You need to call in if you're not going to work...

To this day, it blows my mind how many adults are out there who don't understand how working works. You have a job. You go to the job. You do the job. You get paid for the job. Pretty straightforward. Let's say you're not feeling well. What do you do? You call your job. You tell your job that you will not be in to do your job that day. One would think that is also rather straightforward.

Apparently not.

There have been innumerable times that I've gotten an email that says, "So-and-so did not show up for work today, and he/she did not call in. Have you heard from him/her?” I’ll pull the person’s file to see if they called to let us know they would not be at work that day and, lo and behold, there is no mention in their file that they notified anyone that they would not be at work that day. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve called someone to see why they didn’t go to work or notify anyone that they won’t be there, and they tell me, “Nobody told me I had to call if I wasn’t going to be in.”

Uh...everyone knows that? Why should I need to tell you that you need to tell someone if you're not going to make it to work? Let's look at an actual conversation I have had to review the details:

Me: Hey, your supervisor notified us you didn't go to work, and nobody's heard from you. What's up?

Contractor: Nobody told me I had to call someone to say I wasn't going to be in.

Me [because I was in a mood to engage]: It should be common sense to notify someone if you're not going to work. Right now, what you did is a no-call/no-show, and that's a fire-able offense.

Contractor: You can't do that!

Me: Yes, I can. Your job is to go to your job and do your job. If you cannot make it to your job, your job is to notify your job that you will not make it to your job. If you don't, one could presume that you quit since you just didn't show up and didn't tell anyone what was going on.

Contractor: But nobody told me I had to call.

Me: Again, pretty obvious you should tell someone you're not going to work. Your job is counting on you to be there. If you just don't show up and don't tell anyone, they need to reconfigure everything to make sure the work is still getting done without you, and that's a huge hassle and wastes a lot of time that could've been saved if you just let them know you weren't going to be in. That way they weren't waiting around for you to just never show up.

Contractor: It's not that big a deal.

Me: Let's look at this another way. You make a doctor's appointment. You go to the doctor's appointment. You wait a long time for your doctor's appointment, and someone finally tells you the doctor just didn't show up that day. What would you think?

Contractor: That's different! They're a doctor. They have to go to work!

Me: Being a doctor is just a job, much like manufacturing is just a job. I'd say you'd be pretty mad if the doctor just didn't show up and nobody told you. Wastes your time, right? Someone could've just called to let you know the doctor wasn't going to be in. Same goes for your job. They were counting on you to be there, and you just didn't show. Wastes their time.

Contractor: Ok.

Me: Good. Now that you understand that, will you be going to work tomorrow? I'd like to know now so I can update your supervisor as to whether they should expect you or not.

Be an adult, people. If you are not going to work, call and let them know.