Current Events > If there's a traffic accident making you late to work, is that your fault?

(+) Yeah! (+)

At my work, I've already shown up late to work three times for this very reason. Apparently, people here can't put down their phones for two seconds to keep their eyes on the road. My morning commute is often ruined because of these idiots (I assume they're texting and not drinking) making me late to work.

I've explained this to my supervisors all three times, and they're just like yeah, uh-huh. I'm afraid they won't buy the same excuse over and over again, but it really is an accident every time. You drive on the freeway for 5 mph until you pass police cars, ambulances, tow trucks, and two or three totaled vehicles. Are they to blame for my lateness to work, or should I just leave home early in case this happens every day?
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No, you can't control it. If a manager/supervisor is being a dick about it, then A.) they're shitty bosses, and B.) offer to show proof if they really want to challenge you. I'm sure google maps and waze have at least some semblance of "accident history" within a period of time or something like that, where if you roll in at 9:10 and they ask why you're late, you can pull up the app and be like "there was this accident here at 8:45 which caused 10 minute delays across the board.

If not those apps though then surely something else along those lines should exist.
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No, but the business doesn't care.
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The only idiots that would say you should leave early every single time you go to work are people who only ever leave their homes to go to work. Thats unreasonable af.
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your fault for not just plowing through the pileup
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I mean if you're always running in the door at the last minute and an accident makes you late then I guess you might argue that. But if you're always on time there's no reason you should expect to leave earlier than you need to.
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If it's a recurring issue on the route you take, it could eventually be seen as your problem for continuing to not allow time for it despite knowing it's a regular occurance.

If it's once or twice, no way it can be labelled your fault.
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It happened to me a few years ago when I was working as a lawyer. I showed up around 30 minutes late to court for a motion that I wanted to contest. I even called the other lawyer on his cell phone on my way to tell him and he reassured me that he was going to tell the judge.

Turns out the judge didn't give a shit and he insisted on hearing the motion without hearing my arguments.

I filed for revocation and my revocation was denied because apparently I had no valid reason not to be there >_>

I mean wtf the entire bridge was completely fucking blocked. I raged.
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I always shoot to be at my job 15 minutes prior to the start of my shift to counteract this kind of thing. I'd rather be safe and keep my job than risk something like this happening. The fact is, so many people lie and make up excuses that telling your boss "I got stuck in traffic" to most will just sound like a BS excuse that they likely won't take seriously.

I think it's a valid excuse that's out of your hands, but if you are constantly late because of this, yeah i'd definitely start leaving a bit earlier, especially if it's risking your employment status.
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No it isn't, but it's not like upper management would give two shits about you.
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Bosses don't give two shits and they expect you to leave early every time. I remember I worked in another borough in NYC, and even if I left really early, some shit would delay it randomly and my boss would get angry.

And he would be on the fucking GPS checking things because he had to go to Westchester most mornings for a bit, so it's not like he didn't know.

Fuck, I had the same situation with high school. Randomly the buses would go on strike and somehow it was my fault I had to take 3 buses to get there and was 15 minutes late. Fucking morons.
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LockeMonster posted...

Bosses don't give two shits and they expect you to leave early every time. I remember I worked in another borough in NYC, and even if I left really early, some shit would delay it randomly and my boss would get angry.

And he would be on the fucking GPS checking things because he had to go to Westchester most mornings for a bit, so it's not like he didn't know.

Fuck, I had the same situation with high school. Randomly the buses would go on strike and somehow it was my fault I had to take 3 buses to get there and was 15 minutes late. Fucking morons.

We all know Upper Management doesn't care about your situation, they just want you there on time or early.

Any problems you have is your issue.

That's the selfish attitude they take.

Any problems with them, it's somebody else's fault.

That's their nature as selfish upper management types.
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DarkTransient posted...

If it's a recurring issue on the route you take, it could eventually be seen as your problem for continuing to not allow time for it despite knowing it's a regular occurance.

If it's once or twice, no way it can be labelled your fault.

This. In Boston/MA as a whole, if you are constantly late because traffic on the Pike was bad, or because of the Big Dig back in the day, that's on you. Traffic is always awful on the Pike, so being late every day because you can't figure out you need to leave earlier is a horseshit excuse.

Besides, if you're late once in a blue moon because of an accident, I can't imagine a boss who would chew you out for it. At least, I've never encountered one. It's the people who are late once or twice a week because of "an accident" who get shit on, and rightfully so.
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In your case, it probably is partially your fault since this seems to be a re-occurring issue that affects your attendance.

How early do you arrive to work currently? Just enough time to get out of your car and walk into work to "be on time"?

If your start time is 9am, it's probably a good idea to arrive to work around 8:45-8:50 and sit in your car browsing your phone or whatever until it's time to get out and walk into work.

This way, when an accident occurs, you can still be on time or only be late by a few minutes.
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A lot of bosses wouldn't care if Godzilla was eating cars on the freeway. I worked at a place where guys who lived out in the country got in shit for missing work because horrible snowstorms closed down the highway into town. Nothing they can do about it when the police are out there turning people around and the sideroads are buried.
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I do think it's bullshit. My commute to work daily is 12 miles. I typically leave one hour in advance. Sometimes I get there with 30 minutes to spare, but in one week I had accidents on like three different days that caused me to be late.

It's unreasonable to expect me to leave more than an hour in advance to drive 12 fucking miles. With normal traffic I will always be there at least 10 minutes early, and even that is a slow commute.
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Sometimes, I'll text my boss when traffic is really bad and be all "hey, traffic is really bad on my side of town so I'm probably gonna be late"

He always says "ok, see you when you get here"
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i leave early for explicitly that reason. doesn't kill me to punch in early or hang for five-ten minutes.
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MabusIncarnate posted...

I think it's a valid excuse that's out of your hands, but if you are constantly late because of this, yeah i'd definitely start leaving a bit earlier, especially if it's risking your employment status.

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