DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: Why is it that I am the one who gets chewed out and made to feel guilty by my boss because I take one sick day to help take care of my grandma when my mom is out of town, yet the other guys in my department take off two or three times a month, and everyone knows they’re not sick? And even when they are around, they do half as much work as I do in a typical day. --- NOT FAIR
DEAR NOT FAIR: It may be that your boss knows you can be counted on to show up and get the work done, and so has to scramble more to cover your absence than is the case with your coworkers.
If that’s what’s behind your boss’s grouching at you, try taking it as something of a backwards compliment, born out of frustration with less reliable staffers than you.