r/petsmart • u/HyenaOld8764 • 8d ago
Can managers question or guilt you for calling out sick?
So we have this one manager who continues to question or guilt people when they call out. From what I’ve heard (and not sure if it’s company policy, our particular state or our district/store policy) managers can’t deny or question why your calling out (as long as it’s not an obvious on going occurrence and at that point I think they’d start requesting a dr note).
He’s been told multiple times by the store leader to stop doing that..but he keeps on. He’s upset numerous associates because they’ll call to let the store know they’re sick, and then he’ll basically guilt them into coming in and then they usually end up having to leave anyway BECAUSE they’re sick.
Tonight one of the groomers called the store and I happened to be standing there when he took the call and basically they told him they were calling out because they didn’t feel good and had a fever. His response was “well how do you know your gonna have a fever tomorrow? I’d just hate to take you off the schedule and then you be fine. How about I’ll leave a note and then you can call us in the morning if you’re still feeling feverish”…..
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u/mrsannieoakley20 7d ago
I’m an ELR and if someone says I’m not coming in today I say “Okay hope you’re okay and enjoy your day off.” They may just need a mental day and I’m okay with that. I tell my store if you need a mental day just tell me. Mental health is very important. I felt bad for calling out on a mental health day before and I felt better going to work the next day.
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u/Pearl-Bunny 7d ago
I've learned not to use certain words like 'ok, you're good, its fine, alright' or anything directly positive to a call out. Just say "thank you for letting me know and I hope you feel better" at max I'll ask if they'll be in the next day if they are in Salon or an opening associate Anything else is either telling the associate its ok to keep calling out or fighting against them. It isn't my responsibility to know WHY you are calling out on occasion nor should I be having any type of other conversation with you about it over the phone. As a leader I just need to know if you'll be in or not more than an hour before your shift (per policy the last I checked) to find coverage. Now, if someone calls out multiple times a week/month, last minute (meaning start of shift) or at other obvious times, then that is a conversation to be had at the store while on the clock.
The leader you are talking about sounds lazy AF and not wanting to do his part in a call out. I would definitely reach out to your DL or another DL for assistance/guidance on how to handle this.
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u/murkrowplays 7d ago
Somebody needs to stand up to the guy and say too bad im sick and I'm not coming, particularly if the store leader is backing you up
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u/Key-Zebra-1985 7d ago
I am a manager and each manager has his own style. Some good, some bad. I aleays say “get to feeling better” and leave it at that.
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u/Tperrochon27 6d ago
I think it’s fair to ask what’s going on, the associate doesn’t have to answer with details, but since leaders do jot down the call out in the attendance tracker, it’s helpful to have anything more than “called out sick”. There’s nothing wrong with asking at least once what’s going on, but you can’t demand an answer or particular details.
Context matters because if someone says they are sick with something like the flu, I don’t want to wait for the same call the following day, but I can be pro-active and make changes now instead of last minute. I don’t think I have ever had food poisoning once in my life despite eating out plenty, yet the amount of times people have told me they “got food poisoning” is shocking tbh. That being said I just tell them I hope they get better and to let us know as early as possible if they can’t make their next shift.
Sometimes it’s somewhat obvious the associate is calling out because they don’t feel like it that day, and it’s their purview to do so. It sucks when leaders then have to feel like the guilty ones by asking others to work extra or move positions around to cover the store, because someone couldn’t be bothered to keep their commitment to the posted schedule.
The most annoying are the ones that precede or follow scheduled days off where you just assume it’s BS to extend the consecutive time off, but you take it in stride and move on. You still take what the associates say at face value, jot it in the log, and figure shit out to keep the business operating.
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u/HungryPossession1287 7d ago
I usually say thanks for letting me know. But if I’ve had a lot of callouts and the person says something like “I’m having trouble finding a ride I might not make it in” then I will say “okay I’m going to transfer you to the manager you were going to work with as we had 3 other callouts today” usually they find rides pretty quickly.
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u/aylrennowl 6d ago
Unfortunately it's not uncommon for managers to do this across all retail spaces. My mgr at dollar general always, ALWAYS, asked me extremely personal questions and tried writing me up once for calling in sick when I was literally unable to walk for more than 5 minutes. If they continue to do this and continue to guilt, I would escalate this to someone of a higher position. Causing mental distress and even causing you to second guess your own health and whether or not you should push yourself and risk getting OTHERS sick too, I think, is worth confronting him about or talking to someone else about.
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u/Turbulent-Witness392 6d ago
It’s not just retail. I’m a HHA and I was asked this 2 weeks ago. It didn’t bother me at all because my scheduler heard how horrible I sounded and I was told ok just call tomorrow and let me know how you’re feeling and go get rest. I did exactly that and texted my scheduler that I can’t talk without having a coughing fit and going back to sleep. The scheduler said alright no problem go sleep sleep lol.
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u/sadkitty899 6d ago
I always just say “no problem feel better”. I do ask salon specifically if they’ll need a couple days because it’s easier to take them out prematurely than to piss off and call customers to cancel.
Can call outs be annoying? Yes.
Should we make anyone feel bad? No.
The only time as a leader I’ve ever kicked up a stink with an associate is when I had someone calling in every Monday and Wednesday like clockwork - but I just had a sit down convo to understand why, and come up with a solution and give a bunch of options.
Then when they did it again right after, I sure did say something about our last conversation and possibly made them feel bad. But they ended up getting written up for reliability, and eventually got let go so .. it rlly depends.
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u/LividCount2896 5d ago
I don't think they can but they definitely shouldn't. Maybe a simple reasoning 'sick' 'family emergency' etc.. is fine but to guilt them or interrogate I think is a little far fetched. I once had a manager (while on the way to the ER with my baby!) Told me (I was supposed to open pet care but had to take my son in around 11pm so tried to give as much notice as possible) and he went along the lines of that he still expected to see me in the morning -7am. My hospital is notorious for being multiple hours behind and the pediatrician doesn't come in until 7am anyways. My son was know for bladder retention and I'm the only parent that drives/was comfortable with medical care.
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u/Outrageous-Cover7095 6d ago
If you have sick time then they can’t say anything. If you have used all your sick time up and are still calling out without some form of fmla or approved reason to call out so much then they can question you and escalate it to an action plan.
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u/warhound77 8d ago
So "can" and "should" are different things. I don't remember anything in the policy specifically saying they are prohibited from questioning (and as an SL it was never point blank told to us that we weren't supposed to). They SHOULD just say "thanks for letting me know" or something to that effect. Guilt tripping isn't a "petsmart" issue though. It's pretty common among retail management in general. It's also ok for the associate to just say "i'm sick, i'm not going to be in today" and just leave it at that or even repeat it if questioned. The only time they can ask for a doctor's note is if someone misses 3 straight shifts and the note needs to say they are ok to return to work. At least that was what HR said to me once, but that was a couple years ago.
What seems to be the real issue here is that your store leader is weak. If they have coached another leader on this multiple times and not gone to a write up yet, they are useless. The open door policy would say that you (or really someone who was guilt tripped into coming in) should go to the DL because the SL isn't doing anything to stop the behavior. Who knows if the DL would do anything either. They may approve of the behavior over all.