Baffled by work commendation

[Reverend Conehead]

My employer sent me a certificate and a retailer's gift card for going a year without having been absent or late. I appreciate the gesture, but I'm baffled by it. You're supposed to show up to work and on time. I see that as the minimum. I would rather be recognized for doing quality work. I'm not mad. I thanked them for it. I'm just scratching my head. The retailer says there's a hundred bucks on the gift card, so I'll take it. Has showing up to work, as promised, become a rare thing? What in the world???

 

[thunderpimp91]

Yes, this unfortunately is becoming more and more common. I recently left a job with a small business consultancy firm partially because so much of what I was doing was helping companies figure out how to get people to show up on time (or at all), or get people to show up for interviews. My new company gives anyone with perfect attendance a free lunch and an extra PTO day for the following year. I think most 1st graders have a similar system.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

Yes, this unfortunately is becoming more and more common. I recently left a job with a small business consultancy firm partially because so much of what I was doing was helping companies figure out how to get people to show up on time (or at all), or get people to show up for interviews. My new company gives anyone with perfect attendance a free lunch and an extra PTO day for the following year. I think most 1st graders have a similar system.

That blows my mind. I've always considered showing up every day on time to be the bare minimum. I also think the quality of my work is good. Oh, well. The world is weird.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

When I worked the start time was 8 am. I would be there around 6:30
Eat my breakfast, check emails...do any work but mostly just piddle.
Hate being late and have always been early.

Also the last few years I have have excess number of paid days available and for a couple of times
I had too many that would not carry over so for the whole month of December one year I only worked half days.

After that they changed it so some could carry over.

I had to quit work due to a medical situation that would require me to be in hospital for a long time and unable to work after that.

I had enough sick days and personal days that although not at work I still got paid just over a month and a half.


Add to that...I worked at that job for 25+ years. Of all of those years I think I only took a full week off twice. The other times it was just random sick days or for appointments. Maybe a long weekend but other than those two times I never took a full week off at a time.

But back to your initial point. We would have an Employees Day once a year. You would get a nice gift certificate and you got a tad more if your time off was limited and plus the number of years you worked.
=============================

I had a similar situation when I was in the military.. I had so many days of leave when I was getting ready to discharged that I had a month worth of extra pay.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Yes, this unfortunately is becoming more and more common. I recently left a job with a small business consultancy firm partially because so much of what I was doing was helping companies figure out how to get people to show up on time (or at all), or get people to show up for interviews. My new company gives anyone with perfect attendance a free lunch and an extra PTO day for the following year. I think most 1st graders have a similar system.

Yes it is getting harder and harder to get quality employees

We would have some positions where you had to be trained for a week to get certified and if we got 5 people, it was rare for get all 5 through the full week of training and show up to work afterwards.

I just do not get it.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

Yes it is getting harder and harder to get quality employees

We would have some positions where you had to be trained for a week to get certified and if we got 5 people, it was rare for get all 5 through the full week of training and show up to work afterwards.

I just do not get it.

Yeah, I didn't consider simply having good attendance some kind of great accomplishment. I've done that for practical reasons, not because I'm some kind of saint. If I ever really am sick, I want them to believe me. If someone calls in sick all the time for bogus reasons, then, when they really are sick, no one will believe them. I had a girlfriend get mad at me because I wouldn't call in sick to stay in bed with her. It was tempting, but I don't believe in that. Plus, I want my employer to be able to trust me.

 

[Creeper]

In my day you were expecting to show up at 8:00 am and stay until 6:00 pm. That was the job like it or not. Absences were frowned upon so everyone came to work sick and spread their ick all around the office.

But the younger generations today are different. They need those participation trophies to keep coming or they feel unappreciated or offended. These little gift card handouts are becoming more common.

I will say this though. There was a time when people would get gifts from the company on major anniversaries. After 25 years, you got a nice watch. Then other gifts at 5 year interval anniversaries. Loyalty was really appreciated. Not so much anymore.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

In my day you were expecting to show up at 8:00 am and stay until 6:00 pm. That was the job like it or not. Absences were frowned upon so everyone came to work sick and spread their ick all around the office.

But the younger generations today are different. They need those participation trophies to keep coming or they feel unappreciated or offended. These little gift card handouts are becoming more common.

I will say this though. There was a time when people would get gifts from the company on major anniversaries. After 25 years, you got a nice watch. Then other gifts at 5 year interval anniversaries. Loyalty was really appreciated. Not so much anymore.

I actually prefer it if a sick person doesn't come in because I don't want to catch that crap. Now it's a moot point because my office authorized work from home. So if I'm sick, but not too sick to work, I can go ahead and work my shift without infecting anyone. If I'm too sick to work, I can call in with confidence because I don't have a history of calling in all the time. If I call in sick, they know for sure that it's really bad.

 

[CyberB0b]

Absences were frowned upon so everyone came to work sick and spread their ick all around the office.

But the younger generations today are different.

It's more productive for the one person to sit at home and not spread a disease to the whole office, especially with remote work being viable in a lot of situations. Things like the flu can put you down for a week.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

It's more productive for the one person to sit at home and not spread a disease to the whole office, especially with remote work being viable in a lot of situations. Things like the flu can put you down for a week.

I agree with this. I'm only against calling in sick when you're not sick. If someone actually is sick, I would prefer that they stayed home.

 

[Creeper]

I actually prefer it if a sick person doesn't come in because I don't want to catch that crap. Now it's a moot point because my office authorized work from home. So if I'm sick, but not too sick to work, I can go ahead and work my shift without infecting anyone. If I'm too sick to work, I can call in with confidence because I don't have a history of calling in all the time. If I call in sick, they know for sure that it's really bad.

We all do, but if everyone comes to the office sick thent he company doesn't lose any days anyway. Even if one persons spread it around, all the other sick people would come to work too!

 

[Rockport]

My employer sent me a certificate and a retailer's gift card for going a year without having been absent or late. I appreciate the gesture, but I'm baffled by it. You're supposed to show up to work and on time. I see that as the minimum. I would rather be recognized for doing quality work. I'm not mad. I thanked them for it. I'm just scratching my head. The retailer says there's a hundred bucks on the gift card, so I'll take it. Has showing up to work, as promised, become a rare thing? What in the world???

The younger generation has no idea what hard work is. For them, they think showing up for work is hard. God forbid they actually have to do something.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

The younger generation has no idea what hard work is. For them, they think showing up for work is hard. God forbid they actually have to do something.

Fortunately, it's not universal. I have worked with some young people who had a good work ethic. Unfortunately, I've also worked with some who are exactly what you describe. Remember color copiers? They used to be popular in the 90s, and maybe some are still around. I worked in a copy place and needed to leave at the end of my shift. The guy taking over for me was this high school kid. His one and only job was to make a color copy of each Polaroid photo the customer had left. There were maybe about 80 of them. The job was simple. Put a picture on the glass, press a button, let it copy. Do that with each until done. The next morning, I came in to find that not a single copy had been done. I talked to our manager, and he said that he told her he had nothing to do and wanted to go home. Unfortunately, she didn't know about the color copy job and she let him. This same bozo upset a customer because he had his back to her and he was talking on the phone in what was obviously a personal call. I didn't catch him right away because I was in the back working on a job for another customer, leaving him in charge of the counter. I've encountered plenty of lame-brains like him, but I've also worked with some excellent people who were young.

 

[DanteEXT]

In my day you were expecting to show up at 8:00 am and stay until 6:00 pm. That was the job like it or not. Absences were frowned upon so everyone came to work sick and spread their ick all around the office.

But the younger generations today are different. They need those participation trophies to keep coming or they feel unappreciated or offended. These little gift card handouts are becoming more common.

I will say this though. There was a time when people would get gifts from the company on major anniversaries. After 25 years, you got a nice watch. Then other gifts at 5 year interval anniversaries. Loyalty was really appreciated. Not so much anymore.

About a year and a half ago, I got a little glass or acrylic standing plaque engraved with a company name, slogan, and my name for five years of service, along with a pre-printed handwritten note from the CEO. It was nice they did something (my previous company didn't). But if I am being honest, I'd have rather had whatever they paid for that little plaque just added to my paycheck.

Of course, the contract changed hands recently, so I had to start over with a new company.

 

[Vtwin]

A million years ago I spent a summer working in a commercial bakery. We were on a two week pay schedule, punching a time clock. If you missed a day or were late by even one minute, your pay for the entire two weeks was reduced by one dollar per hour. To add insult to injury they would put a larger red sticker on your time card so everyone would know you got red dotted.

 

[Sarge]

A million years ago I spent a summer working in a commercial bakery. We were on a two week pay schedule, punching a time clock. If you missed a day or were late by even one minute, your pay for the entire two weeks was reduced by one dollar per hour. To add insult to injury they would put a larger red sticker on your time card so everyone would know you got red dotted.

Ya couldnt red dot someone’s card these days, it might hurt their feelings.

 

[big dog cowboy]

A million years ago I spent a summer working in a commercial bakery. We were on a two week pay schedule, punching a time clock. If you missed a day or were late by even one minute, your pay for the entire two weeks was reduced by one dollar per hour. To add insult to injury they would put a larger red sticker on your time card so everyone would know you got red dotted.