What is the strangest thing you've been asked to do after being late to work?

Question

I've never been late to work until recently I got stuck in traffic due to an accident. I called ahead (25 minutes) to let them know. I arrived 1min and 30 seconds late. My supervisor told me I needed to fill out an explaination form, part of which consist of getting a police report/statement from the agency that worked the accident. Does this sound a bit extreme to anyone else considering I have a perfect work record. Others at work tell me they have had this happen and received displinary action even after jumping through the hoops.

Answer 1

Do you work on a time clock?  I've never heard of anyplace that far off the hook, except factories/food places on a timeclock.  You might want to check labor law in your area - regulation's pretty weak at the moment, but it's worth checking.

I probably would have asked if they were going to allow me time off to pick up the police report and gotten double-dinged for asking such a question.  

Being late for work is never good, but the best advice I had was to plan to arrive 15 minutes early.  That solves a lot.  As far as strange requests after being late - in junior high I got myself off to school, even though sick, but was late - several times.  They didn't send me home sick, but gave me a week of after-school detention.  It was my classmates....they told me I didn't belong, that I was "one of the good kids" and really resented me being there.  After that, I stayed home if I couldn't make it in on time.

Answer 2

it sounds as if the company has a policy and they actually enforce it.

is that a bad thing?

this documentation may be the way you don't see any consequence for the tardiness, did you think about that?

being tardy or absent is a problem and many companies have very strict policies, it is much better to see strict policies that are enforced with everyone then lax policies or unequal enforcement.

Does this sound a bit extreme to anyone else?

yes....perhaps

but my guess is this company has had issues with attendance or employees who have shown a tendency to be less punctual then they should.

my parents taught me to:

say what you mean and mean what you say,

i expect no less from an employer or an employee.

Answer 3

I work in a place where no one cares if you're a little late.  That seems very extreme since you hadn't been late before, you had a legitimate reason, and you were less than 5 minutes late.

Answer 4

I was always lucky to have understanding supervisors.It happened very rare when I was late for work, but when it did, the only thing the manager could say that he or she would like me to be on time the other days.

Answer 5

I was an hour late once at my previous employer because I had to exit the highway so I could regain my composure after almost getting squashed between a semi-truck and a concrete bridge wall at 70mph. The manager refused to believe anything I said because his nephew was a trucker. He said I was a liar then told me to write "I will not lie to my boss ever again" on 10 sheets of college rule notebook paper (3x ea line front and back) and have it on his desk by 12 noon.  

Answer 6

I have never, ever heard of this...for either salaried or hourly jobs (and I've had both).  Since you have good attendance and called ahead, that should suffice.  Honestly, sounds like it may not be the best place to work.