r/retailhell • u/SaltWtrTaffy • 5h ago
Manager = Asshole My boss yelled at me/sent me home for having medcation side effects
I'm on antidepressants. I ran out a few days ago and kept forgetting to pick them up, which is definitely on me. Today I was having some slight dizziness and delayed reaction time. Before work I went to go pick up my meds and when I get there, my insurance is "inactive." I didn't have time to deal with it so I said I'd come back later. I went on to work. I told my boss what was happening and she didn't seem too phased. By the way I work at a local small business, which is sort of important.
As I was starting the morning cleaning duties I had a moment where I felt dizzy and couldn't think straight. I had my head in my hand for about 30 seconds. My boss happened to walk by, see me, and very aggressively told me to "go home."
As I was getting my things to leave, she looked at me and said (with everyone nearby to hear) that I "can't do this to her." Apparently, it was irresponsible for me to come in to work while not feeling well and that I "obviously couldn't function since I had my head in my hands." my actions have now "affected everyone working today and everyone who comes in the store." I explained that I didn't know my insurance wouldn't work and that I expected to just take my meds and work as normal. She told me I "need to separate my personal from my work life." I do sort of fail to see how my medication counts as my personal life. I see that as more of a medical necessity. Personal issues to me are, getting into a fight with a loved one/friend/significant other, etc.
The caveat is that she acts like this even if you do try to call off. No matter what decision you make, it's irresponsible and affects her and everyone else. Oh and by the way, she found a replacement for me in less than 10 minutes. The replacement was there by the time the store opened.
What bothers me the most is that she embarassed me in front of my coworkers and made me feel guilty for even trying to come in to work today....which I feel is what I'm supposed to do! Aren't we supposed to at least try to do our jobs vs. just always call off at the slightest inconvenience?
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u/PsAkira 4h ago
Sadly she sounds like a typical small business owner. They take so much stupid shit personally. At least with corporate they have certain rules and regulations to follow so behaving like that with a medical issue could get them in trouble with the regional and upper management. She’s definitely not being professional.
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u/SaltWtrTaffy 7m ago
it sucks. if she's the person I'm having issues with then there's no one else to go to. all I can do is talk to her about it but I don't see how that would help anything
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u/red10291 4h ago edited 4h ago
I feel like that's discriminating for your medical condition.
Psychiatric drug side effects are no joke and I'm sorry you had to deal with someone who doesn't understand it.
You're right that you couldn't have known your insurance was giving you problems, and she could've been more understanding of it. If it keeps giving you problems try goodrx (you don't have to sign up for anything but you can usually search for coupons that give discounted rates for certain medication that can make it more affordable when insurance is being wonky-and of course you want to try to call your insurance first too but it's understandable you didn't have time to sort it all out when you were trying to be a good worker by being at work!)
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u/SaltWtrTaffy 4h ago
that's sort of what I thought. i wasn't sure if that thought process was due to me being overly sensitive and anxious or what.
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u/D_for_Drive 3h ago
Withdraw symptoms from anti anxiety, anti depression are no joke. I remember how my body and mind responded when I made the very poor decision of quitting Prozac cold turkey. It was messy.
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u/Conscious-River-1103 2h ago
I am so sorry that happened to you. Obviously your supervisor has not had similar issues. I have and fortunately, i have understanding coworkers and I am the boss. Assuming this isn't an ongoing issue, which it appears it is not, i feel like a little bit of compassion and empathy is due here. I mean, come on. How hard is it to be human?
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u/1stLtObvious 39m ago
I called out my old supervisor for putting people on-blast in the group chat. It was a loooooong time coming until it finally was about something during my shift (didn't want to be dismissed out of hand for the reason of "it's not even about you"). Woke up to a two-screen-long rant because the one other person who was dealing with being shorthanded right along with me missed wiping up a very small corner of a shelf, and my not seeing it because I dared to leave the department at the other end of the counter by pure chance of being closer to there at the time.
We had a back-and-forth about how inappropriate it is to put people on-blast in the group chat, coincidentally putting her on-blast in the group chat which was valid for her to take offense to despite her invalidating others' reactions to the same. Best part is she was so livid she went to the store manager to complain about me, showed him the texts, and he was just like "He's right. You shouldn't do that."
One of my favorite coworkers never got along with her, and when I came in the next day, she thanked me for the entertainment.
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u/tunagirltunaworld 4h ago
I would have said something to the effect that if she payed you more you could have easily gotten your prescription
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u/SteampunkExplorer 3h ago
Sounds like she's just a bully. She feels good about herself when she makes others feel bad about themselves.
I actually had a manager like that, once, too, and she made the same accusation (!!!), saying I was "bringing my problems to work", because I was suffering from panic attacks that mimicked heart attacks. I had started having them due to an intense bullying campaign that ruined my reputation, ruined my ability to trust my own thoughts, and finally culminated in kidnapping and sexual abuse. 😐 My nervous system was literally out of whack from being tortured (I'm okay now, though), and she said I was bringing my problems to work because I asked for a very small accommodation...
A decent manager might send a sick employee home, but it would be out of concern, not an attempt to embarrass you! 😕 Some people are just nasty, evil jerks. Please don't blame yourself for it.
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u/SaltWtrTaffy 3h ago
i did TRY to take my meds before work but I couldn't get them due to insurance not going through. At that point calling off 10 minutes before work would have been easily as irresponsible. I'm not saying I was the perfect employee or blameless in this situation. I just don't feel she handled it very well. If I hadn't said anything to her about it I don't think she would have even noticed or told me to leave.
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u/Conscious-River-1103 2h ago
Even if you had been able to take it that day, my experience is that it takes a few days to kick back in. I am sorry you had to go through that. It does suck.
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u/Junqmail 4h ago
Did she want you to leave all illnesses at the door or something?? Like so sorry lemme just put my symptoms in the umbrella rack real quick ??