# Is this legal - work place related? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 4, 2010, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-legal-work-place-related/559440 "2010-11-04T11:49:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2010, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-legal-work-place-related/559440/41 "2010-11-06T21:20:16Z")
> [@DianaG](#): > > Is it legal for your employer to expect you to show up at work and do the job they hired you to do? I’m going with yes. Where do you live? NAZI GERMANY?!?! ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-legal-work-place-related/559440/42 "2010-11-07T04:27:52Z")
You know, this not a thread I expected to see Godwinized. Nicely done, **msmith.** ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-legal-work-place-related/559440/43 "2010-11-07T05:23:40Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > I only got about 1/4 way down that OP and decided I would have fired you long ago if you worked for me. Yep. Absences during the first 90 day probationary period are a bad thing, doesn’t matter why, but things happen, so we will excuse that. Continued absences and cronic tardiness and other issues that continue after being written up and put on notice for these issues? You aren’t paying attention, we need a full time employee here on time and ready to work. Staying home 4 days in a row because your kids are sick? Goodbye. Sounds to me like her bosses are giving her a chance and she is continuing to abuse that chance. ---
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-legal-work-place-related/559440/44 "2010-11-07T14:32:01Z")
> [@maryland20711](#): > > I used to love my job and now all I can think about is what am I going to catch shit for today!?!?!!? My guess is it will be the result of putzing around the Straight Dope when you’re suppposed to be working. If you were expected to be at work by 7:05 and your OP was posted at 7:49 a.m. on a frickin’ Thursday –which probably translates as being the first thing you did that day-- my guess is you’re not the über-productive wunderkind you think you are. If it comes down to that though, just blame **Dio**.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Aangelica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Aangelica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aangelica)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-legal-work-place-related/559440/45 "2010-11-08T22:05:21Z")
Even though it’s unlikely to do a lick of good - the OP having gotten someone to agree at least partially that she’s a fine worker and an example to the rest of us - I feel obliged to point out that it is not only one’s manager who has a vested interest in the OP (or any other employee) showing up on time (or at all) for her job. Her co-wokers (and possibly clients) do as well. SOMEBODY has to do her job when she’s not there. How is it fair to that other person if she feels like it’s okay to wander in 13 minutes late - or call in without notice? I work in a small office. There are precisely two support-staff personnel - myself and another lady. Our office is a very small branch office of a larger company - only our Chief Legal Officer (for whom I work) and one of the two founding partners of the company (for whom the other lady works) operate out of this office. Everyone else works at the corporate office in another state. This means that if she calls in - or is late - _I_ end up doing both of our jobs until such time as she shows up again. I’ve only been here a little less than a year, but my co-worker has managed to call in easily a dozen times. She never arranges anything in advance - I come in and there’s a message on our machine that she’s late/absent today. Twice I’ve had to reschedule my OWN vacation days because she had a personal emergency. Granted, her emergencies are dire - her husband has cancer, her kid was rushed to the ICU, etc. They’re entirely legitimate absences. It is still amazingly frustrating for EVERYONE ELSE when she does it. Everyone needs to take unplanned days now and again - it happens. But the appropriate attitude is to be apologetic about the necessity, not filled with righteous indignation that people were ticked about it. The whole tone of “OMG how dare they be mad at me for calling in half a dozen times in as many months?” grates on my nerves. ---
**Author:** ![fjs1fs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9e8a1a/32.png) [@fjs1fs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fjs1fs)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-legal-work-place-related/559440/46 "2010-11-09T16:33:44Z")
> [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](#): > > Sleepy Duck ~ Yep, she came to ask the one question, thanked the one person who seemed to agree with her and hasn’t been back in two days. > > My guess is she wanted _some_ validation for her stance (got it) and is now completely oblivious the rest of what has been said. So it looks like she “quit” the thread. Her boss should be so lucky. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-legal-work-place-related/559440/47 "2010-11-09T17:37:03Z")
Maybe she got fired and can’t post from work anymore. ---
**Author:** ![SleepyDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@SleepyDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SleepyDuck)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2010, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-legal-work-place-related/559440/48 "2010-11-13T05:18:08Z")
> [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](#): > > My guess is she wanted _some_ validation for her stance (got it) and is now completely oblivious the rest of what has been said. > [@fjs1fs](#): > > So it looks like she “quit” the thread. Her boss should be so lucky. > [@kunilou](#): > > Maybe she got fired and can’t post from work anymore. Or, maybe she’s the world’s worst troll. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-legal-work-place-related/559440.md?page=2)