I've been a sales manager at the same company for 5 years. The retail store I helped run shared a building with another store owned by the same company. Different stores, same corporate owners.
My direct supervisor and the supervisor above him went on a company trip for the week. I was supervising alone.
We were severely understaffed- 3 sales people, 1 warehouse associate, 1 delivery driver, and 2 managers. 7 total. Our store is supposed to have 18+ employees.
I was completely fucked over being left to supervise a 5 million dollar store alone with no staff and no backup.
We were working 6 day weeks- 65 hours with no pay raise or overtime- commission pay loophole I guess.
Last Friday, I got a really bad stomach bug. Puking my guts out. I came to work because I was the only manager with a key to my office.
I went into the office and lay on the floor, periodically throwing up into a trashcan.
I was unable to get ahold of either of my supervisors.
The manager of the store we share a building with told me to go home and rest- he'd watch the store and close up. No big deal, he said.
Given how long both of us had worked there and the trust I had in him, I thought it would be fine.
I was relieved and my coworker offered to drive me home.
A few days later, my boss comes back and waits until the end of a 12 hour shift to tell me I will be most likely laid off for my inappropriate behavior and leaving the store alone.
He said “You should have just lay on the floor all day in the office. Leaving the store unattended was ridiculous.”
But it wasn't unattended?? It was in the hands of a seasoned manager who knows the policies and procedures. We had only 4 customers that day!
The manager who covered was flabbergasted too and the entire staff was appalled. I've worked extreme hours under terrible conditions for years and they throw me out because I was too sick to stand.
Wtf. Good riddance I guess.
Too bad I'm a single mom with 2 children.