Tl;Dr My wife has torn a hernia, and I had to threaten to call her mom to convince her not to go to work today.
My wife (37f) works at a grocery store as an assistant manager at the deli. She gets paid not even part of what she should be making in a management role (16.25 hr before health insurance and taxes) but she feels obligated to go there and work. She is part of a small team of 3 who are overworked because people keep quitting because of a crappy manager over them who does less than nothing to help. She has been working with a hernia that can't be treated yet, despite me begging her to take it easy, and recently it got much worse.
This morning she couldn't move at all because of the immense pain she was in. We think she might have torn her hernia even more. I told her that she is going to the hospital today and what was her response? “I can't I have to work. I need to be there at 4.”
I had to convince her and tell her hard truths. One: that if given the chance her work would drop her like a garbage bag for someone to do all her work for much less. Two: that if she goes in today while in this much pain she can permanently hurt herself. And three: it's not her problem to cover what labor they are short but it would make it worse if she couldn't move at all. After telling her that she still tried to go anyway and I had to pull the final move in my pocket, I threatened to call her mom. Finally she's on her way to the hospital and has called her work saying she's not going to be in.
This should not be a normal thought process but it is something we in America have to deal with every day. She's not even getting paid what she should but she's there working herself to near death because she's been convinced this is what she should do.