Professional Darwinism: Update to OP on p.74

[RingTailedLemur]

Actually, ours is probably a little stricter, if anything, because over here, noone but the patient ever has a right to information or decision making without a legal document. No information is ever meant to be given out over the phone because you can't see who you're talking to. Furthermore, did the nurse actually think the Queen conducts her own phone enquiries? As a nurse, I think this is PD on the nurse's part too, and rightly so. A major part of her job working in a private hospital that the royals use, is protection of their privacy and confidentiality. She failed miserably in a way an NHS nurse knows better than to do. We have rules in place for these situations. She didn't follow them.

Yes, I once had to make quite a fuss before a hospital would even admit my mother was in there (I was 15 and I knew was, and probably a bit of a petulant teen at that moment!) let alone let me talk to her.  They wouldn't tell me her condition - they asked a bunch of questions to check who I was, checked with my mother and then passed her the phone.

[RingTailedLemur]

I once called in to go shopping.  Yep, you read that correctly.  Shopping.  There was a SPECTACULAR sale going on at this mall about 45 minutes from where I live and I really wanted to go.

My boss was pretty awesome about it though.  She thought it was the most interesting reason she was ever given and besides she had way over schedule payroll hours that day. Granted, she did ask me to pick her up a pair of specific, hard to find, shoes if I came across them.

She was probably glad you were honest with her, too.

Dark Sister skipped a day in high school to go hunting with Dark Father.  When she showed up and told them why, they gave her detention.  That's what telling the truth gets you, I guess.

No, that's what truancy gets you.

[Diane AKA Traska]

I once called in to go shopping.  Yep, you read that correctly.  Shopping.  There was a SPECTACULAR sale going on at this mall about 45 minutes from where I live and I really wanted to go.

My boss was pretty awesome about it though.  She thought it was the most interesting reason she was ever given and besides she had way over schedule payroll hours that day. Granted, she did ask me to pick her up a pair of specific, hard to find, shoes if I came across them.

She was probably glad you were honest with her, too.

Dark Sister skipped a day in high school to go hunting with Dark Father.  When she showed up and told them why, they gave her detention.  That's what telling the truth gets you, I guess.

No, that's what truancy gets you.

Is it truancy if you're with a parent?

[weeblewobble]

I once called in to go shopping.  Yep, you read that correctly.  Shopping.  There was a SPECTACULAR sale going on at this mall about 45 minutes from where I live and I really wanted to go.

My boss was pretty awesome about it though.  She thought it was the most interesting reason she was ever given and besides she had way over schedule payroll hours that day. Granted, she did ask me to pick her up a pair of specific, hard to find, shoes if I came across them.

She was probably glad you were honest with her, too.

Dark Sister skipped a day in high school to go hunting with Dark Father.  When she showed up and told them why, they gave her detention.  That's what telling the truth gets you, I guess.

No, that's what truancy gets you.

Is it truancy if you're with a parent?

Yep.  There are plenty of families around here who regularly get pulled into the court system for persistent truancy.  In a lot of cases, the parents are home with the kids all day, but they say they can't make their kids go to school, so the kids don't go.  A particular problem is parents who "can't" make their kids go to school, and they're tried of getting in trouble with the truancy officers, so they withdraw the kids from public school and declare themselves a "home school." (It's a pretty easy process here.)  In our state, home schools are regularly reviewed/visited by local reps from a state board.  The "can't make their kids go to school" families have no curriculum or lesson plan or anything, in a lot of  cases, the kids are found to be playing video games all day. It's a double whammy because the kids aren't getting an education and it makes life that much harder for the people who are running legitimate home schools and working hard to make sure their kids are getting an education. 

[squeakers]

I once called in to go shopping.  Yep, you read that correctly.  Shopping.  There was a SPECTACULAR sale going on at this mall about 45 minutes from where I live and I really wanted to go.

My boss was pretty awesome about it though.  She thought it was the most interesting reason she was ever given and besides she had way over schedule payroll hours that day. Granted, she did ask me to pick her up a pair of specific, hard to find, shoes if I came across them.

She was probably glad you were honest with her, too.

Dark Sister skipped a day in high school to go hunting with Dark Father.  When she showed up and told them why, they gave her detention.  That's what telling the truth gets you, I guess.

No, that's what truancy gets you.

Dark Father should have called her in sick/ taking a personal day/going on a family vacation or whatever pre-excused type of days the school offered. 

My school district has the first day of hunting season as a day off because so many of the kids do go hunting with their families.  But even if they didn't have it off I could pre-excuse my kids by sending in a note a few days ahead of time (so they can get their homework assignments from their teachers for the missing day).  Or call them in sick at any time during the day .. though if I haven't called them in by 9 AM the school calls.  Had that happen once when we were all sick and I forgot to get up and call them in.  Also had the bus driver call and check on us because it was winter time* and he was concerned because I hadn't called my sister to let her know he (the bus driver) didn't have to pick the kids up.  Her kids are the pick-up before mine.

*Carbon Monoxide poisoning due to using a fireplace was what had him worried.

[Shalamar]

My husband once Called In Superman.  In other words, he took time off to go buy the "Death of Superman" comic, since he knew it would be a hot item, and he loves Superman.

Even though he was using his banked overtime for this, he got a lot of "Geez, what a nerve" attitude from co-workers - including one lady who regularly "called in sick" on Monday mornings when she was too hungover to work.   

[Amava]

My husband once Called In Superman.  In other words, he took time off to go buy the "Death of Superman" comic, since he knew it would be a hot item, and he loves Superman.

Even though he was using his banked overtime for this, he got a lot of "Geez, what a nerve" attitude from co-workers - including one lady who regularly "called in sick" on Monday mornings when she was too hungover to work.   

Did that "fly"? lol Sorry couldn't resist. 

[Outdoor Girl]

I occasionally call in for 'snow days'.  Meaning it snowed last night and the hills are going to be fantastic so I'm going skiing.

How it works, though, is I call my boss at home at 7:00 am, let him know and then ask, 'Pick you up at 7:30?'   

We are fortunate that our work is flexible enough that we can do this and we don't use sick time for this, we use vacation time.  And quite often, we've skiied our buns off by 11:30 and then come in to work for the afternoon.  We do try to schedule a day or two in advance but sometimes you just get that surprise dumping that you just can't resist.

[mmswm]

When I worked for Major Bank, the absence policy was quite liberal.  We got so many hours a year of paid time off to use however we wished.  So, if we woke up and it was a gorgeous day and we decided to go golfing, we just had to call in and say "I'm not going to be there today".  They really didn't care why.  There was a points based attendance system, so if you took an unplanned absence, it did count against you, but the way it was structured it would have been really difficult to get into any trouble by taking occasional golf/ski days.  The only real problem was for chronic illness, but that only became a problem if you couldn't document the illness.  They were pretty liberal in granting intermittent FMLA leave, so if you had something ongoing with yourself or a dependent, it didn't count against you anyway.

[ladyknight1]

I once called in to go shopping.  Yep, you read that correctly.  Shopping.  There was a SPECTACULAR sale going on at this mall about 45 minutes from where I live and I really wanted to go.

My boss was pretty awesome about it though.  She thought it was the most interesting reason she was ever given and besides she had way over schedule payroll hours that day. Granted, she did ask me to pick her up a pair of specific, hard to find, shoes if I came across them.

She was probably glad you were honest with her, too.

Dark Sister skipped a day in high school to go hunting with Dark Father.  When she showed up and told them why, they gave her detention.  That's what telling the truth gets you, I guess.

No, that's what truancy gets you.

Is it truancy if you're with a parent?

In my area, only if you don't complete a pre-arranged absence form and have it signed off in advance. Or have connections at the school.

If they don't follow procedures, the parents can be charged with educational neglect.

[blue2000]

Yep.  There are plenty of families around here who regularly get pulled into the court system for persistent truancy.  In a lot of cases, the parents are home with the kids all day, but they say they can't make their kids go to school, so the kids don't go.  A particular problem is parents who "can't" make their kids go to school, and they're tried of getting in trouble with the truancy officers, so they withdraw the kids from public school and declare themselves a "home school." (It's a pretty easy process here.)  In our state, home schools are regularly reviewed/visited by local reps from a state board.  The "can't make their kids go to school" families have no curriculum or lesson plan or anything, in a lot of  cases, the kids are found to be playing video games all day. It's a double whammy because the kids aren't getting an education and it makes life that much harder for the people who are running legitimate home schools and working hard to make sure their kids are getting an education. 

Oh, you've met my former SIL, then?

I don't think she got in any trouble over it, more's the pity. Our system must be more lax than yours.

[Shalamar]

Did that "fly"? lol Sorry couldn't resist. 

 

Hee hee!  Yup. 

[2littlemonkeys]

Docking this as possible PD: Nurse at King Edward VII's hospital gives out information to a radio show about Duchess of Cambridge's medical details, thinking she was talking to the Queen.  It was a prank call but I'm not sure why nobody could figure that out - that must be one really good impression.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/05/kate-middleton-pregnant-hospital-nurse-radio_n_2243362.html

The thing that bugged me about this story was the idea that the Queen and Prince Charles would need to go through reception to get through to the kids.  In this day and age, Prince Charles doesn't have Prince William's cell phone number? 

[RingTailedLemur]

You can't use mobile phones in hospitals!

[Lorelei_Evil]

Yep.  There are plenty of families around here who regularly get pulled into the court system for persistent truancy.  In a lot of cases, the parents are home with the kids all day, but they say they can't make their kids go to school, so the kids don't go.  A particular problem is parents who "can't" make their kids go to school, and they're tried of getting in trouble with the truancy officers, so they withdraw the kids from public school and declare themselves a "home school." (It's a pretty easy process here.)  In our state, home schools are regularly reviewed/visited by local reps from a state board.  The "can't make their kids go to school" families have no curriculum or lesson plan or anything, in a lot of  cases, the kids are found to be playing video games all day. It's a double whammy because the kids aren't getting an education and it makes life that much harder for the people who are running legitimate home schools and working hard to make sure their kids are getting an education. 

Oh, you've met my former SIL, then?

I don't think she got in any trouble over it, more's the pity. Our system must be more lax than yours.

I know a woman like this who is "home schooling" her daughter.  What she really did was haul her out of school to take care of her younger brothers.  Poor girl is nearly 14 and reads on a 3rd grade level.  NO schooling is happening, she's just raising babies.