Hi guys, I’m an intern rn and my boss strongly wants me to bring my laptop home everyday so in case I need to take MC or whatever, I can still work.
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Is this even okay? If i’m taking MC it’s because I don’t feel well enough to do work lol
to add on: Currently, I don’t bring my laptop home everyday. I only bring it home when I have to work from another location the next day OR bringing it home to have my work material to refer to when I’m working on my biweekly journal for school.
I feel that bringing my laptop home is crazy, I will only work during work hours. I am not paid enought to even look at my emails outside of work hours. My boss on the other hand sends emails around 9pm which is crazy.
Netizens’ comments
- Depends on:
Do you need him to write you a reference letter?
Do you want this internship to convert you and give a job offer? - Bro need to be smart. Just bring the laptop home, then if you fall sick, play the pity card and say you too sick to do any work. Then put phone on silent mode.
Then the next day come back and look apologetic, and apologize. Say you wanted to do a & B but was really too sick to do.
Then say you saw his messages late at night after you woke up but didn’t want to disturb him when he sleeping.
^ If you can’t bear to do even that, then it’s your ego holding you back.
Your boss is not your friend. He’s not your school project teammate either, you’re not on the same playing field. You need to give him some face if you wanna have a good time there.
Don’t burn bridges. - There is nothing wrong with sending emails at 9 pm, but he shouldn’t be expecting anyone to read them after work (which is why any emails I do work on at night are scheduled for the following morning).
I do agree that if you are unwell, you shouldn’t be made to work (regardless of whether you have an MC or not, scout’s honour), but because you are just starting out in the workplace, you have to weigh the pros of standing your ground vs the cons of potentially burning bridges in the industry in the future (especially if you need a positive appraisal or referrals from him). I think many of us here (myself at least) have had experiences where we were faced with “unfair” situations, but just sucked thumb and went along with it because it was a fight we were ready to fight.
You shouldn’t have to bring your work laptop home either, but again, a lot of what one ought to have to do is really defined by your workplace and employer. There really isn’t any black or white on this, and you will have to learn to stand up for yourself one way or another. If you don’t protect your rights now, there won’t be any left to safeguard in the future.
My advice – agree, but add in the caveat that you may not always be able to respond to texts or emails right away if you are extremely ill, therefore setting the expectation that there will be some lag time. Then at home, rest if you really have to, get a bit of work done if you think you have the energy for it (maybe work on the bare minimum, otherwise, you will have a ton of shit to clear when you go back), but don’t be seen as being too siao on. And if asked, always exaggerate the extent of your illness and symptoms, even if you are otherwise feeling physically fine.