Tesla, led by Elon Musk, has reportedly taken extreme steps to address rising absenteeism by visiting the homes of up to 30 German employees who called in sick. This tough approach sparked conversations on social media, with many people sharing their own horror stories about how bosses react to sick leave. One Reddit user asked Indians about their managers’ responses when they called in sick, and the replies were a mix of sad and funny experiences.
“Did you have managers who check if you’re sick when you take sick leaves?” asked Reddit user “pranagrapher” on the platform’s “Indiasocial” community.
“Managers are so used to breaching boundaries and breathing down the necks of the employees. Everyone complained about Indian work culture and called it Toxic. But what Tesla is up to is just the next level of toxicity,” the user added.
The question shared on Reddit a few hours ago has received over 1,000 upvotes and many comments.
One person shared a story about how their boss visited the hospital to check if they had been in an accident.
“I once had an accident and my kneecap got dislocated. Mind you, this happened on my way to the office. When I informed my manager, she instructed me to get to the office for a half day,” claimed Reddit user Abhinav Patel.
In response, the original poster said, “I’m not surprised; some managers enjoy acting authoritative. My manager once video-called me to see if I was really on my way to the hospital to visit a sick relative.”
Another woman shared her experience, saying, “I had a mentor who tried to determine if my period pain was real.”
The original poster added a similar story: “My colleague’s manager asked if she could postpone her menstrual leave to another day if the pain wasn’t too bad because they had a lot of pending work and couldn’t approve her leave.”
Another Reddit user, Madhurima, shared her frustration, saying, “My manager once accused me of faking a thermometer reading when I had a 102° fever.”
Another person added, “I once needed an endoscopy, and my former team lead wanted me to work during the procedure without understanding how it works.”
