Hey, so my store has been dropping a lot of people, mostly for the hours of course and I’ve been feeling very sick for the past two days. On Sunday I called out and went about my usual sick routine of making some soup and not being able to hold it in so just drinking electrolytes. But then I got a text from a friend saying that my manager was bitching to a team member about how I should be grateful for being able to work here and shouldn’t ever call out, and I definitely better not do it again the next day. I’m pretty sure food poisoning is on the list for reasons you should call out, but for safe measure I went ahead and got ready for work, trying to get down some of the soup from ramen noodles, but I was wrong and that came right back up so I popped a piece of gum to get the taste and nausea out of me (sorry if that’s tmi). I got to work and told my lod that I haven’t been able to eat since Saturday night and wish to keep a bottle of vitamin water in the back so I can drink some and get a bit of energy. She said no and that I could only have the water in the fountain in the back (which tastes like it’s filtered through dry wall btw) but I just sighed and got to work before finally not being able to take it and talking to HR who said I couldn’t either, but I could take a 15 (which was already a given) and drink some then. That wouldn’t be enough so I just left early. Now my question is, am I in the wrong? Or will I be reprimanded for either calling out or leaving early?
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ServiceSoFast
SrHR
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- May 15, 2016
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- 14
Here’s the thing...if you’re legit sick and you never call out you’ll be fine. If your that team member that calls out for every little thing multiple times a month then no...people will be pissed and you’ll be on the radar.
NKG
Nkg
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- Jul 27, 2016
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If your legitimately sick, stay home and don't stress over it. Like others said on here if you never do it then they really can't get mad at you. Plus, I bitch about people that come to work and cough all over EVERYTHING. I'm cool with you being at home.
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- Jul 30, 2011
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At our store, they're much more understanding if you try to come in and then just can't make it through. Unless the symptoms are as OP described, then they want you to stay away.
I missed a Black Friday shift due to being ill once. That Monday and Tuesday, I'd called in because I was so dizzy that I couldn't stand up... had to crawl from the bedroom to the living room cause I left my phone in my purse. Wednesday I still felt awful but I tried to come in anyway, then almost passed out at work. HR drove me to urgent care. Thursday I still couldn't stand up and I was supposed to cashier that night; had to stay home. I think if I hadn't shown up the day before and had HR take me to the clinic themselves, I would have been fired or at least reprimanded for missing that shift.
I missed a Black Friday shift due to being ill once. That Monday and Tuesday, I'd called in because I was so dizzy that I couldn't stand up... had to crawl from the bedroom to the living room cause I left my phone in my purse. Wednesday I still felt awful but I tried to come in anyway, then almost passed out at work. HR drove me to urgent care. Thursday I still couldn't stand up and I was supposed to cashier that night; had to stay home. I think if I hadn't shown up the day before and had HR take me to the clinic themselves, I would have been fired or at least reprimanded for missing that shift.
This. I always tell TMs when they call out that we understand when you get sick. But you don't want to create a pattern for yourself that you call out/come in late so often that that one time you are absolutely sick and can't get out of bed or have something that can legitimately make you late you don't want that to be the one that brings you over the edge and gets you a corrective action.
I've only called out twice in the almost 5 months I've been there, and it was my first 2 scheduled shifts because I had the flu. We get people who call out all the time or NCNS and are somehow still there. I've been told it's because the ETL's aren't notifying HR, but that doesn't hold water to me. I'm in HR at my 9-5 and there are attendance reports that can be pulled from Kronos telling you who was and was not there. It shouldn't be up to an ETL to track attendance.
I can't speak for stores that sweep attendance issues under the rug, but you are correct - there is a way to track attendance and it is (at least in my current and previous stores) used frequently. I get people get sick, but it drives me crazy as a leader when people call out all the time for minor issues and then get upset when they are questioned for something legitimate.
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If you have sick hours use them . It can’t go against your attendance if you use your sick hours.
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If this person has, say, the norovirus and not food poisoning, having them come in around the public, and especially at a place that serves and sells food, is actually wrong. And against Target policy. Not that Target's ever cared about that. Since I doubt the OP is an actual doctor, "food poisoning" could easily be something highly contagious.
People get sick. People get too sick to come in to work. That's life.
And as long as that person doesn't have a history of pointless call ins, calling in sick when actually sick like that is NOT "wrong." And attitudes like that are exactly why the stores are losing so many employees. Give employees a bare minimum of hours, and then be completely unreasonable when something unavoidable happens, and with the work loads. Yeah, that's how to keep up employee morale and make them actually care about their jobs.
Just because many states don't have "sick hours" to protect workers, doesn't mean it's ok to put a team member AND all the other workers, customers, and their families at risk.
But, you know what? Target doesn't care as long as they can use so little payroll the stores aren't functional and keep people mad at one another instead.
People get sick. People get too sick to come in to work. That's life.
And as long as that person doesn't have a history of pointless call ins, calling in sick when actually sick like that is NOT "wrong." And attitudes like that are exactly why the stores are losing so many employees. Give employees a bare minimum of hours, and then be completely unreasonable when something unavoidable happens, and with the work loads. Yeah, that's how to keep up employee morale and make them actually care about their jobs.
Just because many states don't have "sick hours" to protect workers, doesn't mean it's ok to put a team member AND all the other workers, customers, and their families at risk.
But, you know what? Target doesn't care as long as they can use so little payroll the stores aren't functional and keep people mad at one another instead.
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