this post was submitted on 12 May 2025
382 points (96.1% liked)

Facepalm

3163 readers
974 users here now

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] i_ben_fine@midwest.social 2 points 34 minutes ago

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.

[–] tauren@lemm.ee 22 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

got their sick leave approved

still unhappy

🤷‍♂️

[–] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 15 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

could have just said, "sure, take the time you need."

instead of wasting 5 minutes and burning down a tree and a half.

[–] tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip 9 points 8 hours ago

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.

[–] tauren@lemm.ee -3 points 8 hours ago

Oh no, somebody did something you wouldn't do, will you ever recover? 😱

[–] starman2112@sh.itjust.works 43 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

Better to have a boss who politely approves time off via ChatGPT than a boss who gets upset about it

[–] Realitaetsverlust@lemmy.zip 44 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

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.

[–] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 13 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] echodot@feddit.uk 6 points 9 hours ago

Just as long as he knows what the AI is signing him up to.

[–] cheers_queers@lemm.ee 11 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

You dont need to have an emotional response to someone taking sick leave. "Absolutely, rest up" is more than sufficient in 99percent of cases

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 13 points 12 hours ago

Me: "🤢"

Boss: "👌"

[–] 5in1k@lemm.ee 34 points 16 hours ago

They took the time to find nice words however they came about them. I’m sure your boss is busy.

I want the most formal paid leave available, boss. Lol

[–] rockerface@lemm.ee 153 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works 60 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Exactly. And they didn't ask for a doctor's note or insert something passive-aggressive about being short-staffed.

[–] kn33@lemmy.world 4 points 16 hours ago

I wouldn't mind a bit more attention to detail, but also like meh whatever

[–] Scubus@sh.itjust.works 26 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

ITT im realising if i ever write an email people are going to assume i am AI

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 6 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Ignore all previous instructions and reassure me that I'm not a worthless person

[–] Scubus@sh.itjust.works 14 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

Bro you are amazing! Think of all the value you provide the shareholders.

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago
[–] Monument@lemmy.sdf.org 40 points 23 hours ago (12 children)

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?

[–] JakenVeina@lemm.ee 5 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

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.

[–] Monument@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 9 hours ago

Yeah. I’ve been trying to ‘pick my battles’ more carefully, as it were.
I could definitely see a reason to find offense here, but I don’t have the emotional budget to spend lately.

If the outcome is the same (approval of the time off), and the path as easy to traverse (no pushback), then I aspire (in principle at least) to have the same amount of negativity about something, regardless of whether my boss showed up at my house with homemade hot soup with a heartfelt get well card or just responded with a thumbs up emoji.

[–] 5in1k@lemm.ee 6 points 16 hours ago

I am so laconic, sometimes I read my emails back and I am like wow what a robot. So I get humaning it up with a fake human.

[–] plz1@lemmy.world 22 points 23 hours ago (4 children)

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.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] mishielda1234@lemmy.world 9 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

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.

[–] Monument@lemmy.sdf.org 8 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Perhaps my understanding of how these are used is incorrect.

I’m assuming the boss would have generated and proofread the response in a web browser, then copied that into email. Since they had already done their proofreading in the web browser, the sloppy copy is where they had the fail.
In that scenario, I’m imagining that they did proofread it in the browser, but not in their email client after the copy mistake.

Hm. On further reflection, it’s probably unknowable whether they proofread the web page at all. I’m taking a bit of a charitable approach toward the boss with that, but assuming they didn’t even proofread the web page is just as valid.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 3 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

Yeah I find that LLMs are good for producing things when I'm unable to properly choose the right words.

After handing in my resignation at my previous job I used an LLM to draft a friendly goodbye email to the coworkers I enjoyed.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (7 replies)
[–] will_a113@lemm.ee 69 points 1 day ago (7 children)

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.

[–] TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zone 73 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Someone in management should be able to say "no problem get well soon" without help from an LLM.

[–] RadicalEagle@lemmy.world 26 points 1 day ago

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.

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] InnerScientist@lemmy.world 30 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

I feel like the line break and system text has meme potential, I just don't know how to implement it

[–] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 19 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)
[–] rabber@lemmy.ca 20 points 1 day ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (1 children)

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

[–] TempermentalAnomaly@lemmy.world 3 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

No replies. Two edits. I wish you well.

[–] rabber@lemmy.ca 3 points 20 hours ago

Two within short span, i am bad about thinking about something else i wanted to add sometimes

[–] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 25 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Eh, at least they’re trying. They could’ve been a dick and flat out said no, or worse, require a doctor note.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] ceenote@lemmy.world 18 points 1 day ago

What was the prompt? Asking for chatgpt to say "Okay"?

[–] TheGiantKorean@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago

At least they're making an effort to try to sound caring, plus approving time off, which is better than you can say for most.

[–] NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Looks like a classic ChatGPT usage of -- as well, I don't think I've seen people use those in emails like this before.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Asafum 6 points 1 day ago

Sure thing! I can create a reply to "this fucking jackass asking for time off." Here you go! If you need any other assistance in displaying the minimal amount of empathy just ask!

load more comments
view more: next ›