A fast-food employee lost their job after they were unable to work while being critically ill.
The Reddit post by the employee, titled “I lost my job of 3 years because of this,” showed a text conversation that allegedly took place between them and their boss. The employee stated that they were too unwell to leave the toilet, let alone work a shift. The employee also presented the bottom of a doctor’s letter. The manager, on the other hand, asked the employee to either show up or find someone to cover the shift for them. He added that if they were unable to do that, they would be fired, reports God Daily Dot.
The manager made the ridiculous assertion that because they could send text messages, they should be able to work a whole shift or find another worker to cover for them.
The text from the manager read, “You need to find someone to work your shift or you work your shift.” The worker replied, “[I] have a doctor’s note?” The manager replied, “And your [sic] not contagious.” The worker tried to point out the severity of the illness, “[I]’m vomiting and throwing up and can’t get out of the bathroom.” To this, the manager replied, “And you are texting me, so you can either find someone to work or you work, or you just don’t work here anymore.” The worker could only reply with “bet.”
Reddit users noted that this was a perfect example of how employees are put in a difficult position. A user commented, “Managers like this just like being a**holes. His next complaint will be how he can’t find loyal consistent workers because ‘nO oNe wAnTs tO wOrK aNyMorE’ even though he pulls this shit.” Another person said, “Exactly, if OP were to suddenly stop responding -or anyone in a similar situation- suddenly they’d be unprofessional and probably get fired for a lack of communication.”
A third one said, “Fortunately you can’t just get fired for this in my country, but my ex-boss was always unreasonably upset about it instead of showing any empathy and illegally fired me not long after because I was sick, it just wasn’t worth suing and I didn’t want to work there for much longer anyways.”
The OP stated in a reply to comments that their previous work was in food service, at a Little Caesars restaurant. Some users noted that stomach bugs are extremely contagious and the worker doing their shift would have actually been a health hazard.
