Check out the conversation between an employee and the manager.  The employee had just told the manager that there were two unexpected deaths within the past week and the manager showed no empathy, but proceeded to inform the employee that he/she was one of several employees impacted by a reduction in force (lay-off).  The manager alerted the employee that he/she had one week left with the company.  Two days later, the employee who has never called in sick sent a message to the manager that he/she was using a sick day.

Read the conversation below and choose the appropriate title for this article.  Choice 1:  Horrible Bosses Choice 2: Ignorance Doesn’t Always Necessitate a Response. 

Employee: ___________ I need to take an unplanned day today.

Manager:  Thank you for letting me know.  I’m worried that we are not going to be able to spend enough time with _________if you don’t work today.  What is the status of your work with him?

Employee:  I’m not feeling well as I too am trying to manage my concerns.  ___________ has a number of tools to leverage to aid him in the transition.  My recommendation would be he review those tools and call me next week to talk through those items that he has questions on.

Manager:  I’m sorry you aren’t feeling well and I understand that.  I am disappointed that you did not get with him yesterday or today.  He’s reviewed a couple of the tools we have in place.  He says there are many details needed that aren’t there.  If you can get yourself feeling better today, I would appreciate you touching base with him as a professional courtesy to ensure he does not have a rocky time and our business partners do not suffer.

Employee:  The tools are all up to date and I always enter detailed information in the portal for my projects as well as the projects I have worked with him in the past.  I just met with my business partners and team and everything is current.  Also, the project managers on my team are fully aware of the status of the projects and as you know they are much closer to the projects than I would be as well considering that is the standard operating model for the entire team.

Manager:  My expectation is that you do not take off as we do not want our business partners to be impacted by your leaving the company.  Again, _______ said details are missing.

Employee:  I would be curious as to what details ________ believes he is missing considering he has never worked with my business partners, project managers, or this line of business.  If he can put together a list of what he thinks he needs, I will take a look at it.  However, at this moment I am truly concerned with my life, which must take priority at this point.  Have a great day.

Question:  Which title did you choose?  Why? What would you have said or done in this scenario?  Leave a comment below.