It also can depend on what training is going on. Same here. I cant imagine a full-fledged day with simulations. Especially for people with a history of trauma. Boost your business with the right images. 1 When Something Comes Up & You Still Want To See Them Shutterstock "Hey, I'm so sorry, but something came up tonight and I. 9 Best Practices for Career Success in Your 20s, no.7 get you Promoted, 10 Effective Ways to Deal with Gossip at Work, 7 Common Types of Spam Emails and How to Identify, How to Write a Professional Email At Work (with Examples), how to tell your boss you are not working on weekends professionally, between 10 and 14 days of paid vacation per year, US Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, importance of fostering a work-life balance, How to Introduce Yourself at First Day of Work (with Examples), 5 Best Types of Goal Setting Techniques (Succeeding at Work), 10 Basic Types of Leadership Styles and How to Find Your Own, Bad Boss? If you felt deeply about every shooting you hear about as you did about the first, youd be in a padded room. There is no excuse for him to be joking about this, calling you names or otherwise mistreating you. If your employer or client asks why you can't or don't want to work on the weekends, you are not obligated to provide a reason. Hey [Name], I wouldve loved to have gone out tonight but Im currently. They cant ask to leave them alone at home nor do theywant their party blessed by the presence of these little party wreckers. If not, I would call in sick the day before and after to solidfy the excuse. OP, if you were to talk to your boss, and he says again you wouldnt be able to take it or something else similarly egregious, you can use the time-honored response, Im not sure what you mean.. if your boss asks, just say you woke up feeling too sick to work that day. Agree. Thats just totally unreasonable. My parent had been at FEMA for a minute & half before being sent to Katrina to provide IT support. Im not sure I agree with Hes a nice person.. This means that many people who are working full time are also studying. Next time you see them, just say it was a false alarm and it got better all of a sudden. Also, skip the hair routine, finger brush it out. However, if the OP schedules an appointment with their GP in advance for the day of the training they can use that appointment to discuss anything theyre dealing with. According to the National Guard, these circumstances include but are not limited to: The simple answer is that if you are ADMITTED to the hospital then it will probably be an acceptable excuse. We were there for hours, literally, while they searched for the possible gunman, then after they caught him, clearing the university to be sure he didnt have an accomplice. And the best part is that no onedoubts them a pinchbecause they all sound so real, dont they? Im a teacher and have been in charge of children during these drills. Exactly. Maybe hes friendly, but that doesnt equate to nice or kind. Someone (I think it was Maya Angelou) said that when somebody shows you who they are, you should believe them. At their large school, the directive is that 3rd+ need to get off campus and run out to the neighborhood by any means possible. Take this as the valuable information about him that it is and think about how long youre willing to work for someone who is totally okay with causing you this kind of harm. Stealing superficially affable for later use. Yeah, the duck and cover drills for nuclear war were equally not reassuring when I was a child, Im not clear on how those were helpful. Hey [Name], my stomach is not in the best of conditions at the moment so its probably best for everyone if I stay at home this evening. Heck, my dad worked in the Pentagon post 9/11, D.C. Sniper, and Virginia Tech and threat training was like an hour. Even though we always we given advance notice of a drill. As a teacher I participated in lockdown drills and in ALICE training, which is the run-hide-fight style that I guess is more popular now, rather than the hide-and-lock-the-door style we used to do. The company policy for RST is that it has be approved 30 days before drill (Aug 5-6). Just FYI, likely the accommodation would be You dont have to complete the training, but then you have to work in an admin role/non-direct care role. As someone old enough that I had to worry about this in high school and now I have to see my kid doing active shooter drills, I absolutely think people who did not grow up in a similar situation do not understand how very different it is having lived with it much of our lives. But as long as we expect children to go through this, we adults need to also, dont we? I'll keep it short. Hes that cavalier about mass mayhem?? This boss is not ok, and you deserve better. Im gobsmacked. Nothing viral, but it was a great indicator that I wasnt feeling super great and thats why I wasnt my usual cheery self! Sorry, I got a bit over-emotional here, but anyways you got what wemeant. Some of these excuses are a little ridiculous, others are genius (if we do say so ourselves)! You have a side hustle 6. excuses to get out of drill weekend * I am at a loss as to how any sort of effective drill could possibly take that long. It is not unreasonable to expect a weekend rest after a hard weeks work. Absences from the Reserves - GI Rights Hotline Please take a sick day, or do whatever else you need to do to take care of yourself. Uggggghhhh. You say hes a nice guy, but Is it even living, or is it just surviving? If you needed proof that these idiots have not clue, this is it. A lot of resources on everytown.org if youd like to read more: I would say that the same principles apply as the LW. This workrelated excuse is only going to work if its not a work gathering. - From a Soldier perspective. dental?) Soldiers who are problems are not put out the correct way because the paperwork takes to long. No one likes drill weekend. First thought was to call in sick. If you know a few months out, let your unit know and submit a RST. About HQHIREAffiliate DisclosureTerms & ConditionPrivacy PolicyContact usSitemap, Education ArticlesGetting A JobCareer SuccessEducationCareer ListCareer Tools, Career ChatroomAsk QuestionsRegister or LoginRecover Password, Copyright 2023 HQ HIRE All Rights Reserved. The peak factor was approaching 4.5 or I couldnt find a single driver in my area will work. I havent read all the comments, but this makes me truly ill. To be fair, I was already angry on your behalf before reading this letter. If there is valuable information being conveyed, I want to know it, but the toll on my mental health if I do this training is going to be immense, and I cannot imagine what content they will be teaching that I havent already heard and internalized many times before. Stuffing pretend bullet wounds in dummies with random cloth to stop the bleeding. September 10, 2020. Jonathan Sandahl Former Private First Class at US Army National Guard (1996-2002) Author has 503 answers and 4.3M answer views 4 y Depending on the circumstances, yes. No job is worth having coworkers or your boss threatening to put you in harms way, joking or not. And we allow guns! Each person should be allowed to decide the risk-benefit of having the training versus the impact on their mental health. In fact, many units have had to cancel their Drill Weekends due to budget cuts and other constraints. I think we had more on a Friday afternoon at 3 PM, but we also have them at 11 PM and other times the office is closed. This came up in the meeting: Run-Hide-Fight includes an active shooter inside the building targeting us, but what do we do for a shooter whos outside targeting someone else? Theres probably a very long, very poorly formatted slide deck theyll go over for at least several hours. Not a lot you can say to that. Here are a few ideas: But the last one was letting us know that there were rumors of a violent event being planned for the next day. Weekend is a great excuse to get out to the movies. If you look at the links other commenters have posted, theres actually little evidence that making people go through traumatic active shooter drills teaches them anything that they can put in practice if it really happens, so the usefulness of these drills is questionable at best. Somebody is implementing this program, and is either intending it to be voluntary (and your boss is going rogue) or intending it to be mandatory and *really* not thinking it through, and either way I would think the CEO/Owner would want to know about it if you cant get anyone else to listen to you. Boo yeah! Which could be related to all the drywall replacement weve had to do after the fire sprinkler floods. except that some law enforcement dont recommend doing this because in the event of an active shooter, its a high probability going to be an employee or former employee. and our Health care employees come under a ton of violence/assaults, from verbal to physical to sexual, and generally experience it at a rate that rivals most other professions. one of the many lies that people tell themselves and others when they have to work with people who really arent that nice at all. Total wild west time no supervision by an expert or law enforcement. The most serious consequence of missing a drill weekend is getting drummed out of the reserves. They are known to induce anxiety in participants, and theres no evidence that they really help much if you find yourself in an actual active shooter situation. While participating in this @#$% drill would be doubly-triply horrible for you, it is not good for anyones mental health and, as Alison mentioned, most likely wouldnt do any good. There are some heinous examples of training going terribly because it is just some random person throwing a stupid plan together with no idea what theyre doing. I really hope this changes some day in the US. I cried, honestly, because even though it was very low key and not big budget, it was very effective at showing what its like, to have a normal work and school day completely turn on its head. Your boss can think you are a snowflake all he wants, but the fact is your boss is being an insensitive jerk. Often, the employees are the main reason why employees quiet quit their job. But since I am pretty much exhausted, I dont need anything more than my bed and a day, sleep. These drills are not helpful! When my former workplace held an active shooter training, they said it was mandatory and no one could opt out. Basically it was a whole thing staged as if some classmates had gotten in a car with a drunk driver and died, involving the local law enforcement, paramedics, etc., and framed as if it was actually happening and not a drill. Im so sorry. All The Best Squid Game Memes For Those Still Reeling After That Twist Ending Now, were reminded at church that in the event of an active shooter, there are three options, in order of preference: 1) RUN! We all know how hard it gets to pull off financially at the last dates of the month. I could have written this post myself. Your boss is being waaaay too cavalier, he should recognize the possibility of one of his employees having already lived through a mass shooting, had family members affected in a mass shooting, or experienced shooting drills in school, even if hes not a huge mental health fanatic. She cant even bear to see guns on tv. You are attending a religious event 4. I got good feedback later about the power of the word, so maybe try it. 4. If you call in sick and they run this drill again in a year or two, youll be in the same position, and making yourself sick with worry. When someone says, "We should get brunch this weekend" respond with "I love brunch!" This way you have successfully. The hangover excuse is a bit of a gamble anddepends entirely on your relationship with the friend. I was rather pleased when, about six months after I quit, my favorite former coworker mentioned that theyd installed motion sensors to replace the timer switches. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. It's almost perfect. Also: Now after 30 years, trying to get out of teaching. All-day first aid training? This is a terrible approach in many ways and I genuinely hesitate to suggest it, but if you feel that #3 is your best option, when I had bosses like that the times when I could manage to, I guess, meet their style, went better than times I couldnt. If you miss your drill weekend without contacting the Reserve unit and securing permission in advance, you incur an unexcused absence. Not the building burning down. He sounds gross. I suppose on some level I feel like, there is nothing I can do to prevent it if its going to happen, and I dont have the reflexes that drilling would train into me to be assessing or thinking about what I might do if it did. Its about 80% victim-blaming) with an actual drill, andI would not be able to. Hi there! Thats ridiculous! how do you handle being pregnant at work? That would be my guess too, but we cant know. I work for a a government agency. He might be trying to joke, of course, but. So our poor security guard is stuck with trying to clear the error before the fire department responds. Michelle Rennex, Film Take care of your mental health first. How horrible. When my grandkid was 5 their school was involved with an active shooter, luckily, it was resolved fairly quickly, but thinking about how it could have happened still makes me shake. And make sure to tell them that its coming out of both ends. If you have kids use them as an excuse. Wed also be delighted if you shared this article and joined us on social media too! I have interceded on employees behalf from that position many times, i.e. How do you say no to working on a weekend?. Look, Im a school employee, a military brat, and an LEO wife. What's not to love? A book that finally understands introverts! Wanted to add that I agree the real problem is in the proliferation of guns and the lawlessness favored bycertain politicians. The problem is some people say This is horrible, we have to do something so kids dont get shot at school and suggest, to them, reasonable ideas like getting rid of automatic weapons or raising the age of gun ownership, etc. I have a perfect non-attendance record for the last 10 years of active shooter training at my firm. None of these excuses should be used regularly, because inevitably the second you say you need time off for dental work because you have a job interview, you then also need time off for dental work. I think what happens is that someone sees the day-long disaster simulation events using those who will be involved in emergency responses (police, fire, hospitals, etc) and thinks day-long training will be useful to everyone. For more information, please see our Earnings Disclosure. In this article, we listed the best excuses you can use to not work weekends. 1) Wont happen herewe are nowhere near the big city where these things happen. This knife-edge behavior, scared enough to schedule drills, not scared enough to take it seriously it has to stop. Well, the car seemed like it was fixed so i drive to work and back the last couple days with no issues. You can only use this one if its raining there. Wtaf. Heres where it gets a little morally ambiguous. 3) Train everyone! You were asked to attenda raging, booze-filled pub crawlon Friday? Im so sorry your workplace is putting you through this. Im Amy, and Im the person behind Never the Right Word. Theyre homeschooling now. They were clearly making an effort on all sides not to alarm the kids, and my own kids were totally oblivious that anything was amiss. They're basically faster, safer, and more supportive- you can check them out here. I grew up in an era when everything American was super cool and aspirational. Tell them how you were all dressed up for this party, and you are afraid that the mechanic workshop m, Even if it isnt, its going to take a while. What could possibly take seven hours to cover for one topic?? During the week, you were full of hope and motivationfor the weekend ahead. The younger ones did. Even reading the emails about it made me so anxious that my hands started to shake. 25 Fantastic Excuses to Get Out of an Event - Never the Right Word Seven hours?! Federal law and regulation have the greatest protective impact on a "veteran" who is now attending school . And weve had a former employee fired for making death threats, who did come back to cause trouble at least once, who would know where all the exits are if he was going to do something worse, I also have been dealing with bomb threats and shooter drills since middle school. That is insane! Point being, opt out. My last workplace did the hide in your office training, which was lackluster in different ways I definitely found it mildly triggering due to experiences Ive had, and we received no training on how to protect our customers. You Need to Take a Mental Health Day 6. This was a school-sanctioned event!! Stuff like this is why Im glad I always bring up early in any employment situation my chronic history of migraines; its true, but its also a convenient excuse as needed if not used too often in that fashion. We love the unique finds, social media templates, vectors you name it they have it. But Alisons advice is great. And as others have pointed out, experts question whether they drills really help anyone anyway. In that case, the advice to advance schedule a dr appointment for that day applies. Just try to get through it and then enjoy your weekend! We did an active shooter drill at my organization and I thought it would be similar to the same drills I grew up doing (also a millennial) but it was so much worse than I imagined. I know you dont want to do that, being the only woman and all, but I find that sometimes I spend too much effort holding myself together, and an honest reaction sometimes solves the issue. Doing what it takes to make these shootings stop happening. And just like that, my butt is covered. We will be presented with a PowerPoint (or similar) and a handout. His video gave at least one employee a panic attack at her desk. Both my former Commander and XO attended both drill AND law school. Its not as full on as what the OP saying, theres no law enforcement or reenactment. A few months later, my school staged this surprise mock car accident to discourage people from drinking and driving. Are you getting a lot of spam which is very annoying and want to avoid them? Here are some tips from some of the worlds best mentor for you to jump-start your career to get that sweet promotion and excel in your career. Know both your annual drill schedule and your college course schedule. Because they want to LARP like something out of a movie. You mean before that 9am brunch? When I was in high school my best friend died in a car crash. As another university admin assistant (also for a dean) who has just spent the last couple of weeks dealing with a real recent active shooting event on a campus: what?!??!! The military is their own worse enemy when it comes to this area. Protagonist is South Asian or possibly Middle Eastern man who is meeting a woman for a date? but never a real simulation. Its naturaland can happen to anyone. Please keep me in mind for the next book club party!" The Fine Print: When you say that you miss your partner, the hostess could reply with a suggestion to bring them along. #2 "I Have The Runs" Our active shooter training is online, so you can just play the video and ignore it & still get credit. Some say that it is helpful to have even a few seconds of warning, and that the sound should be loud and trigger serious caution. I am tired and frustrated that my unit has decided to disrespect my schedule and time. Make sure you have a plan for how youll cover these expenses before you sign up. In the last year we had a shooting at another campus in my district, and a lockdown on my campus for a suspected shooter (someone on the street with a gun who did not end up coming into the building). Yes I laughed about it a lot, even when we were hiding in a hotel room. Im mildly/moderately allergic to a common food that nobody else is allergic to. A text like this will save you up from any long unnecessarydetails, especially if you cant come up with any other genuine sounding excuses at that moment. Just call in sick. Get involved in your unit. Ive found most team building exercises to be futile for their supposed purpose anyway. It ruined my entire week-end. The one I attended was for an outbreak of Avian Flu. Does this count as an excuse if its likely true? It was investigated, law enforcement believed it was just a rumor, and there would be extra police presence at school the next day. For anyone to work in a position where they may have to do non-violent restraint and not have hands-on training in a controlled environment is INCREDIBLY dangerous and would open your facility to a huge amount of liability, both civilly and criminally. But in my opinion, your older colleagues have ZERO excuse for not empathizing with your concerns. The best way to make the most of your time in the Drill Army Reserves is to get involved with your unit and fellow soldiers. Well have to reschedule another time Im afraid! However, the opt out usually looks like being told ahead of time what will happen and standing with a non involved officer rather than participating. I still have really distinct memories of what I can only imagine was my elementary schools first-ever armed intruder drill after Virginia Tech. Id feel the same way. training is going to be useful, sensible, or anything besides a nightmare. You dont even have to do it well! Thats so callous. I think this is one of those things that is worth burning political capital for- its annoying to be only woman and the only one opting out, but its pretty important to stand up for yourself in this. You should probably go ahead and [Insert Activity] without me. Im older woman, early 50s, white, living in Texas where no permit is needed to carry a gun. Im not against well-designed, appropriate active shooter drills but I cant believe this one is well-designed or appropriate if it takes so long. A side hustle is any job that you do in addition to your normal or main source of income. According to the US Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, approximately 44% of people in postsecondary education are adults over the age of 24. The self advocacy takes its own toll. Alerting system for all employees and associated people created. The two are not the same. Her eyelids dont SPARKLE today! How to Cancel Plans at the Last Minute Professionallyand Without It might possibly get him to realize the ridiculousness of what hes saying, but even if it doesnt it gives you a great and specific springboard for explaining to him why his assumptions are way off. Im also just really curious about why the boss wants to have an active shooter drill given how cavalier he seems to be about it. As a general rule, you cannot be excused from drill. By 4pm, societal standards really will have done all the work for you. I like the idea of getting a doc note and or calling out sick but if OP does wind up going to work that day I would simply leave if/when an active shooter simulation starts. I was out the day the training happened, but apparently it was just a cop lecture interspersed with scary videos. It was horrendous to experience. But if thats not the case, tell them you were here (at some distant place) to pick up some work. Call in sick. Pretty sure it wasnt the entire day but it wasnt a full day of school anyways (minimum day). Ive even had to go so far as to use a very light dusting of a slightly purple-y matte eye shadow to emphasize the dark circles under my eyes for one job (company was populated by a LOT of ex-military). I think many people would freeze. This happened in effing Silicon Valley with the VTA shooting just 2 years ago. We like them because we get expert-led courses that we can access anytime, anywhere. This article was originally published on https://www.nevertherightword.com. I am old and also infuriated on your behalf. Building layouts is easy and fast, making it ideal to create mockups and wireframes, prototyping a design, and creating the website itself. A training session with law enforcement might be okay if it was structured like a q&a or generally sought to give information rather than simply a mocked up experience. We were about 1hr 25 min away. I doubt random company is coordinating with outside agencies. Ive always thought stomach flu was the best excuse. That is absurd. Youre very charitable in your interpretation of dark humor, for me thats a line that shouldnt be crossed. I would absolutely call in sick. Ah, I bet you live in the same city as me. one of her students went to the supply closet and distributed scissors and protractors to his classmates during a suspected active shooter event. But I was wondering how can reasonable accomodations include opting out of mandatory safety related training? If not, why is this particular emergency getting such outsized priority? You could also make up a fake relative, or say that you knew someone who died in x major shooting event. All of these take about ten minutes. It took maybe 30 minutes total. I started a new job recently, one where I wanted to impress and have significant imposter syndrome. how do I get out of an active-shooter drill at my office? It doesnt matter what people think. As it is a work emergency,no one is going to know that you are bluffing. Just be careful not to cough or sneeze or they could actually suggest a hospital visit. I think about my plan a lot bc the patients we serve make us a target. Relax away. I have heard some people talking about more training as a solution to prevent a similar event in the future and it makes me want to scream. The fact that we landed on lets continually traumatize victims as a preventative measure enrages me. When you see any warning signs of feeling burnout at work, you should ask to take your weekend off work. Its not that I dont care or think its fine: I feel very grim when I read about the latest shooting(s), in a f this country way similar to how I react to new abortion bans or anti-LGBTQ+ bills, and I hate the online active shooter training module I have to do yearly for my job. excuses to get out of drill weekend Follow us. THIS. Youre talking about the kind of training that professionals receive. It was a practical tour of the various ways out of the building and a review locations of fire extinguishers, first aid kits, and defibrillators. I work in an academic library. You also get children with really poor emotional regulation (like, toddler level) and they absolutely need the practice. I have a parent in emergency preparedness who talks about how a lot of these simulated trainings came out after what happened during Hurricane Katrina. There were two separate school shootings in my district in the time frame that I was middle school through high school. My 1st grader and her classmates knew all the hiding spots in their school and when they built a model school classroom as a project, insisted they put several into their creation. If youre interested in further reading, weve also included links to our trusted resources and related posts below. If you are in the National Guard or Reserves, you are required to attend one weekend of drill per month. Tell them how you were all dressed up for this party,butat the last moment,youfoundoutthat your car tireispunctured.
