Employee forced to come into work despite being sick just because manager can’t find coverage: ‘I’ve never had a job do this before!’

Sometimes, you don't even need to think about how to get revenge on your boss. Every so often, you find yourself in a situation where the revenge creates itself. 

For instance, this employee's manager is essentially asking to get sick by forcing his employee to come into work. Evidently, it was not the first time this author's manager tried to get away with this outdated behavior. In the last five years or so, work culture has evolved in such a way that we know how damaging it can be for employees to rally and show up to work when they are feeling under the weather. At a certain point, it's just not worth the risk. Not only is it likely that your rallying will only make your own illness worse, but you're also likely to get everyone else sick as well. That long-term risk should outweigh the short-term one of being down one employee for one day of work.

Unfortunately, however, far too many employers seem to think that their team members enjoy being too sick to come into work. Don't get me wrong: not working for a day can be a perk of being sick, but it's often a necessity. After all, you know your business is in trouble if the manager is up in arms about losing one employee for just one day of work. If the entire business suffers because of one person's temporary absence, then it's the way the business is structured that needs to change. That, of course, has nothing to do with the employee's health or work ethic. In fact, if anything, it speaks to how needed the employee is. At the end of the day, though, this really speaks to how poor the management of the establishment or business actually is.

Although it's disappointing, it comes as no surprise to learn that so many folks within this online community have found themselves in similar situations. As one of these people pointed out, it should be up to the manager to figure out what to do when an employee is out for the day. Sickness is part of being human, and if management is not prepared for that possibility, then that's their problem. After all, they are the ones who are getting paid more anyway. Figure it out!

Keep scrolling below for the full back-and-forth and stay tuned for feedback from folks who have found themselves in similar situations.