We tested positive for covid. She works in retail. I work from home for a good company.
She puts in all of the effort, and she works in an understaffed department where she's consistently being told to “pick up the slack”. She misses lunches, she doesn't get her 2 15 minute breaks. She also gets in trouble for missing lunch and her breaks, but they don't provide her the ability to go on them. She comes home sore and tired every day. I used to work in a factory doing chemical manufacturing, and I know the consequences of extended fatigue. I'm worried about her.
A coworker kicked off a super spreader event and took out everyone in her department. She was one of the first to start showing symptoms. We both got it, and it was really… really… bad. I'm talking my ankles, knees and hips felt like butterknives were being twisted inside of them. Our kidneys were on fire, and we had a really bad fever. She couldn't walk well without balance for a couple days.
Day 3 they already start telling her that they're expecting her back on day 5, and that she needs to pick up days she was scheduled off. She tells them “I'll see how I'm feeling, and I was told not to leave the house until day 6 at the earliest if I have no symptoms.” They said they expect to see her then.
Day 5 comes around. She had already told them day 6 at the earliest, if she feels better. The manager for her department calls repeatedly that morning, then sends her a bunch of vicious texts. The final one.. “Get back to work. Vacation is over.”
Day 6 was her scheduled day off. That morning she gets 3 calls from a different manager. When she picks up she's asked if she's coming into work because she didn't call off. She says she's not well and can't come in. Day 7, same thing. Her symptoms were getting better but not gone. She's still exhausted just moving around the house.
By now she's stressed beyond belief, and she's been pushing herself to get better and forcing herself to do things because she's scared that she won't get to work in time and people will start treating her worse than she already is being treated.
She went to work today. Two hours in, she's messaging me about how she's exhausted and they're treating her like garbage.
She wants to work. She loves her job. Not the environment, but her responsibilities. The things she should be dealing with. She can't stand to stay at home.
I can't stand to see her like this, or treated this way. I just want her to stop going to work and let me handle things until she can find somewhere, anywhere that will treat her with dignity and respect. I can't believe she has to choose between working and being treated with respect. I can't imagine how many more people out there are in this situation and don't have someone that has the ability to help them through no-income periods. She shouldn't have to make these decisions.