Ok, this is kind of a rant, but an incident happened at work this week and I kind of need to vent a bit. Also, not in the U.S and English is my second language.
We are currently one driver short at work for the past couple of days and probably for the next three weeks. And we're happy with that, because we would almost be a driver short forever.
One of our drivers, let's call him Bob, was in an accident on his way to his last delivery; to be exact, he was the middle car on a three car crush. Immediately after the accident, he called our boss and told him about the accident. Boss told him (exact words): “Fuck the car. Are you ok? I want you to go to the hospital to be checked.” Bob said he was fine and he would.
Thursday morning Bob comes to work. Everybody asked him what happened and how he feels. Bob assured everyone he was fine. We start loading the cars and we notice that Bob is a bit stiff in his movements (expected due to the crash) and getting easily out of breath (unexpected, because he's in good physical condition and doesn't smoke). Our boss noticed it and called him to his office. A few minutes pass and we hear a couple of loud swear words from the boss. The door opens and Bob comes out, heading for the parking lot, our boss close behind shaking his head. What happened, I learned at the end of the shift from the boss.
Bob hadn't gone to a hospital after the accident. He went home, because he feared that if the doctors gave him medical leave, he would loose his job (while a Dick move, it's also illegal in my country). So he had some over the counter painkillers and went to bed. When the boss saw him struggling, he was planning to sent him home for the day (thank God he didn't). When Bob told him the truth (about not going to the hospital), boss got angry, shouted a bit and drove him to the hospital; where they found out that Bob had a pneumothorax (air between the lungs and the membrane covering them, leading to the lung not be able to fully expand and have difficulty in breathing) from the crash.
And this is what makes mad. Bob hit the job market at a time when my country was desperately trying to avoid bankruptcy. Workers rights were casually ignored or trampled during that time and getting fired because you went to hospital was a common thing (or if you asked for a raise, or reported sexual harassment, etc. You get the drill). That fear of losing your job because you got sick, still lives deep inside some people. If the boss hadn't taken Bob to the hospital, I would probably attending a funeral today instead of being home and posting on Reddit. We have to re-educate people about their working rights and we have to make clear that your health is a much higher priority than your job. Dying for your job, any job, wouldn't guarantee you anything. But living another day, you can find another job.
Thanks for reading my rant.