Is it acceptable to call in sick 7 minutes before your shift starts? When is an acceptable time?

[moriah]

.... just wondering if I'm the only one who thinks it's tacky.

[Road Scholar]

1. As a supervisor for many years, I always appreciated time

enough to make arrangements to find a fill-in to keep the work going.Many times of short or no notice indicated an employee that wasn't particulary
loyal to the company.

[old mark]

2. We got hell for calling in too early - more than 10-15 minuites before.

They were not so interested in finding a replacement as in giving you a hard time and making you give a detailed explanation to your boss in person.
I used to work for the State of Pennsylvania, and I would never recommend them as an employer to anyone.

mark

[Callalily]

3. I try to gage my calling-in

time when I know that no one will be answering the phones. Don't really want to talk to anyone explaining my illness (or lack there of).

[LeftyFingerPop]

4. They are lucky if I even bother to call in at all...

It is ME who is sick, after all.

They're lucky I even bother to drag myself in there when I am feeling well.

[Silver Swan]

5. Where I worked for 35 years

We had to call within the first hour. If we called earlier, no one was there to take the call--this was way before voice mail, etc.. That meant that if one woke up sick, one had to wait until it was time to call before one could crawl back into bed.

For a while, I got away with having my spouse call for me, but they decided we had to call in person. It wasn't until the last year or so before I retired that we could call and leave a voice message. I guess by that time, the average employee age was so old that they started to trust us a little more!

[Pierre.Suave]

6. I think you should give them as much time as you can

to find a replacement, because it is a good thing to do.

[RagAss]

7. When you get sick.

[auntAgonist]

8. My employee handbook states that we must call in

at least 1 hour prior to shift start time.

aA

[GOPisEvil]

9. If this isn't covered by your employee handbook, it should.

My employees have up until 1 hour after their shift begins. However, in most occasions, they call well before that.

[DarkTirade]

10. I do my damndest to call at least an hour early

half an hour MINIMUM.

[Nikia]

11. It depends on the situation

It is better to call in sooner or later, particuliarly if it is a position like a restaurant in which they can call in someone else. It might also be good to call early if someone else would have to change or take on additional duties or if their duties someway involved you. In any case, it is better to call before one's shift than late or not at all so that everyone wonders if you are going to show up.
I admit that I've called shortly before my start time, usually because I was on the fence about whether I should show up or not. There have been times that I decided to show up after all and sometimes eating or an extra 20 minutes in bed did help.

[datasuspect]

12. depends on the social class and position of the employee

revenue generators, no problem.

overhead employees, well, they aren't to be trusted to structure their own time during the day, but at least calling is polite. and it might be an actual emergency/sickness. if it becomes a pattern, fire their ass.

[Mike 03]

13. My advice might be kind of strange, but I would do it in two stages.

The moment you feel sick, even if it is in the middle of the night, or the evening before, call and just leave a message (or send an email to your supervisor) advising that you are not feeling well and will update them in the morning as to whether or not you are coming in.

Then call a second time to either affirm you will be in or cannot come in.

But in the event you truly and honestly become sick right before work starts, you just have to let them know ASAP. Or else, come in and get sick at work. That way people will believe you. (That is what I usually did.)

[datasuspect]

15. i never call in sick

if i am sick, i let the guy know that i am "behind schedule" and get there at around 9 instead of 6 am.

usually, me being sick amounts to being "hungover" and i have no choice but to go in because my dumb ass stayed up late.

[Lil Missy]

14. My employer knew, if I did not call hours before, then I was fuckin' dying.

If I did not call in at all, then call the Police.

Good thing we had that agreement, cause once I did get really sick like that. They sent a co-worker to check on me, and she got me into the hospital.

[kentauros]

16. If you work in Food Service, then the obvious answer is

"You can be sick when you're dead, show up to work!"

I'm really not kidding about that, either.

Chefs Rule!

"He told me, flat out, 'This is ridiculous. You'd be going from making what you do as a paralegal to making minimum wage. You can't call in sick, even when you're sick.' He laid it all out there for me, gave me the whole speech and told me what to expect."

[quakerboy]

17. depends on your job

If your jobs are not time sensative, you can work from home, you are the boss and can remake your schedule without causing any problems for others, then it dosnt much matter what time you call in.

If on the other hand others are depending on you, then you need to give as much notice as possible. I guess you could randomly start vomiting as you reach the parkinglot, and justifiably call in to say you are sick 7 minutes before your shift starts. But otherwise, its not tacky, its just bad judgement. It has little to do with taste, and more to do with screwing the business that employs you.

[Iggo]

18. You call in sick the minute you know you're not going in.

If that's 5 minutes before your shift, then so be it.