Sick and tired

Looking at the calendar and seeing that we are rapidly approaching cold and flu season got me thinking about sick days and how it affects other workers and the customers when a cashier or a bagger calls out sick. Now based on what I have seen there are two types of sick. There is (1) actually, physically ill or not feeling good, and then there is (2) what I call "Saturday Sick". I started working at the grocery store in the beginning of the spring. I noticed that as the weather started getting warmer, it would be a beautiful, sunny weekend and almost every Saturday I would get a call asking if I could come in to work because at least one person had called out sick. Now, of course, it is possible to actually be sick on a Saturday but for some people calling out sick is just a substitute for poor planning. There is one bagger--who has to be one of the laziest kids I have ever met--who calls out sick almost every time he is scheduled to work on a Saturday. When he does actually show up he never does any work. Finally, someone said to him, 'If you don't want to work on Saturday, why don't you just request off?' He just shrugged and said, 'I forgot.' When someone calls out sick the people working at the service desk call people and try to fill the shift but if they can't find someone else to come in we are just short staffed.

At the other end of the spectrum are the people who come into work no matter how sick they are--and while this is sort of admirable it isn't necessarily the best thing when you are handling other people's food. I was working with my friend, Ken, last week and I went up to his register to say hello. He gave me a small wave and weak little smile. His face was a palish green. "Oh my god, Ken, you look terrible! You should go home." I told him. Ken did go home early. He was scheduled to work until 10:00 but he ended up leaving a little before 9:00 instead. The only problem with that was that Ken and I were the only ones scheduled between 10:00 and 12:00. So when Ken left around 9:00 that meant I was the only cashier up front for 3 hours! All night there was a looooonnnngggg line of customers starting at me and wondering why there was only one cashier.