Andrew became ill yesterday afternoon. Oh- I know what he’s got! It’s not going to be a fun road for him!
He called me at work and said he just started feeling really ill. I told him to take some meds and go lay down. I would call his work and let them know. He offered to call, but I said, “No, I will, you just go lay down.”
Here’s the conversation with the manager on duty.
ME- “This is Andrew’s mother. He is not feeling well. And just to warn you, we have had influenza in the house. I’m still feeling crappy on week 2.”
Manager-”OK, who’s going to make the calls?”
ME-”Calls? What do you mean?”
MNGR-”Our policy is if you call in you need to find someone to work for you.”
ME-”WHAT? That is just ridiculous! I’m not going to make Andrew make a bunch of phone calls when he’s not feeling well, so I guess I will.”
The manager then gave me 2 numbers of boys that do the same job as Andrew. One being one of Andrew’s best friends and the other boy I do not know.
I expressed my concern with the fact that she just gave me confidential information on her employees. She told me that they sign a form saying they can give their phone numbers out for this very reason.
OK-Help me with this one! MINORS sign a form saying it’s OK to give out a phone number that is in their PARENT’S NAME. Plus, I’m not an employee there, they just gave numbers out to a complete stranger. I could be very disrespectful with these numbers! (Though of course I won’t, BUT they don’t now that!)
ME-”So, what happens if I can’t find someone to work his shift?”
MNGR-”We would need a doctors excuse.”
ME-”I can tell you right now that clinics are telling people that call in with flu like symptoms to STAY HOME! They don’t want them. I’m not taking him to the doctor unless I feel it is appropriate!” (Also lets mention it’s 1ish Sun afternoon, that would be an ER visit!)
MNGR-”Being his first time we would probably just forget it then, but if it happens again, further action would be taken.”
ME-”If he does have influenza, he will be out for awhile.”
MNGR-”We need to follow our policies.”
ME-”REALLY! Then you tell me WHY when Andrew was the first one in at 3 during our last snowstorm, you called off the 4:30 person and the 5:30 person and had Andrew close. You NEVER asked him if he was willing to stay. According to your policy, being slow business he would have been asked to leave at 4:30 when the next boy came in. So…you DON”T ALWAYS follow policy!”
MNGR”I appreciate your comment.”
I called Andrew’s friend first. Turns out he was already working, he made a switch with someone. I vented my frustration with him. I can’t BELIEVE this! He said it was really stupid, even if they get sick at work they need to call and have someone come in and work for them or they would have to stay. This is a RESTAURANT, do you want SICK people serving you your food?
I called the other kid. Introduced myself and asked if he would be able to work. Turned out he couldn’t because he was coming back from Minnesota. I then expressed to him that he should mention to his manager how inappropriate it was that they gave ME a NON-EMPLOYEE his number.
I’m making all these calls from work myself. Co-workers around me are as astound as I am. They couldn’t BELIEVE it. One co-worker said when her daughters were teenagers they had to do the same thing at the place they worked.
Now, I can understand if someone has called in alot. BUT THE FIRST TIME! Are there alot of places like this? Do they think people don’t get sick!
Had to call his work back. This time they gave me to the owner. He went on to tell me their policy. He stated that they actually require you to call in 4 hour before you work. (I called shortly after 1 and Andrew worked at 3. – Just shy of 2hrs beforehand.) He went on to say that this teaches the teenagers responsibility. I’m thinking it would make me second guess staying home sick and just coming to work.
Me-”Andrew felt fine earlier. He just started feeling really bad. I can tell you that’s how it is, all of a sudden you feel like crap. Can you explain to me the reasoning for this?”
OWNER-”If we didn’t have this policy, we would have all our teens calling in every Saturday night.”
ME-”If you have a repeat offender it’s understandable, but to ask someone that feels really ill to call for a replacement just seems irrational to me. OK, so now what happens that I could not find anyone to work for Andrew?”
OWNER-”We take it into consideration that you made good faith in finding someone to work.”
ME-”And if it happens again, from what I understand he may be canned.”
OWNER-”My manager NEVER said he would get canned. Plus, this is the first time I’ve ever had a parent call in for their child.”
ME-”I never said she said that directly, but that’s what I took from her saying further action would be take. Andrew offered to call in, I told him to REST and not worry about it. If you would like him to call, I can have him.”
OWNER-”No, Andrew does not need to call. Of course we don’t want someone working that is sick and could be spreading germs to our customers and other workers.”
ME-”I must say this. I work at the hospital and your sick call policy is 50 times worse than what we have. My co-workers here CAN’T believe what you are requiring.”
OWNER-”Are you saying my business is not important?”
ME-”I NEVER said your business is not important. You serve food, we save lifes and we can still do that with someone not being here due to being sick.”
OWNER-”Thank you for trying to find someone to work. I will mark Andrew down as being sick for his shift.
ME-”That’s fine, but please make sure you don’t take my issues out on Andrew.”
OWNER-”Good-bye”
Do companies really expect this? What if Andrew was puking his brains out. He would have to worry about finding someone to go in for him! Feeling dizzy, light headed and very weak, do you want to make phone calls?
Andrew is a very good employee for them. He has won the most “incentive contests” that they have out of everyone that works there. He has stayed late, came in when called and worked many extra shifts. He really doesn’t like the job, but knows the importants of doing a good job.
I was kinda freaked to call Andrew and tell him I had it out with his manager and owner. When I told him I apologized. I told him I just couldn’t believe it. HE DIDN’T CARE!!! He actually told me to call them back and get him fired. I told him he didn’t want that, but he could quit with notice. I told Andrew to make sure the don’t treat him ANY different because of me. And that I want a copy of this supposed slip giving permission to hand out numbers.
I always though that the hospital was kinda bad on their sick policy. We are allowed 3 sick days a year, and it’s a floating year too. So a sick day doesn’t fall off until you get to that day the following year. We take care of SICK PEOPLE!!! We are going to be catch some of the germs! However, my supervisor and manager haven’t put anyone into disciplinary action unless for good reasons. Like me…they take into consideration that I am a single mommy of 3 and I will be calling in for the kids too. We have many many teenagers that work by us, whether as CNAs, in the kitchen, housekeeping or even volunteering, the hospital doesn’t make them find someone to work for them. Assuming teenagers are going to take advantage of calling in sick isn’t teaching them responsibility. It more like being charged as GUILTY and needing to prove your INNOCENCE!
What really irks me the most is not ONCE, NOT ONCE did the manager of owner express they we’re sorry Andrew wasn’t feeling well. Or even ask, “Oh no, how is he doing?” They could have cared less that my son was sick, they only worried about who was going to bus their tables. This implies to me that if Andrew would happen to break a dish and cut himself on accident. They would be more worried about their darn dish than the cut my son may receive.
I truly believe the main issue here is that the manager or owner may just have to “stoop down” and bus some tables. How inappropriate for these top notch people to pick up dirty dishes. GRRRR-just ticks me off.
