I was suppose to take my sick DS@ to work with me today!

[Lallas' Mum]

I am home from my usual day of work today as my DS2 has a bout of gastro. Hubby and I spend half of last night cleaning bedsheets from vomitting and changing drynights - that were not so pleasant to say the least. My other two sons are at daycare as usual as they have already had that same virus and are both well. Last night I arranged for my FIL to watch my DS2 today but alas this morning I found out he had been up all night with the same bug.
Now - my dilema. I work for an optometrist. On a normal day there is the Optom (the boss)and two of us "girls". The staff consists of myself, another lady -(CC) and the boss' wife -(DM). I phoned every family member within cooee on the off chance someone had the day off. No such luck. So I finally rang the boss' wife DM (she is basically the office manager/boss anyway). I knew she was on a trip down the coast 2 1/2 hours away to go shopping so she couldn't (or wouldn't work) but what could I do - take my sick vomitting DS2 to work with me. Well apparantly that's what I HAVE TO do. I have "no choice" according to her. She also said things along the lines of "just make sure you concerntrate of patients because that is what we pay you for" and "be sure to apologise to the Boss for having my DS2 there".
So of course I got off the phone absolutely bawling my eyes out. I rang the other lady (CC) I was going to be working with to see if she had a portable DVD player or something for DS2 to watch. I spilled my guts over what was said by DM and she simply said - "you are NOT bringing your sick son to work, you ARE staying home to look after him and I WILL deal with HER! (meaning the boss' wife). What a saviour! I spoke to hubby about what was happening as he was already at work. He simply said if DM(the boss; wife) tries to give me a hard time about it simply tell her to stick her job. So at least I have plenty of support - I just don't know if I have a job. I am casual - even though I work every Monday, Wednesday & Friday - it is still on casual terms.

I don't know whether to try and keep my job and come crawling back to them or tell them to stick it.
The lady that is working (by herself today) CC sms earlier and said it wasn't very busy and that the boss (the actual boss himself) is on my side. So i am pretty sure I still have a job.

Should I be apologising or should DM be apologising to me or should we all just pretend it didn't happen and move on (that's what usually happens at work when something like this comes up).

Opinions PLEASE!!!

[Angelmist♥]

OMG that's horrible. If you must, just tell her you are sorry that you couldn't work *shrugs*. Ask her if she'd still come in to work if she caught the bug from your son:(

[kiwibird27]

She should b apologising to you... thats ridiculous, she can't fire u for taking a day off, If u usually like the job, just say sorry, I am a parent first!!! There is also issues of protecting customers and other stuff from your sons bug... Stupid cow, makes me so mad

[3blue&1pink]

Thats horrible, there is no way in hell I would make my child go into public with that bug.

She needs a serious wake-up call, what was going to happen if he vomited everywhere? Or had an accident?

Does this lady have kids?

:no: I wouldn't be saying sorry.

[NibbleCurlynBub]

To expect a working Mum to take her very sick child (gastro is one of the worst common illnesses too, it can come out both ends and can spread like wildfire!) is just ridiculous.

Don't you apologise to ANYONE.

Say thank-you to CC for supporting you and being so helpful while your DS is sick and leave it at that.

[Lallas' Mum]

She has kids herself. Her youngest will turn 16 next month, her middle daughter is 18 soon and her eldest is 21 - and if she gets a phone about the kids being sick she is gone in two seconds - Her kids are still precious little babies to her. CC siad she has forgotten what it is like to have young kids. Which I think is true. Bottom line is I think she just cares about how she is affected and that's the bottom line.

[Benji]

Some bosses are just completely self absorbed and just see their employees as a way to make money.

A job I had a few years ago was like that (I was lucky back then I didn't have little one to worry about). I went in with all sorts of illnesses because they would never let me live it down if I called in sick. I went in with Influenza type A once. Hope they all caught it :p

Anyway, do you NEED this job? Can you look for other work?

TBH it doesn't sound like a very nice place to work.

Hope your boy feels better soon :hugs:

[NibbleCurlynBub]

She has kids herself. Her youngest will turn 16 next month, her middle daughter is 18 soon and her eldest is 21 - and if she gets a phone about the kids being sick she is gone in two seconds - Her kids are still precious little babies to her. CC siad she has forgotten what it is like to have young kids. Which I think is true. Bottom line is I think she just cares about how she is affected and that's the bottom line.
Honestly, I don't think it matters what motivated her to say that.

She was selfish and rude, that's all there is to it.

[Areca]

Well as a potential customer I'd be really p'd off if I went in to have my eyes checked and found that was a child behind the scenes with gastro. It's extremely contagious and who knows what people are dealing with at home themselves. Your boss needs a reality check, you don't need to apologise. I imagine she'd get really cranky if you passed it on to her family, right at xmas time (and it most likely would spread considering how contagious it is).

[Lallas' Mum]

I can quit and walk away and take some time off from the workforce. My part time work just gives us the money to do the extra things we like and take the kids on nice holidays etc. So i can tell them to stick it. It can be a great place to work when everything is cruising along. It's just that DM is sooooo moody and a bit of a control freak. On the other hand she can be so nice. I guess it depends what time of the month it is?! I usually only see her on a Monday. The other two days I work with CC and she is the best!!!! She is begging me to stay because she loves working with me. She keeps saying she will sort out DM - she usually does too. CC has years of optom experience and is excellent at retail sales as well so she is irreplaceable. The real Boss (the optom himself) told CC he would hate to lose me. So hopefully things will pan out. It just sucks to be in this position.

[ThisIsLiving]

Well as a potential customer I'd be really p'd off if I went in to have my eyes checked and found that was a child behind the scenes with gastro. It's extremely contagious and who knows what people are dealing with at home themselves. Your boss needs a reality check, you don't need to apologise. I imagine she'd get really cranky if you passed it on to her family, right at xmas time (and it most likely would spread considering how contagious it is).

:iagree: Very well said. :yelclap: :yelclap:

I hope that your DS feels much better soon. :hugs:

[xkwzit]

You poor chicky, your co-worker sounds like a real gem, I'm so glad she was there to support you in such a lovely way.

I would just show up to work as per usu and pretend nothing happened. You have nothing really to apologise for . Your co-worker is aware that you won't be in, so it isn't like you just didn't show up.

If the boss's wife gives you a hard time, you can tell her she was right. When you started thinking of the patients, you realised that you could not possibly expose them to a vomitty gastro child (and besides, the smell would take weeks to come out of the carpet) :D

Hope you are feeling better now (both of you).

Cheers

[mum2bubba]

What a silly woman.

So if you DID bring your son to work and he throw up everywhere and made everyone else sick then what?

:rolleyes: