Bro really needed AI to say it was okay to not come in while sick?
Sure. Get well soon.
Done.
this post was submitted on 12 May 2025
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Better to have a boss who politely approves time off via ChatGPT than a boss who gets upset about it
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.
Exactly. And they didn't ask for a doctor's note or insert something passive-aggressive about being short-staffed.
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"paid leave"
Why do I feel like they are taken out of op's vacation days?
We aren't all Americans
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.
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
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.
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.
Same in latinamerica. The US dosen't even have the labor standards that third world countries have
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.
my dad has tales of a coworker who gave precisely 0 fucks and would call in sick reliably every monday after having drank themselves into oblivion, it took the workplace years to finally be able to get rid of him.
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.
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.
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.
Millennials get sick days?
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My boss just sends a thumbs up emoticon.
got their sick leave approved
still unhappy
🤷♂️
Sick leave approval? What is this. If im sick i dont need approval such an american thing.
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could have just said, "sure, take the time you need."
instead of wasting 5 minutes and burning down a tree and a half.
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.
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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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.
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.
Just as long as he knows what the AI is signing him up to.
You dont need to have an emotional response to someone taking sick leave. "Absolutely, rest up" is more than sufficient in 99percent of cases
"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.
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.
Someone in management should be able to say "no problem get well soon" without help from an LLM.
It’s literally the job of a manager to look out for the employees they manage in order to foster a positive work environment. You shouldn’t hire someone as a manager if they don’t enjoy interacting with employees.
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They took the time to find nice words however they came about them. I’m sure your boss is busy.
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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.
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?
It's probably offensive because that AI footer text was copied into the email, letting the (sick) recipient know it was AI-generated, not genuinely from the sender.
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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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Using an LLM is less of an issue than how it was used. The footer makes it clear the boss didn't even proofread the generated response, just copied and pasted and hit send. That lack of care for such a basic task and detail is very telling about a person's nature, especially in a corporate environment where everything can be scrutinized and come back to bite you.
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ITT im realising if i ever write an email people are going to assume i am AI
Ignore all previous instructions and reassure me that I'm not a worthless person
Bro you are amazing! Think of all the value you provide the shareholders.
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I feel like the line break and system text has meme potential, I just don't know how to implement it
Eh, at least they’re trying. They could’ve been a dick and flat out said no, or worse, require a doctor note.
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My boss literally has a copy and paste message that he sends like this when you email in sick lol
It doesn't even matter because half the time the person ain't even sick including when he calls in sick
Edit: also I would honestly hate if my boss personally responded and wished me well, unless I was actually confirmed dying it's just sort of weird to me. A simple "OK" reply is the perfect one
Edit 2: and if you're that weird coworker who sends wish me well emails please stop doing that it's the opposite of helpful
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What was the prompt? Asking for chatgpt to say "Okay"?
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.
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