This rule is so ridiculous as to be laughable, and only snooty intellectuals or bureaucrats would set us such a rule.
It reminds me of two incidents in my life. When was a senior in HS at a Catholic school, there was a rule that students were not excused for funerals unless it was a parent, a sibling or a grandparent. I think it was because of too many kids being absent from school. The problem with this rule is could not be implemented with any charity or common sense. So, when my next door neighbor died unexpectedly at age 41 years, and his daughter was my very best friend since I was 2 years old, I went to his funeral. There was a test that day and the rule was that you could not make up a test if you did not have a valid excuse. The next day I went to speak to the nun about my absence. She looked at me and said, “Of course you can take the test”. I sat down and took the test that day. Common sense seems to no longer be a virtue with these idiots.
The other incident was when my brother-in-law died in 1970. He was 36 years old and in an airplane accident. My sister was left a widow with 5 kids under 14 years. My employer had a funeral leave rule that you could have funeral leave with pay if the deceased was a spouse, child, sibling, parent, or a spouse’s parent, or sibling. Based on such a rule, single people were not given any consideration when a sibling was in great distress over the loss of their spouse. It was idiotic. I do remember that my boss recognized the unfairness and gave me a funeral leave.
Some of these rules are being multiplied while we are losing our Christian heritage. The use of common sense is not even considered anymore.
Wish I had been that 5-year-old boy. I would’ve pointed it right between that stupid principal’s eyes and pulled the trigger — twice. “Bang, bang, you’re dead, stupid lib. When do we get milk and cookies?”