I was a processing manager at a cannabis farm. I was violently throwing up today, and called my boss to let him know. This was the first time in 4 years that I've called out for being sick. His response was, “Well you can work so come on in.” I tried negotiating with him, saying things like, “I don't think it would be wise with me coming in feeling this ill in such close proximity to others and our product.” He wouldn't budge and kept insisting I come in because we were gonna be short staffed. So I buckled and got ready for work.
I get in there and my first 2 hours I spent running back and forth to the bathroom still vomiting. He comes up to me and tells me that if I take another bathroom break that the time will come out of my lunch. I laughed at him and told him, “That's not happening. You can't do that.” He got in my face and told me that he's had a problem with me for months now and that he wouldn't feel bad for punishing me. This whole thing was news to me.
Anyway, later I'm talking to one of my employees and started wreching, so I ran to the bathroom to throw up again. About 30 minutes pass and my boss comes in and asks to speak with me in the hallway. He told me that if I was this sick then I shouldn't have come into work, and that I'm slowing production and risking getting people ill. I asked him what his problem was and he responded with, “YOU!”
At this point, I turned my back on him and went back into the processing room and told the processing supervisor that I was going home. I packed up all of my belongings and went to clock out. As I was I heard my boss say, “If you go home you're not welcome back here.”
After arguing with him to make up his mind, I finally said fuck it and clocked out and went home. I got a text message about an hour later reading, “Hi, OP. Unfortunately we are going to seek other options in your employment. Thank you for your time with the company and good luck.”
Just like that, I lost my career that I worked my ass off through the ranks to achieve over the last 7 years. I lost a good salary and a great team of people. I have 2 kids and a stay at home wife, so this is really going to hit us hard.
Thankfully I have a small nest egg, but I can't help but think… Did I make the right choice by leaving? Or should I have swallowed my pride and stayed at work even though I was severely ill?