Run! Save yourself! (Alternate title-I'm an awful person.)

[milee]

Didn't want to hijack Sarah's thread - hope she recovers from the Creeping Crud soon.

Yesterday, I was talking to a store clerk.  While I was asking her questions, the salesperson wasn't acting very friendly. Midway through a sentence, she looked uncomfortable said, "I'm sick." Then, she turned away and started puking into a trash can.  Not just a little either, we're talking about huge quantities of never ending barf. 

I felt terrible for her.   There's nothing worse than being sick and having to work.  Since she was the only employee in the store, I'm guessing there was nobody else to take over unless she closed the store.  So even though I was trying hard not to sympathy hurl, I was trying to see if she was OK, asking her if there was anything I could do to help.  But in between bouts of hurling like the scene from The Exorcist, she just shook her head and waved me away.  I was trying to think of how I could help - water? call someone? - when I thought about Sarah's thread and realized this poor person probably had the dreaded Creeping Crud.  And unless I immersed myself in bleach, I was likely to get it, too.  So, I ended up offering a few comforting words, backing slowly away and pretty much fleeing. 

[ArchietheDragon]

On the bright side, maybe she was pregnant?

[MJ2.0]

how big was the store?

I'm sorry, but that's ridiculous that there was no one to take over for this woman who obviously shouldn't have been there. I would have gotten the information for the manager/owner and I'd let them have it.

[Deleted]

I'm home with a sick preschooler today. 

[milee]

I'm going to go with that comforting thought. Especially since I really need to get something from that store before Friday.

[TheHaitian]

Feb 25, 2015 8:31:46 GMT -5 MJ2.0 said:

how big was the store?

I'm sorry, but that's ridiculous that there was no one to take over for this woman who obviously shouldn't have been there. I would have gotten the information for the manager/owner and I'd let them have it.

A) what tells you the manager or owner knows that the employee was or is sick?
B) maybe the employee that is paid hourly could not afford to lose more hours
C) last minute call outs are sometimes hard to replace. Nature of the beast : people make plans for their days or time off, they don't wait by the phone waiting to be called into work.
D) maybe it was morning sickness, should we replace her every time she needs to puke? Or should she have stayed home the whole 9 months of her
Pregnancy?

Just wondering... Because as a manager I would love to know how this falls on "us" and for you to let us have it!

[Tennesseer]

Feb 25, 2015 8:31:46 GMT -5 MJ2.0 said:

how big was the store?

I'm sorry, but that's ridiculous that there was no one to take over for this woman who obviously shouldn't have been there. I would have gotten the information for the manager/owner and I'd let them have it.

If nothing else, a lone employee in a store is a victim of a criminal act just waiting to happen.

[ArchietheDragon]

Feb 25, 2015 8:31:46 GMT -5 MJ2.0 said:

how big was the store?

I'm sorry, but that's ridiculous that there was no one to take over for this woman who obviously shouldn't have been there. I would have gotten the information for the manager/owner and I'd let them have it.

If it was like Dark's store, maybe she was the owner. 

[MJ2.0]

if you're really that sick, close the store! I don't want to hear "but we can't afford to lose the sales"... because you know everyone wants to return to the store with the puking clerk.

[MJ2.0]

Feb 25, 2015 9:00:06 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

Feb 25, 2015 8:31:46 GMT -5 MJ2.0 said:

how big was the store?

I'm sorry, but that's ridiculous that there was no one to take over for this woman who obviously shouldn't have been there. I would have gotten the information for the manager/owner and I'd let them have it.

A) what tells you the manager or owner knows that the employee was or is sick?
B) maybe the employee that is paid hourly could not afford to lose more hours
C) last minute call outs are sometimes hard to replace. Nature of the beast : people make plans for their days or time off, they don't wait by the phone waiting to be called into work.
D) maybe it was morning sickness, should we replace her every time she needs to puke? Or should she have stayed home the whole 9 months of her
Pregnancy?

Just wondering... Because as a manager I would love to know how this falls on "us" and for you to let us have it!

I would hope that a sick employee would say something, but obviously it doesn't happen. I guess I'm lucky to have never been in a position where I had no sick time and had to come to work sick.

[midjd]

DH worked at Wal-Mart in high school... he was that sick once and his supervisor wouldn't let him go home. He said he did manage to keep his puking sessions in between customers (at the CS desk). I'm sure they appreciated it.

Bravo on not sympathy puking. I have gotten about 10 percent better at dealing with vomit since DD was born, but that only means that I don't flee from the house whenever DH gets the stomach flu, and I have been directly vomited on by DD without having a stroke. For a stranger, I would've been out the door as soon as her head went into the can. So no, you are not an awful person at all (or at least, you're much better than I am!)

[justme]

I worked for a drugstore in hs. I was in a similar position, though there was a manager there. They wouldn't sent me home or call someone to come in and I couldn't talk! Literally completely lost my voice and I was running the register! Had to write things down, sat on the floor between people because I felt like crap. Everyone kept telling me to go home. Should have drawn a map to my managers office.

[Deleted]

Feb 25, 2015 9:30:32 GMT -5 @sroo4 said:

Maybe the clerk was hungover?  I can remember working as the lone employee in a retail store one Saturday morning after a night of tequila.  I think I managed not to be sick,  but there was a couple of close calls that day. 

I had a lot of those mornings in my early 20's.  I had no option but to go to work either.  Luckily my job was taking care of a barn full of horses, so they didn't care if I stumbled off to the corner of their stall to puke.

[The Captain]

FWIW after I had DD I was hit with some no holds barred, no warning AT ALL, omg I'm so freaking embarrassed episodes like this at work (once in the middle of a meeting with a staff person).

Seriously, no warning at all - 0 to barfing in less than 5 seconds.  Turns out I was having major gallbladder attacks and that was the only way the symptoms were manifesting themselves.

Sooo...it's very possible that she didn't know and is not contagious.

[milee]

Feb 25, 2015 9:27:11 GMT -5 midjd said:

Bravo on not sympathy puking. I have gotten about 10 percent better at dealing with vomit since DD was born, but that only means that I don't flee from the house whenever DH gets the stomach flu, and I have been directly vomited on by DD without having a stroke. For a stranger, I would've been out the door as soon as her head went into the can. So no, you are not an awful person at all (or at least, you're much better than I am!)

My older son is infamous for puking on me. It's not like he did it often, but when he did, it was always ON me. We still joke about how excited we were the first time he managed to actually barf somewhere not on me... and he was 10 I think.

Guess when he's not feeling well, he wants his mom.  And it doesn't occur to him that draping himself on mom and barfing in her hair isn't a very nice thing to do.  Totally understandable for babies, less so when the kid is an older tot and by the time they're past Kindy getting very old.  So although it's gross to be near someone who's hurling I'm just always grateful that they're not hurling ON me. 

[MarleyKeezy78]

I remember the retail days and laying on the floor behind the register dying of the flu more than once      

[TheHaitian]

Feb 25, 2015 9:05:13 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Feb 25, 2015 8:31:46 GMT -5 MJ2.0 said:

how big was the store?

I'm sorry, but that's ridiculous that there was no one to take over for this woman who obviously shouldn't have been there. I would have gotten the information for the manager/owner and I'd let them have it.

If nothing else, a lone employee in a store is a victim of a criminal act just waiting to happen.

Really?

Just went to the UPS store: 1 person and I never recall seeing more than one.

post office down the street: 1 person (my town has 3).

Gas station: 1 person

Etc

I know a lot of business where they never need or have more than 1 person on shift at a time and they are not robbed on a regular basis (or maybe it is the area).

[Deleted]

Around here just one is a store is pretty common, especially all the small privately owned businesses.

[Tennesseer]

Feb 25, 2015 11:26:58 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

Feb 25, 2015 9:05:13 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

If nothing else, a lone employee in a store is a victim of a criminal act just waiting to happen.

Really?

Just went to the UPS store: 1 person and I never recall seeing more than one.

post office down the street: 1 person (my town has 3).

Gas station: 1 person

Etc

I know a lot of business where they never need or have more than 1 person on shift at a time and they are not robbed on a regular basis (or maybe it is the area).

Many years ago, a co-worker was the only person working one day and a customer murdered her. So I do speak from anecdotal experience.

[TheHaitian]

Feb 25, 2015 11:44:31 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Around here just one is a store is pretty common, especially all the small privately owned businesses.

Same here: the small boutiques, owner operated, mom and pops stores.

[lexxy703]

Feb 25, 2015 11:55:23 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Feb 25, 2015 11:26:58 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

Really?

Just went to the UPS store: 1 person and I never recall seeing more than one.

post office down the street: 1 person (my town has 3).

Gas station: 1 person

Etc

I know a lot of business where they never need or have more than 1 person on shift at a time and they are not robbed on a regular basis (or maybe it is the area).

Many years ago, a co-worker was the only person working one day and a customer murdered her. So I do speak from anecdotal experience.

We are not allowed to leave only one person in the office alone. It comes from my now deceased boss. When he was just starting out it was him & a secretary. He came back from a sales call & some walk in guy was just about to rape his secretary. That was over 30 years ago but the rule still sticks.

[Chocolate Lover]

Here's fun don't work alone tale for you, a decade or 2 ago a gas station attendant got beheaded in the next town over. It's a 2fer, not working alone and not working alone in a gas station. 

Besides, there's too much crap to steal to leave a gas station with one person there. Even with 2 if they both have their back to the door, stuff can walk out. An entire cardboard cigarette display walked out of the one I worked in 20 years ago. Not on my shift but I heard about it from the manager who watched the security video. 

[973beachbum]

Feb 25, 2015 15:11:27 GMT -5 lexxy703 said:

Feb 25, 2015 11:55:23 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Many years ago, a co-worker was the only person working one day and a customer murdered her. So I do speak from anecdotal experience.

We are not allowed to leave only one person in the office alone. It comes from my now deceased boss. When he was just starting out it was him & a secretary. He came back from a sales call & some walk in guy was just about to rape his secretary. That was over 30 years ago but the rule still sticks.

All the regular non mom and pop stores around here seem to have the same rule although I'm sure at some stores if I went in I might not actually see the second person.

At my second job the 2 people rule really is a big deal.  so if it was one of those times where only 2 were scheduled the only thing they would be allowed to do if that happened is close the store.  Although i would like to think that in our store we would have played a switch so the puking person was behind the CSR desk not next to the customers.

I did forget my retail from HS and college until getting this second job.  It really is different than any office job by a long shot!  Calling out because you are sick really is a big deal.  People can't always be replaced and this time of year most of the time there isn't any "extra" built into the schedule to handle it.  the other part of the problem is yes hourly workers don't get paid if they don't work period.  So a huge percent of people will come in when sick although I have never seen anyone come in that sick yet.

[NastyWoman]

Feb 25, 2015 9:27:11 GMT -5 midjd said:

Bravo on not sympathy puking. I have gotten about 10 percent better at dealing with vomit since DD was born, but that only means that I don't flee from the house whenever DH gets the stomach flu, and I have been directly vomited on by DD without having a stroke. For a stranger, I would've been out the door as soon as her head went into the can. So no, you are not an awful person at all (or at least, you're much better than I am!)

, but I have a sad addendum --- as the kids grew up and moved out my control has quickly diminshed.  I'm back where I was before kids (queezy stomach just ready OPs post)

[thyme4change]

Many years ago, a co-worker was the only person working one day and a customer murdered her. So I do speak from anecdotal experience.

Is that person/murderer really considered a customer?

[Lizard Queen]

Feb 25, 2015 15:18:59 GMT -5 Chocolate Lover said:

Here's fun don't work alone tale for you, a decade or 2 ago a gas station attendant got beheaded in the next town over. It's a 2fer, not working alone and not working alone in a gas station. 

Besides, there's too much crap to steal to leave a gas station with one person there. Even with 2 if they both have their back to the door, stuff can walk out. An entire cardboard cigarette display walked out of the one I worked in 20 years ago. Not on my shift but I heard about it from the manager who watched the security video. 

A year or 2 ago, a gas station attendant was kidnapped at 11 p.m.  She was the only one working--no security cameras.  This was a good part of town, but right off the interstate, about a mile from where I worked for many years.

I worked at a gas station in the neighboring town in the mid-90's.  The economy was better, so I wasn't so worried about getting robbed.  I would have never worked alone though.

Oh yeah, and it's next to impossible to call in sick for one of those kind of jobs.  You have to find a replacement to work for you--doesn't happen very often.  When I worked at Subway, the handbook said to call in sick if you are running a fever.  I tried that once--my boss begged me to come in anyway.  F-in crappy-ass jobs...

[Chocolate Lover]

Feb 25, 2015 16:41:40 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

Feb 25, 2015 15:18:59 GMT -5 Chocolate Lover said:

Here's fun don't work alone tale for you, a decade or 2 ago a gas station attendant got beheaded in the next town over. It's a 2fer, not working alone and not working alone in a gas station. 

Besides, there's too much crap to steal to leave a gas station with one person there. Even with 2 if they both have their back to the door, stuff can walk out. An entire cardboard cigarette display walked out of the one I worked in 20 years ago. Not on my shift but I heard about it from the manager who watched the security video. 

A year or 2 ago, a gas station attendant was kidnapped at 11 p.m.  She was the only one working--no security cameras.  This was a good part of town, but right off the interstate, about a mile from where I worked for many years.

I worked at a gas station in the neighboring town in the mid-90's.  The economy was better, so I wasn't so worried about getting robbed.  I would have never worked alone though.

Oh yeah, and it's next to impossible to call in sick for one of those kind of jobs.  You have to find a replacement to work for you--doesn't happen very often.  When I worked at Subway, the handbook said to call in sick if you are running a fever.  I tried that once--my boss begged me to come in anyway.  F-in crappy-ass jobs...

I was lucky in my gas station job, no one was working alone and I worked mid shift. There were enough regulars that they would check on you if things looked odd, at all hours of the shift. I filled in once for the overnight shift and basically the manager that was working it just wanted a second person there. I didn't really have to work, which was good since I'd been there 8 hours already.

[Tennesseer]

Feb 25, 2015 16:28:30 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

Many years ago, a co-worker was the only person working one day and a customer murdered her. So I do speak from anecdotal experience.

Is that person/murderer really considered a customer?

Does it really matter if he was a customer or murderer? During his murder trial, he stated he told the victim he was a customer to gain her trust.