I, like most people, have woken up at some point with the hangover from hell. I also expect most people have at one time or another phoned in sick (or skipped some prior arrangement) - but the thing is, they probably lied. Why don’t we tell the truth?
It’s a legitimate physical sickness. The headache can be incredibly acute and painful, there is often vomiting or… other exit procedures, and if it’s been a particularly good night out - the shakes (oh you 21st weekend, you).
If this was due to a virus - they’d come and paint a red cross on your front door… but because it’s ‘self inflicted’ (don’t you hate it when they say that?), it’s thrown into the same category as plain old skiving.
Unless it’s a regular occurrence, or you held certain responsibilities, disciplinary action would be rare… but for your bog standard hourly wage employee - I’m pretty certain they can’t actually do anything bar give you the crap jobs for the day.
Has anyone actually owned up to their boss about their reason for staying home? If so, what happened? Are you a manager yourself? If so what do you think?
Because you (generally) aren’t blamed for coming down with the flu on a Monday night, when you’re supposed to be working on Tuesday morning. Developing an illness is something that is largely out of your own control, and isn’t seen as a lapse in judgement.
But, getting drunk enough on a Monday night that you’re seriously hung over on Tuesday morning is a lapse in judgement. You knew that you were supposed to work the next morning, and you still chose to be overserved. It’s a sign of immaturity and not-very-good impulse control.
Because it shows poor judgement. You shouldn’t be drinking to excess the night before you have to work. You should have the self control to refrain from drinking, or at least not drink so much you have a hangover.
You probably wouldn’t want to confess that you stayed up until 3 AM watching porn, and that made you so tired you overslept, either.
Because it is entirely voluntary. You, as a reasonable adult, know that if you drink too much and get a hangover, it will affect your performance at work the following day. Thus, aware of this information, you are deliberately choosing to do it.
The slim difference between that and calling in because you were out to a concert until 3am is that the first one involves recreational drug use.
Had a neighbor with the same complaint. “I like to go out and party, what don’t they understand about that?”
I would reply, “They do understand that you like to go out and party, that’s why they are mad at you.”
After he was fired, he was also surprised when the bank foreclosed on his house. “I don’t have a job, what don’t they understand about that?”
I feel bad for people in bad situations, even if they, through mistake or error nin judgement put themselves there. I don’t have too much sympathy for someone who doesn’t’ learn from same.
21 Year old with his first hangover, I could forgive. An “Adult” with a hangover, at my most charitable, I would feel has a drinking problem, which is sad, but it is not my problem to fix.
OTOH, I have used drunk/hungover as an excuse when my employers were calling me in to work on my day off, even when I wasn’t. Not my responsibility to be sober on my day off in case you can’t mange your schedule.
I had a woman at work freak out on me over the fact that I was hungover.
She was with her (14-16 y.o.) granddaughter. She commented on my appearance, saying I must be working too hard, because I looked very tired. I answered, honestly, “no, I’m just severely hungover.” The granddaughter laughed.
The woman left, but called me later and screamed at me for using language like that in front of a child.
Calling in sick for a hangover is frowned upon, but going into rehab for a month to dry out is covered by most insurance. Why can’t I just dry out one day at a time, like the day after drinking?
Thanks for the replies so far. Although I agree with most of what has been already been said, the consensus seems to be the person with the hangover is being negatively judged, or fears being judged, hence the made up excuse.
The thing is, we aren’t perfect. In reality, people of all ages go out and get drunk on a school night. Sometimes it’s planned, other times a quick drink can turn into a heavy one. It’s a lapse of judgement, sure, but we all have lapses in judgement. Is knowing what we should do any different than your partner catching a virus and phoning in sick saying ‘sorry, I know I shouldn’t have touched her, but she’s hot…’?
When most people have at one time or another skived off, or even turned up for an early shift still drunk from the night before, is it just hypocrisy?
By the way, I’m just playing devil’s advocate here… I’ve only missed two work days in 20 years due to a hangover (one I confessed to, and was bizarrely laughed at and told not to worry).
Much of the time when you don’t show up it creates a problem for other people–they have to cover your shift, or find someone to cover your shift. They have to take on your share of the workload. They can’t take lunch because with a person out, there’s no one to cover the phones. They have to reschedule meetings with you. They have to twiddle their thumbs all day and hustle tomorrow because they can’t do their job until you do yours.
I don’t mind covering for you when you have unavoidable circumstances. I’d hope you’d do the same for me. But covering for your hangover is a little different. That’s you not just asking, but effectively forcing me to do you favor.
Yes, it’s different. We should be expected to not wake up with a hangover when we have a job to get to. We should also be careful not to get a cold, but we aren’t deemed irresponsible if we catch one. It’s inevitable. But we would also be seen as having bad judgement for using the apology you gave. TMI and all that. Do you really not know this?
It’s amazing what some people think regarding things their employers should do. A young guy who worked for me back in the 70s once once insisted on a sizable raise in pay because he just bought a new car and couldn’t afford it on his current income.
This is the same reason why fat-shaming is not quite viewed the same way in society as racism or sexism - people are perceived to have control over their weight, whereas they do not have control over their race or gender.
There is also a “it’s good for them” mentality in fat shaming. If you can only make that person feel bad enough about their weight, they’ll finally go on a diet.
Because, you know, that’s how people work. (Psst… that’s not how they work.)
Why on earth would you? What’s wrong with just saying you’re staying home sick. I think taking a day off for a hangover is unacceptable simply because it’s so easy to not fucking tell anyone that’s the reason.
As a manager, if someone did tell me I’d think “I’m judging this person negatively for not having the common sense to not tell me that they have a hangover.”
Incidentally, one of my most hated parts about managing people is when they have an irrepressible need to tell me any details about their sick day. I trust the professionals who work for me to be honest and even if they’re not, telling me about their snot or diarrhea won’t solidify the legitimacy of their sick day in my mind.
