CALEDONIA, Mich. - A woman who took an unpaid leave of absence from work to see her husband off to war with an Indiana National Guard unit has been fired after failing to show up for her part-time receptionist job the day following his departure.
"It was a shock," said Suzette Boler, a 40-year-old mother of three and grandmother of three. "I was hurt. I felt abandoned by people I thought cared for me. I sat down on the floor and cried for probably two hours."
Officials at her former workplace, Benefit Management Administrators Inc., a Caledonia employee-benefits company, confirmed that Boler was dismissed when she didn't report to work the day after she said goodbye to her husband of 22 years.
"We gave her sufficient time to get back to work," Clark Galloway, vice president of operations for Benefit Management, told The Grand Rapids Press for a story Wednesday.
More:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051026/ap_on_...HBhBHNlYwM5NjQ-
Full Version: Interesting Pr Strategy
If she really is a good employee, as she claims, I'd say time to move on....
Who'd want to work for THAT company for $9/hour anyway?
Who'd want to work for THAT company for $9/hour anyway?
Maybe I'm just too cynical after having so many bad employees, but even though I feel for her having just sent her husband off to Iraq, I think there's more to it than that:
This part here made me wonder:
She was ASKED to come back to work on the 17th. She believed that because it wasn't an ORDER that it was okay to not go? Yes, she said she would "try to" be there. If an employee told me they would try to be here, I would expect them to REALLY try.
But did she make a call to her supervisor and let him know that she wouldn't be there? I would think that if she did, she would say so here.
Why does someone only go into work if they absolutely have to go or be fired?
I'm just cynical about this because I've had to let so many employees go because of too many absences. Each time they've said the same thing: "If I would have known you were going to fire me, I would have gone to work." These are people who habitually called in sick at least one day a week - usually on Friday or Monday.
And then there are the people who come in to work the day after their husband walks out on them, or the day their wife gives birth. The ones you have to kick out the door because they really shouldn't be at work that day.
Yes, she just sent her husband off to war, so I do have sympathy for her. But I think there was more to it than that. If she were really a valued employee (did a good job) they wouldn't have let her go so easily. It may have just been the last straw that she didn't call in that day.
QUOTE
He added that other factors were involved in the decision, but he declined to elaborate.
This part here made me wonder:
QUOTE
Boler recalled being asked, not ordered, to start back at her job Oct. 17, the day after her husband left. She told her bosses that she would try to return that day but if she could not, she would definitely be back Oct. 18, she said.
She was ASKED to come back to work on the 17th. She believed that because it wasn't an ORDER that it was okay to not go? Yes, she said she would "try to" be there. If an employee told me they would try to be here, I would expect them to REALLY try.
QUOTE
When Boler returned home from Indiana on the night of Oct. 16, a few hours after leaving her husband at the airfield, she said she felt drained by the emotional ordeal and decided to return to work Oct. 18.
But did she make a call to her supervisor and let him know that she wouldn't be there? I would think that if she did, she would say so here.
QUOTE
"If I had even an inkling that I would be fired for not coming in Monday, I would have been there," she said.
Why does someone only go into work if they absolutely have to go or be fired?
I'm just cynical about this because I've had to let so many employees go because of too many absences. Each time they've said the same thing: "If I would have known you were going to fire me, I would have gone to work." These are people who habitually called in sick at least one day a week - usually on Friday or Monday.
And then there are the people who come in to work the day after their husband walks out on them, or the day their wife gives birth. The ones you have to kick out the door because they really shouldn't be at work that day.
Yes, she just sent her husband off to war, so I do have sympathy for her. But I think there was more to it than that. If she were really a valued employee (did a good job) they wouldn't have let her go so easily. It may have just been the last straw that she didn't call in that day.
QUOTE(bookmark @ Oct 27 2005, 03:23 PM)
Yes, she just sent her husband off to war, so I do have sympathy for her. But I think there was more to it than that. If she were really a valued employee (did a good job) they wouldn't have let her go so easily. It may have just been the last straw that she didn't call in that day.
[right][snapback]94722[/snapback][/right]
[right][snapback]94722[/snapback][/right]
Exactly what I was thinking. Sounds like she was good employee in her own mind.
QUOTE
Exactly what I was thinking. Sounds like she was good employee in her own mind.
Dealing with too many of those right now.
*****
Can I offer anyone a martini?
I'd love a martini.
Cheers!
Cheers!
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.