Bad managers are usually also inhumane. This callous thinking often works against them.

See the powerful lesson this worker taught his employer.

My Dad was forced to come to work while sick and gave his entire department the flu

My Dad has been working for the same company for about 30+ years now.

My Dad is extremely smart.

I don’t say that lightly. When he was 3 years old (yes, 3 years old) he rewired my grandmothers toaster oven when it broke.

He graduated high school early and has always excelled in mathematics, physics and most tech related areas.

Then he began an interesting path.

My dad began working for Company X after finishing his associates degree.

He was taking some time off before going back to school as he and my mom had just got married and he needed money.

So he began working in Company X’s printing pressroom as he did not have the academic credentials to apply for the job he really wanted at the time.

This company printed everything from books, to magazine, newspapers and the like.

He said he really enjoyed working in the pressroom.

It was a lot of manual labor and he was stuck on 2nd shift, but he really liked his coworkers and he enjoyed learning about the machines they used, as well as how to run and repair them.

He has a great work ethic and he always works hard as did most of his coworkers.

Apparently, the management at the time was terrible.

My Dad had been working at the job for several months when he got the flu.

This is where things unravel.

He was informed by a coworker that while they were able to call out sick, it would count against them when it was time for reviews.

It was clearly an unfair and ridiculous rule.

So he came into work the next day with a fever and nausea and he carried around a trashcan with him for most of the day.

It was a long and brutal shift and he was thrilled to finally leave.

By the time he left though, everyone on 2nd shift had been exposed to the flu as well as everyone coming in for 3rd shift.

The company ended up having to shut down the printing press for almost a whole week because nearly every press room worker was sick with the flu.

While I’m not sure my Dad had planned such a glorious outcome, he was very smug telling me this story and said he would do it again.

My Dad went back to school and finished his degree and got a job much higher in the company and now has quite a few people working beneath him.

He never gives his employees a hard time about taking sick days.

Here is what folks are talking about.

It’s like this in Canada, too.

That’s a good perspective.

I don’t blame you!

Whatever gets the job done!

Makes me feel less bad about the printing industry going downhill.

That sounds rough.

Maybe management learned something.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.