Hi, this is just going to be a rant, but I'm also interested on other opinions on this.
I only work part-time next to my studies, but it is very important to me to be able to live by.
I had a really bad half year with IBS, constant pain, going to the doctor, taking all kinds of medicines and it's still very much going on. It also made my immune system much weaker.
Last week, I got really sick out of nowhere, basically spent an hour commuting to work just to get fever on the way and instantly come back.
Then I had a really bad week. My grandpa got very ill one day and he is in the hospital since, not sure if he will make it out… The next day I got the call that my grandma passed away. It hit me very hard, since I was really close to her. Booked a flight for the next week asap so that I could be with my family and attend her funeral. (I moved abroad, 1700 kms away when I was 18, I'm 20 now.)
Not getting any response however, I went to work sick and grieving the next time I had to. Told my boss face to face that I need a day off from when I am already scheduled since I am not going to be there. She told me it is not a problem, family comes first. (And also, that I still look very sick, but still sent me to do the hardest parts of the job I can get)
At my days home it was just even more bad luck. I fell back into my sickness even more and basically had to spend all my time in bed because of a severe flu with high fever. And was told to rest for a week at least and to take a ton of medicines.
In the meantime it also meant that I couldn't attend the funeral, neither see my grandpa (for which I am feeling very guilty honestly, but also did not want to faint during the funeral or make my grandpa more sick). Instead I took care of the family dog, who just got a life saving surgery (someone probably tried to poison him and the object got stuck and blocked his intestines) and we had some troubles with his after treatment too.
I flew back on Sunday, before that I wrote an email to work that I cannot work on Tuesday for sure, since I am unable to even get groceries for myself in this state. Again, they ignored my email. I called them today, as I am still very weak and having fever, to tell them I am not coming to work. A random women answered the phone and just hang up. Then they called back an hour later, to explain to me that they do not care about my sickness, I have to come in or I am fired (there is carneval this week, meaning that if you cannot work for any reason they usually get very frustrated with you- catering industry).
Well, here I am, jobless. It was a very bad job anyways. For example when a girl was shouting at me for some minutes that she also has to do some work, while two managers were just standing next to me, doing nothing about it. Or how I was just treated like shit generally, made to do the worst parts of the whole job. When I had to wash dishes for hours with some highly chemical fat disolver that basically burnt my skin off and never felt such pain in my life (I also have eczema but they did not really care).
I'm happy I'm out and at least I can go now and find another place even though it takes time. I was planning it anyways. But seeing the degree how people, especially employers have no empathy for others sometimes scares me. I was really hard working at my time there, had no bad words for anyone, really tried to help as much as I can and learn fast. Then some really bad things happen to you, and the first thing they do is just fire you over being sick (also, I don't think it's the best idea to hive flu to all the people working/ eating there, but who am I to say).
Thank you for reading my rant. Hope you have a nice day!