I think you're right about him being a bad manager. I called in sick today as I am exhausted having put in long hours over the past few weeks for Christmas with hardly any days off. When I called up the manager answering the phone basically interrogated me. The conversation went a bit like:

Him: “What exactly is wrong with you?”

Me: “I’ve got the flu that’s been going around.”

Him: “What flu? I haven’t caught it.”

Me: “The one that almost everyone has had recently.”

Him: “Ok, well I want an update by noon to see if you’re any better.”

They were like this with me as they know I’m “placid” (as one of the managers told me). I think they thought that if they kept pushing that they could make me come in as I would feel bad or be scared.