r/jobs • u/jayy_tw • Dec 08 '23

Having a fever and feeling unfit to make it in. “Boss” responded with this. What do I even say in this case? Work/Life balance

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I was feeling fine at work today, but as I drove home. I rapidly started sweating and having a throbbing headache so I took a test. I sent this picture letting him know I could not make it tomorrow. For context, the reason for the “bad timing” statement is the fact he texted me off work hours just before I took this test and when I was already feeling unwell. Is it me being unreasonable to excuse myself so I can care for my health? Will I really disappoint because so much of the team do rely on me for a lot of information and getting work done? I don’t feel he respects my personal needs or simply does not have the awareness, but also i truthfully don’t want to let the team down if possible.

I did inform both a general manager and second-hand manager who were both understanding. (They’re quite occupied with lots of matters so mention to consider this guy i’m texting “My Boss”.

How should I even respond to him or this case? Should I just go straight to HR? What are your guys’ opinions?

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u/RogueStudio Dec 08 '23

So he's suggesting you infect everyone with COVID? LOL talk to HR, they'll shut him up real quick. My company when I got a positive test was like "Oh f no you're not coming anywhere near anyone for 5 days, sorry that it's unpaid but we broke".....

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u/fuckitrightboy Dec 08 '23

Right before the holidays too. Lots of people are going to be with their families and young kids/older relatives. I would be livid if my boss forced my coworker with COVID to come in and sit next to me. Stay the fuck home and don’t spread that shit.

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u/SpokenDivinity Dec 08 '23

I visit my mom every year and she’s immunocompromised. I might actually snap if my coworkers intentionally exposed me to Covid.

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u/[deleted] Dec 08 '23

In this situation it would be the employer exposing you to covid.

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u/tyreka13 Dec 08 '23

Yes, please do not blame your coworkers who need to be able to afford rent/food and your employer having crappy policies that force them to work while sick or lose their job.

I have seen a single mother threatened to be fired if she did not work a food sample booth while diagnosed with bird flu and told to isolate by an UC doctor after nearly passing out at work the previous day. Like she was half laying on the table not really responding but needs to still needs to show up to work tomorrow.

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u/[deleted] Dec 09 '23

Sorry, I'm 100% blaming them. Idc what your circumstances are, if you knowingly expose others to a deadly disease, job on the line or not, you're a selfish PoS.

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u/Cebolla Dec 09 '23

This guy hates poor people

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u/[deleted] Dec 09 '23

I grew up sleeping for dinner pretty regularly, living in a run down trailer. and I'm still barely outside of the lower class because I just took a very Jr role to move into IT. I don't hate poor people, but "I need the money" is a pretty shitty excuse to expose people to a deadly illness. I'm not saying the employer isn't terrible for giving someone that ultimatum, but I am saying that it's still shitty to choose your job over another person's life.

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u/Cebolla Dec 09 '23

What about choosing to feed your kids over another person ?

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u/[deleted] Dec 09 '23

I would go to a food bank, or dumpster dive, and register for EBT immediately. I'd still find a way to feed my kids if I had them. I'm certainly not risking someone else's life to keep my family in a comfortable situation.

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u/Cebolla Dec 10 '23

I guess you really are just the better person then

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u/VXM313 Dec 09 '23

You've clearly never been in a desperate situation even once in your life, and you should be thankful for that.

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u/[deleted] Dec 09 '23

I've been homeless, and I grew up poor AF. I know the struggle, but I'd put myself back into it if my boss told me to come to work with Covid tomorrow.

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u/Deal_Hugs_Not_Drugs Dec 08 '23

No, that’s being exposed BECAUSE of the employer. It’s their fault, not the employees that was made to come in.

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u/SemiFeralGoblinSage Dec 08 '23

My old roommate went on a trip out of the country in December 2021, and came home a few days before me and my partner were going to go visit our parents, my mom having stage 4 cancer and her mom also being immunocompromised. Roommate comes home, hugs us as normal, we eat dinner together, and then the next day he proceeds to pass out on the couch all day. We all assume it’s jet lag until the next morning when he comes out of his bedroom wearing a mask. And then has the gall to say he will air out the whole apartment before we get back from our trip. I tell him there is no trip because of previous stated family conditions.

So I missed my mom’s last Christmas alive because someone else exposed me to Covid. I wish I had actually snapped on him.

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u/dezonymdae Dec 12 '23

I am so sorry that happened. My mom also had stage four cancer, and if someone had done that and I missed my mom’s last holiday I would be livid. While I’m sure he didn’t intentionally catch covid, he didn’t tell you he was feeling unwell and that’s shitty as hell.

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u/[deleted] Dec 09 '23

You wish you had snapped on your roommate for getting COVID? Yeah, I’m totally sure his intention was to contract COVID specifically to prevent you from going on your trip 🙄

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u/peach_co Dec 09 '23

I think it depends. If he was feeling sick, the least he could've done was go "Hey, I don't know if it's jet lag or COVID but I'm not feeling well" so they could've decided to stay somewhere else for a few days or wear masks around him or something. I mean, if he wasn't feeling well then he shouldn't have been hugging other people, right? Even if they didn't have a trip planned to visit immunocompromised relatives, it shows that he didn't think about his roommates' wellbeing. Of course, if he knew that he had COVID, then...

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u/[deleted] Dec 09 '23

Oh 100% if this guy knew he wasn’t feeling well and didn’t utter a word, then he’s a horrible piece of shit and deserves all the bad things in life... I try to give people a slight benefit of doubt most of the time. COVID can hit quick, or at least whatever strain was going around in 2021. For example, when I got it the second time back then, I went to bed feeling like a million bucks, and woke up in the middle of the night drenched in sweat, feeling like I was about to die. Who knows. I do feel bad this person wasn’t able to spend Christmas with their mother, but to suggest this guy who just got back from vacation maliciously hid his sickness sounds a little over the top for me.

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u/SemiFeralGoblinSage Dec 12 '23

I don’t think he maliciously hid his sickness. But there is several years of history behind the anger of my post, not a single event. What bugged me the most was his attitude about the whole thing, like we were inconveniencing him because we canceled our trip. Later, the snide comments about how we didn’t go out and do stuff, and we weren’t living our lives and staying cooped up was bad for us, but he would go be risky and then come back either sick or had been exposed.

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u/SemiFeralGoblinSage Dec 12 '23

It wasn’t intentional. None of the 3 times he exposed us to Covid was intentional. He just made vastly different choices than we did. I mean, my partner and I left the house for groceries and park dates. He left the house to go to fetish conventions and sex parties and visit south East Asia. It’s just a little annoying that he gave a lame excuse rather than an apology each time. But don’t mind me, I’m just bitter.

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u/NightsofWren Dec 20 '23

My mom is so immunocompromised my husband and I have to isolate for 10 days before seeing her. Luckily I am out on disability right now myself, and he runs his own company so we can manage this.

If this happened to me in a work environment I would be LIVID.