'I guess I'm not working at all, then': Engineer gets 3 days off work after micromanager demands he provide a ‘doctor’s note' to work from home

Author image for Eleonora Bader
Eleonora Bader
Feb 1, 2024 1:00 PM EST

This story is about (drum roll, please) new management and the silly demands they make in order to make a statement at a workplace.

They stroll in, head high, title in check, scanning employees to see who will break the easiest. Who can they push around, and who will fight back? Well, one employee was not having it with their new boss. The employee was an engineer for the company, and they had one mandatory team day at the office. OP wasn't feeling well, so they informed their boss that they wouldn't be able to make it to the office, and offered to work from home instead. That email was met with a swift, 'Agreements must be respected' and "Mandatory days can't be missed without a doctor's note'.

Okay then, thought OP, and went to the doctor that same day. Scroll down to read the full, detailed account of events, and when you're done, here is a company that attempted to charge a former employee for failing to cancel their company card… Even though it wasn't their job.

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  • 01
    fact Framefterna Cleat scale if Emir if Carte unity der fra framlll frame scalefactars scalel "Guess I'm not working at all, then." Eself opdateburfacesize: self.bounds.sized; tenticalefactor requestedContentScalefactor; actor-self.contentScaleFactor) FLT EPSILON) croondcalefacter(tutScreen inderen]);
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  • 02
    r/pettyrevenge • 12 hr. ago Particular_Bug0 I need a doctor's note to work from home? Guess I'm not working at all
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  • 03
    A fairly short story that took place today. So for context, I'm working as an engineer and all my work is done on my work laptop. Because of this, teleworking is pretty much the way of working ever since the pa nic started. However, 2 weeks ago we got a new manager who decided that we had to have a mandatory team day at office once a week. Basically wanting everyone on the team to be present
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  • 04
    that day. I don't like the idea of mandatory presence at the office but whatever I thought by myself. I usually go once a week to the office anyway for various reasons. Fast forward to today. It's our mandatory day and I had been coughing since yesterday night. So I decided to not risk it and stay at home. I had the symptoms of some illness but felt like I
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  • 05
    could still work. Besides that, I don't want half the office to be sick as well by next week and blame me for it. So I sent my manager a mail to inform him that I wouldn't be present at the office. Not much later I got a reply back stating that "agreements must be respected" and that "mandatory days can't be missed without a doctor's note".
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  • 06
    So that's exactly what I did. I went to the doctor the same day and she gave me 3 sick-days off. Took a picture of the doctor's note and sent it to HR with the manager in CC. I still don't understand why he made it such a big deal that I wanted to work from home for my own and my team's wellbeing, but hey. 3 days off
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  • 07
    ClubeXo 12h ago Such a polite way to say sir Reply Share Eat a bag of 489
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  • 08
    boRp_abc 11h ago I had a job once that required doctor's notes from day 1. I'm diabetic, so it did happen that I had to leave early - and needed a note for that.
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  • 09
    So usually I'd leave after 2pm (but still early), missed my doc's opening hours, and then the next day because I had to go to the doc for the darn note. She was usually chill about it "I don't know, you don't look so well - maybe better take off the rest of the week!". 4157 ↓ Reply Share
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  • 10
    Gravitywolff 10h ago I got sick and my manager said it's fine, you have enough hours, were gonna see how it is and the very next day she blew up and yelled at me, saying I need a doctors Note blablabla. So I went, got a free week. She had to cancel her vacation to cover my shifts. If she didn't push me, I probably would've went to work the next day. Too bad.
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  • 11
    LibraryMouse4321 • 11h ago That certainly worked out well for your new manager. Make sure your new manager's boss and HR know that you were willing to work from home but the "mangler" said you needed a doctor's note. So you HAD to go to doctor, and your doctor made you take off. Throw that new manager and his flexing under the bus. ↑ 54 ↓ Reply 1 Share
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  • 12
    Mead_Man_Detroit • 12h ago It is a shallow middle-manager trying to control and intimidate you. em. ↑ 97 ↓ Reply ↑ Share
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  • 13
    llikethequietZeppo • 11h ago Whenever my MIL encounters a person like your new manager, she sings "I've got a hat, and I've got a badge, so I'm in charge" She doesn't remember what production this song line came from, just that one line.
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  • 14
    It makes me feel better, because I remember that this is all this tiny insecure being, in human shape, can control. 435 ↓ Reply ↑ Share ...
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  • 15
    Thelgow 12h ago They got a hard on for us to be in the office. We're on 2 at home, 3 in office. I barely make it 1-2 a week if that. The commute, migraines, etc. But I can work fine from my house. My manager dont care, Hes a time zone away. But his manager wants to bring the hammer down. So my boss told me start getting some Dr notes so we can spin so I never come in unless something serious down, or prearranged well in advance.
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  • 16
    Estellalatte 12h ago So many of these petty managers love to pull rank. They finally have someone/something to control in their pathetic little lives and they use it to the max. 431 ↓ Reply Share
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  • 17
    Xibby • 7h ago Company brought back mandatory days in the office. Of course at this point team is spread across five states and two time zones, and also Dallas and Austin so may as well count it as six states. So now we're in the office doing Teams meetings all day. OK Boomer. 4 11 ↓ Reply Share
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  • 18
    smoky_ate_it if you have to provide a dr. note to be off work, you should be actively searching for a new job. + 15 + ● 11h ago Reply Share
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  • 19
    DarkAndSparkly • 1h ago Love this. My old doctor thought doctor's notes were stupid for adults and would purposefully give you more mandated days off than necessary if you asked. 42 ↓ Reply Share
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  • 20
    MakiseKurisu23 • 15m ago Funny thing is employers as for a doctor's note to work from home while not being 100%, then doctors are like 'we can't write documents to work from home, you can either work, or you are sick. It's the employer who decided if you can do your work from home' 41 Reply Share
    via u/MakiseKurisu23

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boss work from home sick leave employee malicious compliance new management email doctor engineering doctors note working mandatory office day workplace developers team engineer
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