Hi, so a bit of context, I work at a small business in the UK and my department is ridiculously understaffed so whenever anyone is off in that department, my boss loses his mind.
Well I caught covid about 5 days ago, called in sick and boss wasn't happy. He explained how two other people (in a different department) called in because of covid too and he said “this is a fucking nightmare” and “I guess you have to stay off until you get a negative test because people here are sensitive about it, even though that's not the rules anymore but as soon as you are able to, you need to work from home”. Left that call feeling guilty but there's nothing I could do really – he does it every time I call in sick anyways.
Apparently the rules in the UK now are that you can go out even if you have covid (which I'm definitely not comfortable with on my behalf having an autoimmune disease and on other vulnerable people's behalfs too).
So now I'm on day 5, and I tested myself again, positive still and I'm still feeling awful, complete lack of energy, bad cough and my head is spaced out so much. Later on, I get a text from boss saying “Hi [anon], I am just checking if you are feeling better and will be back in the office tomorrow? Many thanks.”
To which I respond with “Hi [boss], unfortunately I'm still testing positive and I am very wiped out/exhausted pretty much all the time so I don't think I'll be able to go into the office. Thanks”
And he says “Okay, call me tomorrow morning to keep me updated. It doesn't matter how you test anymore, it is down to how you feel. We need you back in the office as soon as possible please.”
Now I'm sat here freaking out about having to call him tomorrow and what he's going to say. I have a feeling he will be trying to convince me to coming back in the office or working from home but I don't feel like my brain can handle that right now, I'm struggling with any task that requires a lot of thought as it is, which is what I will tell him but I know he will just get pissy at me and I don't know what to do about it.
I'm looking for new jobs because of other things I don't like about that place and have been making my portfolio for months now but life hasn't been kind to me so had to stop multiple times. I just feel very stuck in this situation and will probably struggle to sleep tonight worrying about my call with my boss tomorrow.