This was last year when COVID was still out of hand. Despite the fact I (25F) had informed my manager that I have several issues that cause me to be high risk and getting a doctor to sign off on it per request, they refused to allow me to work from home, because it wasn't an “adequate reason” and I needed to be at work, despite the fact all my tasks are done on the computer and I don't really need to interact with anyone physically to get it done. Actually no, not entirely true, they allowed me to work from home for 1 week, then forced me to come back so another girl can take a week to work from home. Because she felt it unfair. The manager and other managers didn't take COVID seriously at all, and were very obvious in that.
I got moved to another smaller office with less people around, as the one I normally work in has people shoulder-to-shoulder with no guards and 90% of the people there wear their masks like they're playing a game to see how little of their mouth and nose can they cover without just putting it on their chin. I had spray bottles of lysol and pure isopropyl alcohol on me at all times, as well as a desk fan blowing away from me. It worked for a few months and I was fine. Until we were suddenly moved to a new location.
Now this location, first of all, was not ready for people to be working in. There were renovations still going on, no heat, even though we were still in Winter, and the people working on the building weren't wearing masks. Everyone had to work in the same room, there were no other offices, and the clear barriers were a joke that protected nobody. Long story short, I come to find out I was sat with not one, but two people who came to work with COVID, one right beside me and one behind me. Naturally, I caught it. I've always been a sickly person, especially when I was younger, but never like I was then. For almost 2 weeks, I couldn't leave my bed, it felt as though I was under sleep paralysis for a majority of the time. It was absolute Hell. If that wasn't bad enough, when I contacted my manager to let them know about it, they had the nerve to tell me they knew someone was positive with COVID, but didn't inform anyone. They also wanted to have me work from home, finally…while I was bedridden with COVID. Obviously that didn't happen. 2 weeks passed and my manager asked me if I can coming back to work the day after the 2 weeks were up. I said no, because I was still sick, and they had the audacity to say “But the CDC said 2 weeks, you should be fine”, because appearently I don't know my own body and the still-positive test is wrong, because COVID obviously stops at exactly 2 weeks.
You would think that'd be the final nail in the coffin, right? Wrong, my friends, that honor goes to the fact my manager told me not to tell anyone about me getting COVID. That they were just going to get the office cleaned and say nothing to anyone…despite the fact that there was: a co-worker with terminal cancer, a diabetic, an couple co-workers who care for their immuno-compromised parents, and a few fellow members of the bad lung brigade. The manager and fellow higher-ups were fully prepared to endanger these people, because God forbid you put health over money. That was the final straw. I did manage to let the office know of the situation, which lead to a mass Exodus.
Over a year later, still suffering issues I got from COVID, memory issues being the most troubling one. But I am happy to say I am in a better spot.
I ended up getting picked up by another company in the same field doing the same thing I was doing before but significantly more pay. I quickly learned that some of the very same people who also left found themselves working there, too. It wasn't planned, but life is crazy like that sometimes. I love my new job, and I'm already being set up for a promotion manager myself soon! Funnily enough, this would be the 2nd promotion I get in less time I worked at the other job where I kept getting blocked for promotions, and was only given my first raise there, $2, after the 3rd time I put in my 2 weeks (they kept refusing to accept it lol).
I've kept in touch with a few folks, and it seemed like everyone was far better off overall after leaving that toxic hell hole. The last person I know to have left recently told me that all of the other managers had either left or got fired, with my former manager being the last left. However, the stress of everything may cause them to quit soon. Also, unfortunately, they learned the hard way how serious COVID is, and ended up losing their mother to it after their kids gave it to her. I'm not calling that karma or saying that it was deserved, I just wish it didn't have to come to that for them to realize.