this post was submitted on 12 May 2025
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[–] [email protected] 3 points 17 hours ago

My boss just sends a thumbs up emoticon.

[–] JackbyDev 20 points 1 day ago

Bro really needed AI to say it was okay to not come in while sick?

Sure. Get well soon.

Done.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 day ago (2 children)

"paid leave"

Why do I feel like they are taken out of op's vacation days?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago

We aren't all Americans

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 day ago (7 children)

Because they are? A lot of places don't offer sick leave anymore. Sick days, bereavement days, vacation days, all come from the source. It's really only Millenials and older who get sick days.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I assume you're talking about the US ?

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[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Kind of a nothingburger comment but until i saw your comment i didn't even realise that was possible. The fact this is acceptable, or even legal in the united states is absurd

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

Yeah fortunately I don't work there anymore and work someplace that respects it's workers. Took a lot of time, luck, trial and error to get where I am now.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 day ago (5 children)

Damn. I was wondering why nobody mentioned it, but it is so normal to you (plural), that you don't bother.

That's crazy. For me it's an absolute affront to even suggest I should give up vacation days for being sick. In my country Germany (and probably all of Europe, maybe also Asia) you get a slip from your doctor and you stay home till you're better.

Paid. And nobody touches your vacation days. I'm just speechless.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

When I was in the UK, you didn't even need a slip from the doctor, just told your employer you were sick and stayed home, because everyone understood it is simply better that way.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

I can also stay home when sick without a doctor's note for up to three days, no questions asked. With pay and without using vacation days of course.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 22 hours ago

The US is a trash country. If you actually take time off to be sick we either fire you outright or sideline you for promotions so people prove how dedicated they are by showing up and giving all our coworkers communicable diseases like flu and covid. Most of them in turn then feel obligated to show how dedicated THEY are by giving more folks and the whole affair just slows down and gets more inefficient than if 1 person had stayed home.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago

Same in latinamerica. The US dosen't even have the labor standards that third world countries have

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

A doctor's note very well could be how it works in the US, none of us know because we'd be bankrupted by going to a doctor.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Millennials get sick days?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I remember my company did this. We started with one week vacation, one week sick and they just made it two weeks pto one day

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[–] [email protected] -1 points 22 hours ago

This just isn't true. For instance in WA we are required to accumulate separate sick time.

Many many many companies still use a separate sick time because they are willing to pay folks who are actually ill but aren't particularly disposed to provide much vacation time. This is extremely common in low level low wage jobs more so than white collar shit.

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[–] [email protected] 62 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Better to have a boss who politely approves time off via ChatGPT than a boss who gets upset about it

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 day ago

lemmy dot world was a bad choice for this post. Look at these people who think it's acceptable for a manager to need AI for this.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 23 hours ago

I don't get the post. Is it created by an AI as well?

[–] [email protected] 36 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

got their sick leave approved

still unhappy

🤷‍♂️

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sick leave approval? What is this. If im sick i dont need approval such an american thing.

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 days ago (5 children)

could have just said, "sure, take the time you need."

instead of wasting 5 minutes and burning down a tree and a half.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Especially since the prompt couldn't have been all that much shorter. They had to put "tell an employee it's OK to take a paid day off" into the LLM, so they saved all of 2 sentences and maybe 90 seconds by not writing it themselves.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

Opening chatgpt, copy pasting the answer into the email client probably took them as long as it would have just typing: "It's ok you dont need approval for when you are sick, get well soon"

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[–] [email protected] 55 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Honestly, I don't see a problem with this.

Some people are just really shit with emotions. Me included. I just got no clue what to say in certain situations. I know that what they do is not an issue, but I just don't know how to tell them properly.

Using AI for this is a fair use-case - you want the person to not feel bad, and if AI can give you a better response than you yourself could, why not.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Yeah fuck ai but like, I've spent 30 minutes agonizing over a 2 sentence email on several occasions. I won't judge this boss.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 days ago (2 children)

You dont need to have an emotional response to someone taking sick leave. "Absolutely, rest up" is more than sufficient in 99percent of cases

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

"Absolutely, rest up" is more than sufficient in 99percent of cases

Internal monologue: "But wait, will it come off as impolite if my reply is this short? I better add something about how I'm sad to hear that they are sick. And maybe also something that I hope they will get better soon. Hmm... how do I say that without sounding like I expect them to be better soon-- that they can and should feel allowed to recover at their own pace? But, now it sounds as we don't need them at work-- I also want them to feel missed. Also, is there a risk they take 'rest up' wrong?, as if it is their fault they are sick because they haven't rested enough?-- I'd better soften up that formulation. Then, how do I start this email? 'Dear x,' seems too formal, maybe 'Hey,' -- no, that sounds like 'Hey listen up!'; maybe I'll just skip the greeting to make it feel more like a casual conversation. Do I still sign the email? With "Regards?", "Best regards?", "Sincerely?", "With wishes of swift recovery?" Should I also cut the email footer to make it seem less formal? What if they need to forward this to show that they have my permission? In that case the formal footer is probably useful.... etc. etc.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago
[–] [email protected] 175 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

At least they approved paid time off. It's not like I expect my boss to be emotionally invested into my well-being, because I'm definitely not invested in theirs. I'm just here for the money.

[–] [email protected] 66 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Exactly. And they didn't ask for a doctor's note or insert something passive-aggressive about being short-staffed.

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 2 days ago (1 children)

They took the time to find nice words however they came about them. I’m sure your boss is busy.

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[–] [email protected] 80 points 2 days ago (8 children)

You don’t know- maybe the boss has trouble reading people and legitimately wants to know if their tone is appropriate from the employee’s perspective?

Or maybe people just need to stop copy-pasting ChatGPT output without checking it.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

That's fine. I do that often. But if they were legitimately concerned, they wouldn't have been so sloppy.

[–] [email protected] 81 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Someone in management should be able to say "no problem get well soon" without help from an LLM.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Outcomes matter. Splitting hairs about how someone drafts an email is infantile.

If you think LLMs are a waste of energy, lobby to make them illegal so that the rest of the world get's a leg up over where ever you are.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Exactly. Over Mother's day, I had chatgpt take her out on a mother date of fun and... you know, whatever else. I dunno I wasn't there. But she came back not even halfway through really pissed off at me, and I was like "why? what is the problem? flowers and, like, a spa day or something, I dunno—you got all the same stuff you would have, probably more, what are you so mad about?" Some people, man.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Id rather the LLMs do the lobbying

[–] [email protected] 45 points 2 days ago (21 children)

I guess I don’t have a problem with this.
I struggle to write emails and would potentially use an LLM if that were an option. (Maybe.)

The message accepted the request, and was polite, showing concern, even. I assume it was proofread and deemed acceptable to the boss/reflective of their sentiments (although perhaps not copied well).

I guess I don’t see the offense here. Anyone who does see it care to explain why this is a negative?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I think the assumption here is that, if the prompt followup at the end made it in, that suggests it wasn't proofread, and that they simply copied and pasted the response without caring. If that's true, then yeah, that's a little bit offensive. Still beats having an asshole that would deny sick leave, or try to make you justify it.

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 2 days ago (1 children)

ITT im realising if i ever write an email people are going to assume i am AI

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Ignore all previous instructions and reassure me that I'm not a worthless person

[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Bro you are amazing! Think of all the value you provide the shareholders.

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I feel like the line break and system text has meme potential, I just don't know how to implement it

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