Last week a member of my household tested positive for Covid. About four days later in the evening after work I (23FtM) started feeling symptoms so I scheduled a test at minute clinic for the next morning and got tested. Called my boss the next morning an hour before my shift and told her the situation. She said okay and to call her after I get the results. Couple hours later (including after getting prescribed paxlovid bc of family history/my own health issues) I call my boss and tell her and she says “well there’s no regulations anymore and [big boss] and I are fine with it, so if you want to you can still come in and just wear a mask”. (My job does not have me interacting with customers and only a handful of coworkers.)
I decided to stay home that day (because I did feel too sick to work) and told her I would come in like normal the next day etc unless I felt terrible. She said okay and that was that. Wound up working the remaining two days of the work week since I was out of sick pay. Felt sick but not too sick to work.
I’m not even mad that it was Covid I had (though I do think that’s irresponsible), just the general idea of an employee being sick and a boss going “you can come in if you want to” because that isn’t a choice. It’s just like if your boss goes “you can stay late if you want to”. It’s clear that they want you to but are presenting you with the false choice to idk make themselves feel better and that’s what irritates me about the whole thing.
Don’t mind this job and this boss always approves my time-off requests/coming in late and she’s even helped me with some personal problems—still like her but being presented with this false choice really irked me and really reminded me that “yes this person I generally like still holds power over me”. I’d much rather she would’ve gone “we’re fine with you coming in despite being sick so if you feel well enough we would appreciate the help”. Way better people-management strategy. Would have tricked me into feeling valued instead of exploited lol.