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A woman who took the risk of calling in sick at work to catch a flight told Newsweek of her awkward moment when her manager ended up on the same plane.
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Freelancer Grace, 23, splits her time between Bali, Indonesia, and Europe for work.
And when she needed to head home to Bali, Grace claimed she had a doctor’s appointment that Friday and would not be able to work.
“Long story short, I was waiting in the line and then I saw a familiar face coming to me which called my name,” she told Newsweek.
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A video posted to her TikTok account @grachevaaleidya, on June 22, has been viewed 740,000 times, as horrified users flocked to the clip where she wrote: “Me taking a sick day from work just to end up in the same airplane as my manager.”
In it, Grace, sits on the flight with her hood up and a grimace on her face, before sharing a screengrab of messages between her and her manager, who had taken a photo of himself, with Grace visible a few seats behind.
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Commenters squirmed just imagining themselves in the same position, with one person writing: “I’d cry like a baby and give my resignation letter.”
“I would throw myself off of the plane ngl [not gonna lie],” another admitted, and one declared: “I wouldn’t be mad as a manager because I’d do the same lol.”
Others shared their own stories, with one recalling she had also called in sick to catch a flight but her manager called her at the airport, where “there was announcements like boarding at gate number” in the background.
A 2023 survey from Statista found that almost a quarter of the adult respondents in the US who worked or studied had not taken any sick leave in the past 12 months.
Of those who did take sick leave, around two or three days was the most common figure.
Not every workplace in the US has sick leave benefits. A 2021 study on civilian and private industry workers found only around 80 percent of those had access to paid sick leave benefits.
Grace explained to Newsweek that, as a freelancer, she told her work she had a doctor appointment on the day of her flight, so asked to change her working day to that Thursday instead, which was agreed. She also let them know that she would be working from a different time zone the following week, thanks to being in Bali.
Unfortunately for Grace, her manager also stays often in Bali, and when he recognized her ahead of the flight, he asked her sarcastically: “Oh, so this is hospital?”
It wasn’t all bad though, as she went on: “I was so shocked but we ended up laughing together.”
“We ended up talking all the way to the airplane and while we’re inside, he took that picture and sent it to me.”
Have you had a workplace dilemma? Let us know via [email protected]. We can ask experts for advice, and your story could be featured on Newsweek
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
