The kids nowadays...

You know people will say anything just to come up with an excuse not to turn up for work. Well, if it's a Monday I don't blame anyone, or maybe the morning after Ladies' Night is forgiveable. I mean if the boss would rather you went to work with stale hair, breath like a rat died in it, eyes bloodshot and head spinning from a massive hangover and absolutely reeking of a lack of productivity - so be it. I have enough work experience to know what it's like to have to activate the muscles and bones that allow you to sit up from your bed at the sound of the alarm. Unless of course you're the sort who slithers out of bed like a backless snake. But then everyone feels like jelly in the morning.

Now it's those kids I don't comprehend. ( I call anyone even an hour younger than me, kids) You see J has run into some problems her workplace. Being the only full timer, and the most senior, J takes a lot of crap from the part timers, who are mostly poly students. The excuses they come up with... one can only marvel at their (un)creativity. These below came from an ex part timer Y. She always calls at the last minute to either say she'll be late or that she couldn't come into work. Then J would have to work from 0930 to 2130 alone.

1. My class will end late today, can you cover for me?
2. My class ended late, so I'll come in late.
3. My mother is sick. I need to look after her. (on a saturday)
4. My grandmother is sick. I need to look after her. (on a sunday)
5. [The ultimate] I was getting ready for work and I fell in the bathroom and have bruises all over. So I can't work later. (on a saturday morning at 0800)

I had to scream at naive, softhearted J to make her see the absurdity of the excuses. C'mon, I cringed when I heard those lines. Aren't you shaking your head and smiling too? I had asked J to tell Y not to come back anymore but luckily Y wizened up and told J herself that she couldn't work anymore due to her "increase in school workload".

And now another part timer T has "returned from the dead", so to speak, after disappearing, no call no show, for a week. J tried calling him about 20 times, and he either didn't pick up or switched off the phone. J finally left T a message this morning on his handphone to tell him to return his set of keys or they'll report it to the police. Miraculously, T called back to say that he was in an accident last week, and fell into coma for a while. He explained that his handphone was with his mum all this while and she did call some of his friends to inform them, but had inadvertently not call his workplace. Then he said that he had only fractured his leg and that his cast would be removed this week, so he could come back to work this weekend.

J was all happy about it but you know, being the suspicious person that I am, managed to spoil her mood. I said that doesn't explain why T's mother wouldn't answer the many calls that J made, and why sometimes the phone was switched off after J called many times consecutively. T said that he didn't know why his mum didn't answer the calls but that the phone was very old and had bad reception, so that's why it seemed as if the handphone was off. J decided to call the hospital that T claimed he was admitted in to clarify her doubts. Guess what?

The admissions office said that "the person of this I/C number has not been admitted here at all recently". Hmm. So I made J tell T that when he goes to have his cast removed, to get the doc to write some sort of letter of excuse so that "she could file it". Really funny business, isn't it?

Watch this space for second half of the saga.