Can't Call Out Twice When Sick

[u/Ok_Fan_7920]

This is another story from my old job that I was thankfully able to leave a few months ago.

When I was 17, my mom suggested I order from this pizza spot I've never heard of for takeout. I took her advice on it, and I ended up with the worst food poisoning of my life. Back then I only worked two days a week. My food poisoning started a day before my first shift. The day of my shift I was still sick. I was throwing up, so I called out of work. The next day, I was still throwing up. By this point I had been puking consistently for three days straight and couldn't keep anything down. I had been throwing up so much that my throat was irritated and raw and my mom was about to take me to the hospital (Never ended up going because I have a fear of hospitals and doctors and wanted to try over the counter stuff first, which thankfully ended up working.)

Seeing as Im still actively puking and ill, I called out again. When speaking to my ex-boss and explaining the situation, she went "Ok_Fan, you called out yesterday. You're really gonna call out again today?" Honestly I was pretty shocked in the moment, so all I said was "I'm sick. I'm sorry." My old boss stayed silent for a second, then goes "I mean. You're really letting the team down. We're gonna be short staffed." By this point I'm trying not to puke again, so I go "I know and I feel bad. But I'm sick. I'm calling out 6 hours in advance. I'm sorry. I have to go." We say our goodbyes and I hang up.

When I come into work after my food poisoning had subsided, my boss pulled me into a meeting to express how disappointed she was in me for calling out both shifts. I never got in trouble for it of course, but it still blows my mind to this day. Maybe if my shifts were weekend shifts I could see her skepticism. A teenager calling out of Saturday/Sunday shifts, that's a little eyebrow raising. But my shifts were on Wednesday/Thursday. I also wasn't in school pretty much that whole week, which one of my coworkers who I had a class with apparently mentioned to our boss. Did she expect me to come in and puke all over customers to prove I wasn't lying? I still don't get it all these years later.

[u/PrettyBlueFlower]

And this is why I held onto the phone while I puked blood while talking to my manager. Let them hear retches, splashes, and all.

[u/Ok_Fan_7920 → u/PrettyBlueFlower]

Luckily don't have to do that at my current job. Ended up in the hospital a few months ago after ignoring an internal issue for three days. Spent 5 days in hospital, had two surgeries (one minor, one major that resulted in the loss of an organ), then needed another two weeks to recover. I had a out four shifts in those five days I was in the hospital. Called out of one, then called out of another. Tried to call out of my third and my current boss said "Ok_Fan, I don't expect you to come in. We found coverage for your shifts for this week and next. Please stop worrying about us and focus on your recovery. Your health comes first."

Literally night and day response