes 22, and he's worked for the company for the last 4 years. Mike's husband, Gary, used to work for us too, he used to be a manager in my department and just took a six-figure job at a rival firm about three months ago. Mike's got a sugar daddy and has had him since he left high school - lucky kid. He's happy driving his Audi. He's not exactly tethered to the same reality we are.
Mike told Greg and I that he does have to get a job, but a part-time job probably won't hurt him. I'm sure not having Mike work at Gary's rival company isn't so bad, either.
Gary takes pretty good care of him. He'll do OK. I'll just think of him as being out on sick leave.
jamesbeary a very happy birthday!Mike Lord quit today. Lately I've sort of passed by all the people leaving work. My team has been all over the place, the best and brightest are obviously being picked up - ether by other groups in the company, but for a few, other employers.
Mike Lord didn't actually work for me. He worked for three different areas of the customer service group. For the last year he's been working for the phones group, a group I never want to work for. Apparently Mike had made a personal phone call and told his caller that he was planning to take a sick day.
Sometime between now and then, his supervisor sampled the call. Now, just so you know, I do sample calls, and once I determine it's personal, I drop the call. period. Sure, some of you might say that the company has the right to monitor phone calls made on it's systems, just like they can monitor email and web usage. Legally, that's right. I have warned people about the amount of personal calls they make, but I don't listen to their personal calls. It's not my business.
So Mike gets taken in by his supervisor, and told about the call, telling him that he was committing fraud by setting up a sick day. Come on, others have done it before. People take mental health days The company makes no restrictions on what the sick days can be used for, unless you go over three in a row, then you need a doctor's note. Pretty reasonable, right?
People always take sick days for personal reasons. I usually don't, but I'm an exception, rather than the rule. It's nothing new. A day to play in the sun, relax by the pool, work is stressful.
The phones is a dog-eat-dog world. They've been hit had through attrition, and have been made to not replace the losses. A person being out does make a difference. They run a tight ship. They also, unlike say, my old cable company which kept me on hold for 30 minutes just to be able to cancel their ass, have to work to answer every call in 15 seconds. 15 seconds, you probably took that long to read this paragraph. See why I don't want to work there?
It doesn't help though if you threaten people based on listening to a personal phone call. It's just another way to find yourself out another associate.
Don't worry about Mike, though. Mikes 22, and he's worked for the company for the last 4 years. Mike's husband, Gary, used to work for us too, he used to be a manager in my department and just took a six-figure job at a rival firm about three months ago. Mike's got a sugar daddy and has had him since he left high school - lucky kid. He's happy driving his Audi. He's not exactly tethered to the same reality we are.
Mike told Greg and I that he does have to get a job, but a part-time job probably won't hurt him. I'm sure not having Mike work at Gary's rival company isn't so bad, either.
Gary takes pretty good care of him. He'll do OK. I'll just think of him as being out on sick leave.
