10 horror stories from the depths of 'can someone cover my shift?'
Over on Reddit's Antiwork forum, a user posted the following exchange with a boss who didn't care about the extreme circumstances — if OP couldn't get their shift covered, they were going to get penalized.
The back and forth resonated with thousands of people in the comments, many of whom shared their own stories of having to find a shift replacement no matter how serious the situation — or face the consequences. It's not particularly uplifting, but it definitely says something about the culture. Not included: the many comments from non-Americans, completely baffled.
1.) From Coffey2828:
I was in the emergency room and HR needed a note for my “sick” day to be excused so I stapled my emergency wrist band on a form and asked if they need a signature from doctor too.
2.) From BrickEducational1082:
I was in the ER and asked the employee group chat if someone could cover my shift for that day and one of my managers said “this isn’t the place to make an excuse, calling the store goes a long way”
3.) From cgodwin1976:
My daughter was in labor and her chat went off someone asking her to cover their shift. When she said I can't I'm in labor they asked if she could cover til noon this was 5am, she said I'm at the hospital in labor and they asked her if she could at least cover for a few hours. It's like dude I'm getting ready to push a kid out cover your own shift!
4.) From trixtred:
I was in labor at 2am and had to open my store at 430 am, I called my manager like 6 times, no answer, I called someone else who ended up covering for me but I would have definitely gotten crap of the store hadn't opened on time
5.) From SatanV3:
I was once in the waiting room to a mental hospital waiting to be administered (they take forever, literally hours process) and my phone was broken (could not unlock the screen it was so cracked but I could accept calls if someone called me so I kept it) and at one point my manager called asking why I didn’t show up.
I explained I was in the hospital and why I hadn’t called. And then he yelled at me saying I was a liar and wasn’t in the hospital at all even as I cried saying it was true until one of the administers talking to me took my phone for me and chewed out the manager.
After that I just never went back to that job.
6.) From nbostow:
I was at work one day and started getting unbearable pain in my abdomen. I couldn’t stand up straight, started getting dizzy, it was awful. I knew something was wrong. My boss was busy, so I told my coworker I had to leave and go to the hospital.
A couple hours later as I laid in my hospital bed on tons of pain meds for the kidney stone they discovered I had, my boss texted me. I told her I was in the hospital and she said “my husband works there, how about I have him come visit you?”
I sent her a picture of myself in the hospital bed with my room number and said sure.
I then sent a letter to HR telling them I quit immediately and if anyone called for a reference they would give me a good reference. I told them their employees behavior was beyond inappropriate.
That company went out of business and I was beyond glad I never had to see them again.
7.) From halfghutd:
I was working for Home Depot in their graveyard shift lumber section. I gave them a notice five months earlier when my daughter might be born. As time drew closer, I continued to remind them.
My daughter ended up coming two weeks earlier than expected. When I found out about the news, I called all three managers and left a voice message for two of them, left a message with our HR lady, and even tried calling our GM.
A day Manager finally said they would log it in their black book! But before doing so, he said he would have to write me up for that night since I wasn’t planning on showing up! I explained my situation to him, but he disregarded that I was hours away from holding my firstborn. I wasn’t worried since I felt confident I covered all my bases besides this one ass hat.
Well, a few days later, I started getting calls and voicemails saying that I was marked down for no call no, show. I was one of their better employees too. I was rightfully very quick to anger at this point and drove straight there from the hospital. I walked in with my three-day-old straight to my locker and handed in my apron!
I told them all to check the books and their voicemails.
Two weeks later, I got a call from our GM saying they REALLY needed me back since they couldn’t get someone trained on all the machines fast enough, and the store would be willing to buy me some formula and a box of diapers as an apology for the miss understanding…
Truly one of the most gut punching offensive phone calls I’ve ever taken..
long story short Fuck Home Depot and especially their corporate team…
8.) From Impressive_Teach9188:
I was in the hospital in quarantine with cdiff and my big boss demanded I fax something stating I was there and how long I would be out (seriously how is that normally possible if your in QUARANTINE).
When I asked my doctor about it he gave me a wtf look and said normally it's around a week for it to clear up. Then he asked if I had short term disability insurance and I said yes. So he said he would send them something saying I would be out for a month at least so I could have some paid recovery time.
9.) From Yiptice:
I had a seizure in front of my GM once, a few months later, when it was extremely hot and I asked if I could either take my mask off or step off the floor for a while because I felt like I might have a seizure, this woman looked me in the eye and said I had to have a doctors note to prove I actually had seizures.
10.) From sugabeetus:
I was pregnant in high school and they wanted me to bring a doctor's note to excuse me from PE. I looked at my very pregnant belly, then back at the school counselor and said, 'Really?' She said she'd make an exception.
Similar to when I started writing my own sick notes. 'I didn't feel well.' They said the note had to come from a parent. I pointed out that I was 18 and having my own kid, and I didn't need my mommy to prove that I was sick.