"Some stuff came up"

[Cinjin]

It's not likely that this particular girl was having personal issues of which she couldn't speak of. Mostly because she could've simply said, "I'm having some very serious personal issues of which I can't discuss and I am dreadfully sorry that I did not relay that adequately." Nope, more than likely she's a useless, entitled piece of shit like many of her age.

Also, most people are willing to give an employer at least some basic information in order to keep their employment. I've met people having extremely tough times, and they don't tend to storm out of work for being questioned about their tardiness.

I've supervised crews of over 40 men and hired and fired many. This particular lass sounds like another useless waste of flesh, not a misunderstood hard-working employee. So much so that I'd gladly bet a large sum that shes falls into the former category. Any takers?

[Minimalist]

The cycle of dick is eternal.

Nice turn of a phrase, there.

My son runs a lap top program in a high school. What drives him nuts are when kids come into his computer lab and say "the screen broke." The screen does not simply break. Unless you drop them...or throw them at another kid. They stand there and lie like rugs insisting that it just broke and then their fucking parents back them up.

So the parents are just as fucking bad as their offspring and it has led to another uniquely American phenomena.... the helicopter parent.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/37493795/ns/he...TmChVdGjZ4

These kids can't wipe their asses without mommy or daddy telling them how. No wonder they are a bunch of neurotic little fucks.

[Jackalope]

I would tend to agree, Cinj (though as I said before, without knowing more, it's hard to say). It's been my experience that when you work for a reasonable, compassionate employer it's not necessary to fear that a personal crisis will threaten your employment. DP seems like the reasonable, compassionate type to me - and I have no doubt that if he had an employee with a personal crisis, time would be given to attend to it.

Her reaction when asked about it is telling. It could be that she was ill-equipped to cope with that sort of confrontation - but it seems more likely that she didn't want to give an explanation and flipped. Dunno.

[Kayenneh]

No, I don't understand this kind of behavior. May the 'stuff' be whatever and how relevant, this is not how you show your employer that you are an asset to the team and worthy of your job. Over here it's bloody hard to get a job as a young adult, and my guess is that the situation might not be any better over there. If you want to keep your job, you talk with your superiors what's bothering you and try to fix the situation instead of giving shady excuses and just not showing up for work.

[Autumnlicious]

My son runs a lap top program in a high school. What drives him nuts are when kids come into his computer lab and say "the screen broke." The screen does not simply break. Unless you drop them...or throw them at another kid. They stand there and lie like rugs insisting that it just broke and then their fucking parents back them up.

Cringing... so.. hard right now.

Too... familiar.

[frankiej]

Can I have her job?

[DeistPaladin]

Thanks for all the replies and no, I never asked nor did she tell what the "stuff" was about. My greater concern was both the flippant manner in which she called off coming to work (what Cinjin said: )

she could've simply said, "I'm having some very serious personal issues of which I can't discuss and I am dreadfully sorry that I did not relay that adequately."

Right. It was the I-got-stuff-to-do nature that was more revealing of her general attitude toward her obligations. Also, we have a rule about speaking to a decision-maker (me or a supervisor) when calling off coming into work. It needs to be a decision-maker who can say that it is/is not a valid reason to miss work or that we can make reasonable accommodations (such as "oh, your car's broken down? Well, I need you here today so we'll send one of our delivery persons to come pick you up"). Leaving a message on an answering machine and not calling back later isn't sufficient.

These kids can't wipe their asses without mommy or daddy telling them how. No wonder they are a bunch of neurotic little fucks.

Right. And perhaps Moros is right that I'm having an early onset of you-kids-get-off-my-lawn (Sweet Reason, I'm only 44; that wouldn't bode well for my future; I'll be like John McCain by the time I'm 60) and this is the typical generation gap talking. But it really does seem like my generation is the worst group of parents and we have raised a hoard of spoiled little entitled sponges.

[frankiej]

Right. And perhaps Moros is right that I'm having an early onset of you-kids-get-off-my-lawn (Sweet Reason, I'm only 44; that wouldn't bode well for my future; I'll be like John McCain by the time I'm 60) and this is the typical generation gap talking. But it really does seem like my generation is the worst group of parents and we have raised a hoard of spoiled little entitled sponges.

I don't think it is really the fault of parents... I'd more likely blame the media and society as a whole. But, hey, what do I know? I'm one of those lil' sponges. Although, I am the way I am, because I no longer care for humanity. They had their chance to impress me... they failed.

[Creed of Heresy]

But it really does seem like my generation is the worst group of parents and we have raised a hoard of spoiled little entitled sponges.

This is probably the reason for why I am so disconnected from the mainstream individuals of my generation. Trust fund babies. I came into the world at the tail end of that sort of thing but it is still prevalent enough to disgust me. "I don't have to work, mommy and daddy will take care of everything" mentalities. There's a difference between loving your child and assisting them, and just refusing to let prepare them for the world because you did everything for them and never let them experience anything. I had a friend who was very much a result of the latter. Me and her were friends for years but her "woe is me" attitude every time something minor and trivial came up started getting on my nerves in a hurry. I became friends with her now-ex-boyfriend, and when she eventually cheated on him [as she had cheated on her last two boyfriends] because she was so friggin' up her own ass with her own idea of what her worth really was, well, I sided with him. It didn't help matters that she was a wiccan, and very much up her own ass about it and alternative medicines and was just gullible as all fuck all around, convinced of herself through no force of experience but just because mommy and daddy had always told her she was right no matter what. She's not my friend anymore, and while she was the one who broke it off with me, I instigated it by mocking her on facebook openly after a while because I both wanted her gone from my life while also feeling a supreme level of contempt for her.

There's quite a few like that out there, and I've long learned that they're not worth dealing with. They're fucking useless in every sense of the word, contribute nothing, and ultimately do nothing.

---

I don't think it is really the fault of parents... I'd more likely blame the media and society as a whole.

That's like saying "blame video games/movies/television/the internet for making our kids violent." Which has long been proven to not be the case. Parents are the ultimate point of responsibility for the way a child turns out. This is non-negotiable, by simple parameters of the fact they accepted that burden silently by having a kid.

---

I should add in that personally I WOULD love to be able to call in sometimes and just be like "Yo...Mike...uh...I'm really stoned. I felt like getting stoned. Lemme get someone to cover for me-"

Oh. Wait. I can.

I actually did once already, but only because I'd given my manager like a week's notice. "I'm probably going to be smoking up a bit over the weekend cuz I seriously need to kill the stress I've been dealing with with all the shit going on the last couple, you know, YEARS, so...I miiight have to have someone cover for me. That fine? If not, I'll hold off."

Manager just grinned and said "As long as you have someone covering you, fine by me."

Pity this job doesn't pay more or it'd be perfect.

[downbeatplumb]

She should have made something up at least.

"its literally exploding out both ends" would have sufficed. Nothing would ever have been mentioned again.