Taking a man day

Big Tom Mainliner · 30-01-2014 04:11PM

A few people I used to work with regularly took sickies.

They were generally the type of people who would 'know their rights', run to the union steward at every perceived injustice, give out about other employees who passed them by for promotion, completely over-estimated their abilities too. Generally not nice people in my experience.

qapmoc · 30-01-2014 04:41PM

joseph brand wrote: »

My father's work colleague approached his boss one day and said something like; "I haven't taken a single sick day in the past 8 years." The boss simply replied; "well, they were there for you to take."

It was about 12 days/ year available, which is 96 days he could have taken a 'man day'.

I have met quite a few bosses in the private sector over the years ( through family, through work, through clubs etc ) and never once did I meet a boss who would have approved of paying someone for 96 days when he / she should not have. Any businesses that acted like that go out of business.

joseph brand wrote: »

If someone feels they really need a day off and they're not physically sick, then maybe it's for their mental health.

Hold on. Your employer pays you for weekends off, pays you for bank holidays off, pays you for 20 or 30 work days as holidays a year off, pays you for days off when you are genuinely sick - - and you still expect him or her and your work colleagues to carry the weight when you just feel like a "sickie"?

westcoast66 · 30-01-2014 04:48PM

joseph brand wrote: »

It was about 12 days/ year available, which is 96 days he could have taken a 'man day'. He was expecting some sort of thanks. As if.

How can you have 12 sick days 'available' ? You are either sick or not.

Iwasfrozen · 30-01-2014 04:48PM

qapmoc wrote: »

Hold on. Your employer pays you for weekends off,

No they don't.

qapmoc wrote: »

pays you for bank holidays off, pays you for 20 or 30 work days as holidays a year off, pays you for days off when you are genuinely sick - - and you still expect him or her and your work colleagues to carry the weight when you just feel like a "sickie"?

When employers stop asking staff to work free overtime (i.e. never) then you can have a moral position to complain about staff taking days off.

qapmoc · 30-01-2014 04:55PM

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

No they don't.

so you work 7 days a week , every week of the year? Ironically the people I know who do that , do not take sickies.

Cian92 · 30-01-2014 05:05PM

qapmoc wrote: »

so you work 7 days a week , every week of the year? Ironically the people I know who do that , do not take sickies.

Well maybe it's a new concept, but I have heard of people working for 5 days in a week and getting paid for 5 not 7.

Karl Stein · 30-01-2014 05:26PM

Only in AH can a person's treating themselves to a day off turn into a battle of the sexes, a battle between the Public Service and Private Sector, a grammar Nazism battle and a bosses versus workers battle.

I'll just get these out of the way; Travellers, Muslims, Single Mothers, Nigerians, non-Nationals, welfare cheats, bankers, politicians, Israel v Palestine, Pro Life v Pro Choice, Marriage Equality, Norniron, Protestants v Catholics, wartards v peacnics, Deisel v Petrol.

:pac:

Dravokivich · 30-01-2014 05:33PM

gimmick wrote: »

You had a 2 hour break did you :rolleyes:

The time between my first post and my most recent post, does not mean I've continually been on boards for that period in it's entirety.

Iwasfrozen · 30-01-2014 07:09PM

qapmoc wrote: »

so you work 7 days a week , every week of the year? Ironically the people I know who do that , do not take sickies.

No I work the 5 days I'm paid for.

Frank Lee Midere · 30-01-2014 07:25PM

qapmoc wrote: »

I have met quite a few bosses in the private sector over the years ( through family, through work, through clubs etc ) and never once did I meet a boss who would have approved of paying someone for 96 days when he / she should not have. Any businesses that acted like that go out of business.

Hold on. Your employer pays you for weekends off, pays you for bank holidays off, pays you for 20 or 30 work days as holidays a year off, pays you for days off when you are genuinely sick - - and you still expect him or her and your work colleagues to carry the weight when you just feel like a "sickie"?

My boss pays me for 39 of the 45-50 hours I do a week. The company makes about 500,000 per employee, and pays a fraction of that, they might survive an odd sickie. All this "morality" about working for the man is slave thinking.

Frank Lee Midere · 30-01-2014 07:25PM

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

No I work the 5 days I'm paid for.

Exactly 39 hours I assume.

Iwasfrozen · 30-01-2014 07:30PM

Frank Lee Midere wrote: »

Exactly 39 hours I assume.

Your employer is exploiting you, now I'm no "workers of the world" headcase but anyone can see what's going on here. Things have gotten especially bad since the downturn where employers seem to be think you're privileged even to have a job.

Frank Lee Midere · 30-01-2014 07:35PM

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

Your employer is exploiting you, now I'm no "worker of the world" headcase but anyone can see what's going on here. Things have gotten especially bad since the downturn where employers seem to be think you're privileged even to have a job.

Well I can easily get a job (IT) and overtime is necessary to get things done sometimes. But at the end of projects I might take a "man day". My company is pretty good at giving a day in lieu for weekends, it's the extra hours worked in the office and at home ( calling into meetings with Americans) which is actually in the contract. My point is that it's a grey area. To be fair my bosses also work late and turn up to late meetings with international clients. They also disappear occasionally.

aaakev · 30-01-2014 07:38PM

qapmoc wrote: »

Do not insult the word "man". Real men pull their weight in the economy and do not steal from their bosses. Your booss presumably already pays you for weekends / days off. Annual holidays. Bank holidays or their equivalent time off. And yet you still steal. There are hundreds of thousands of people who would take your job, and salary, and not steal from tyour boss. Why do you not brag to your boss about your exploits or is he at the same carry on?

There are 8764 hours in a year. Your boss (or the taxpayer) probably pays you to work for about 1500 to 1850 hours per year. Yet you fail to pull your weight that is expected because you claim "everything else, ie hobbies, kind of gets out on the back burner"?

I get paid 8 till 5. Im usually on the phone working from about 7.30 and iv just finished now at 6.30 which is a regular thing this time of the year. I Work hard and pull my weight and if I feel like I need a day to myself with no work, no woman and no kids ill take it!

Iwasfrozen · 30-01-2014 07:39PM

Frank Lee Midere wrote: »

Well I can easily get a job (IT) and overtime is necessary to get things done sometimes. But at the end of projects I might take a "man day". My company is pretty good at giving a day in lieu for weekends, it's the extra hours worked in the office and at home ( calling into meetings with Americans) which is actually in the contract. My point is that it's a grey area. To be fair my bosses also work late and turn up to late meetings with international clients. They also disappear occasionally.

If the company wants a project done within a certain time limit and overtime is required to achieve this then they should have to pay for it.

Einhard · 30-01-2014 07:47PM

Man, the preaching and moralising from some here is a bit sad. Taking the odd sick day just because you want to is no big deal, especially if you can simply catch up on the wrk the rest of the time. Those who condemn it need to lighten up and maybe even try it. They might even find they're enjoying it!!

30-01-2014 08:02PM

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

If the company wants a project done within a certain time limit and overtime is required to achieve this then they should have to pay for it.

Most salary jobs don't pay overtime and an awful lot, especially failry good jobs will have it in the contract that extra hours have to be worked if necessary without extra pay. Though some will provide extra time off to compensate.

Its also almost an unwritten rule in some places with fairly flexible working hours that you work long hours when required but can "disappear" early, arrive late etc during quite periods or even "work from home" i.e. log in and go back to sleep.

redarmy · 30-01-2014 08:03PM

beks101 wrote: »

I've done this but I have a vagina, worried about what I should be calling these days?

Coz up til now, "zero fucks shall be given" days has sufficed.

any chance of a loan of it

jonnny68 · 30-01-2014 08:39PM

Football with the lads, quick sauna and shower, pub with the lads for pints and a big feed, more football (TV this time) and then home to a blow job and ride.

Sounds alright to me
;-)

stefan idiot jones · 30-01-2014 08:45PM

Apparently my Great Grandfather had similar ideas.

He was a lazy good for nothing Walter Mitty like character. He was economical with the truth is a nice way of saying it.

He would get up, get dressed and go to work, then return home ready for tea.
My Fathers friends would say to him 'I saw your Dad today sitting in the park' and my Father would be confused as he should have been in work. The lying bastard didn't have a job.

Many times my Father would come home from school to find the electricity had been cut off or an item of furniture would be gone.

Ahh, the 1950's.

So, my Great Grandfather did indeed enjoy his 'man days' away from his stressful job.

Iwasfrozen · 30-01-2014 09:02PM

stefan idiot jones wrote: »

Apparently my Great Grandfather had similar ideas.

He was a lazy good for nothing Walter Mitty like character. He was economical with the truth is a nice way of saying it.

He would get up, get dressed and go to work, then return home ready for tea.
My Fathers friends would say to him 'I saw your Dad today sitting in the park' and my Father would be confused as he should have been in work. The lying bastard didn't have a job.

Many times my Father would come home from school to find the electricity had been cut off or an item of furniture would be gone.

Ahh, the 1950's.

So, my Great Grandfather did indeed enjoy his 'man days' away from his stressful job.

That story's probably a lot more sad and dark than you're letting on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_Sonata

Eight Ball · 30-01-2014 10:42PM

I feel sorry for the "ive never taken a sick day in 8 years" crowd I really do. Id say on average ive taken 7-8 days a year over my working life and they are some of the best days ive spent. Bringing my kids to the beach, going for rides on my motorbike, staying in bed all day with the missus it's all good and all the while getting paid. I pay my taxes so it's all good.

Legs.Eleven · 30-01-2014 11:01PM

Took a sick day this month because I was actually sick. I don't get paid for them though, so I don't take them. I did when I was on a salary though. All the Goody-Woody Two Shoes moaning about them: get a life :cool:

L'Enfer du Nord · 31-01-2014 12:43AM

(Can't take it like) A Man Day:rolleyes:

ghogie91 · 31-01-2014 03:42PM

jimboblep wrote: »

Why not , nobody will turn around on their deathbed and say "I wish I had spent more time working"
Life is for living

Thats why I want a log cabin beside a lake, fish for food, hunt a bit of game, the house will reflect the work you put into it

Yukon Men series on Discovery... thats the life I want

31-01-2014 03:55PM

Eight Ball wrote: »

I feel sorry for the "ive never taken a sick day in 8 years" crowd I really do. Id say on average ive taken 7-8 days a year over my working life and they are some of the best days ive spent. Bringing my kids to the beach, going for rides on my motorbike, staying in bed all day with the missus it's all good and all the while getting paid. I pay my taxes so it's all good.

I know it's hard to extrapolate too much. Nevertheless....

Your attitude is not a million miles away from a politician justifying a little fudging with expenses or taking a 'donation' from a prominent business associate / property developer.

It's not the few days themselves that matter, it's the fact that you don't care about compromising your integrity that's the real problem. Yes, you pay your taxes (although I'd say if you'd any control over your taxes you'd quite easily leave the taxman a few quid short).

B.A._Baracus · 31-01-2014 04:21PM

Not to be buzz killington

But I never got these 'man-flu' / 'man-cave' / 'man day' things....
Can you imagine watching a John Wayne movie with him walking over to a girl and saying "howdy betty-sue, want to come home with little ol' me and see my man-cave? but I must warn you darling, I got a touch of the man-flu too..."

... no.

professore · 31-01-2014 04:27PM

Triangla wrote: »

Or just take a legitimate day off and do whatever you want.

They're your annual leave days, use a few for yourself every now and again.

You're clearly not married with kids.

professore · 31-01-2014 04:29PM

Iwasfrozen wrote: »

If the company wants a project done within a certain time limit and overtime is required to achieve this then they should have to pay for it.

I've never seen this in IT. Anywhere in the private sector at least.

jimgoose · 31-01-2014 04:33PM

professore wrote: »

I've never seen this in IT. Anywhere in the private sector at least.

Doesn't happen in I.T. I was a systems-and-infrastructure engineer at Motorola for seven years back in the Noughties. Occasionally, we'd have to stay 'til 7 or 8 of a Friday evening on account of some deadline or other. My (then American) boss would order in pizza for us. I don't eat that kind of shyte, and my usual answer was "Nah, yer alright biy - I'll go for a pint later-on, and by the way I'll be in after lunch on Monday.".

Taking a man day

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