Update: Lola the crazy magistrate

[Slartibartfast]

My earlier post "I WAS having a good day" gives the background for this story.

So remember Lola, the crazy magistrate who went on a tirade at the last staff meeting about how we were all out to get her because she couldn't park in the fire lane in front of her door, and complained how the "little girl at the library" got all the attention and she didn't?  Well it turns out Lola hasn't come back since then.  Or called.  She did give the secretary a copy of some sort of Hospital note, saying she was in the hospital overnight (before the meeting).  No mention of being off of work, when she would come back, doctor's opinion, etc.  It did list a date for a follow-up visit - the day before yesterday.

It seems to me that if you drop off the face of the earth for a week, without calling your job or letting them know what's going on, your job should figure out how to cope without you, or at least call to find out what's happened, right?  Well the mayor and secretary were talking today (with me in the room) and apparently they're going to try to get the Nearby City magistrate to fill in "as needed" until Lola gets back.  However long that takes.  They're also scrambling to rearrange things because there's a court meeting tonight and (surprise surprise) they just found out it's illegal for the secretary to sign off on warrants and all the other things a magistrate is trained to do.  WHY ON EARTH IS LOLA STILL EMPLOYED HERE???

Oh, had a chance to talk with the secretary on my own today too - she has no idea where the drug testing thing came from either.  There haven't been any employee injuries, with or without drugs involved, and the mayor doesn't suspect anyone of drug problems.  The whole "we've never done this before so now we will" is a very strange argument for why the town should start using an expensive testing procedure when they don't expect any positive results.

[That Anime Chick]

Is it that hard to find a replacement for Lola? It seems that if you're gone without good cause, then you'd find yourself waiting in the unemployment line.

[Gemini]

Sadly, I've heard of plenty of employees getting away with this sort of disappearance. Employment law is now so ridiculous  that companies end up walking on eggshells... I suspect Lola knows this. (Having said that, I do hope Lola is okay.)

I know of one guy who gave himself a four week vacation, without letting his boss know what was going on. I think it was meant to show everyone how indispensable he was. All it did was put him on very thin ice and zero chance of a promotion, but sadly (imo) he wasn't fired. He eventually left, 8 months later, citing displeasure that his job was going nowhere. Yeah well, that tends to happen when you just up and flake off for four weeks to "teach the director a lesson". 

Maybe your mayor thinks a new, expensive drug testing policy will make him sound all state-of-the-art? Hope things improve. Btw, calling you a "little girl" was just inexcusable on Lola's part. Does she refer to the cops as "little boys"?

[Lexophile]

Do you have an employee handbook? I ask because almost every employee handbook I've ever read includes a policy that not showing up for a certain number of days in a row without notifying your manager constitutes forfeiture of your job. Of course, this would be on an organization-by-organization basis, but it might be worth looking into.

On the drug test thing - I used to live in a small town where the mayor suddenly decided that all of the speed limit signs would be re-posted in kilometers per hour. He walked around for about a month with his chest out saying that "We're the most progressive city in the nation!" He wasn't so proud when he started getting phone calls from angry voters who cussed him out for all of the speeding tickets they were getting. I don't know if it's a mayor thing or a small-town thing, but he loved to change policy arbitrarily just because he could. This drug test issue might be no more than some guy trying to throw his weight around a little bit.

This story gets more and more interesting. I hope you'll keep updating us on what's happening!

[Suze]

If she does come back -- If, I think might be a big word here.  I wonder if you will see her again.

Your bosses might want to reconsider a Pee test and go for the hair folical test.

[Lexophile]

Lep -

That's a very good point. If Lola has an addiction, she belongs to a protected class and cannot be fired if she seeks treatment. It's also the first step in documenting a problem. If they know about it, and she's being treated, she's under a microscope right now. It may not be long before she's gone.