Today is the third day of my 5-day work suspension – yes, you read it right, I’m suspended for five days – without pay – due to tardiness.We’ll I guess every organization have their own policy on tardiness, and I violated ours. It’s a policy and I’m aware of it. I know whether intentional or by misfortune, being late for work is, in itself, a visible sign of disrespect for the organization you are working. So I accepted all the consequences, even though they didn’t serve my first and second warning memo which is also part of the policy.
The absence of those warning memos makes me think that the company is considering those extra working hours I’m spending without filing for overtime pay – silly me, I’m goddamn wrong.
According to an ABC News report in March 2007, there are 4 types of chronic tardiness among employees:
1) Rationalizer type: Blames outside factors2) Absent-minded Professor type: forgetful or disorganized3) Deadline or Producer Type: Adrenaline addicted junkie. Gets a psychological high on having a jammed schedule4) Rebel type: Defies authority and gets a high in keeping people waiting. Feel so important that feel people are willing to wait.
But let me add another one:
5) Bastardy Type: Intentionally being late due to lack of motivation.
Well, I am being “bastardy” lately. I was acting like Nobita lately, looking for a “Doraemon” to produce a futuristic gadget out of his pouch to help me fix my motivation problem. But of course, I’m damn wrong. Only Me can motivate myself – but hey, when was the last time I heard “Nice work, keep it up!” I think it was decades ago.
I’m not into HR business but I think to make sure these controls actually work, they must be communicated to employees. I mean, we must know what our attendance standards are and how it will affect our advancement, performance ratings, salary increase or promotion (if there’s such a thing.)
Also, many times when my co-employee calls in sick, they are not really ill, they are just taking a "personal day" off, we all know it, and even managers do it. My suggestion is why not consider the concept of "personal days" -- give us 2-4 "personal days" after we’ve been on the company for 5 years -- we can use the time for personal business, family, whatever. I think it doesn’t cost much in return for loyalty - (aside from that symbolic wristwatch as a reward for a ten-year service)
Anyway, there are of course the good sides of my five days suspension - more good than harm, I guess. I'm already enrolled in a gym, which is in my To-Do list for about two years now. I also catch-up on my reading and finished two good books and attended other personal stuff. It’s a nice vacation actually.
I'm not saying bastardiness is good, but if you can't help it... go for it. Being always nice and good is boring sometimes.
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Image Credit: Slavery of Time by De michael borgulat
