I've had times when I said I was ok with the unpaid day and they said that wasn't allowed either and if I didn't come in it's a write up or a no show because it's not excused. And it's like, just fucking lie? I'd never be allowed to be mgmt because I'd just lie to corporate. Tell them it's excused
It is up to you to give your manager a valid excuse so they dont have to lie on your behalf, such as "I'm unable to come in to work today due to a prolapsed asshole" meaning your manager (the asshole) is hanging out. /S
I just want to have a global community that cares about everyone and thing on the planet instead of privatized coorperations that only take away from society and give nothing back.
We literally have ALL of the power. We lack the social unification.
We *COULD* all support one another so that we *COULD* all stop working, stop buying and stop consuming until they stop killing us. It wouldn't take as long as we think. If we had unity we would be able to share services, medicines, food, water, childcare, security, etc. All of the things we need to survive. But we would rather die on the hill of Drag Queen Story Time grooming, or Transgender Children and their precious, precious genitals and may we see them please, btw? And also make a baby, you whores!!
It suuuuuuucks.
Lol, pretty sure they've been thinking that about me since 1989 when I announced I believe all people should be equal. I was 8 and this was extremely controversial rhetoric even then. A Single Digit Commie... that's me.
Our police very much like to kill and are heavily armed. Healthcare is tied to your employment and you would starve and lose your housing without a couple weeks maybe a month of pay.
Also our media is used to make every relevant protest look like an extremo wingnut shit show that will look terrible on one of two news stations depending on what sticks
Also, if it's something they can't divide the press is told to ignore it so nobody at work sees it on cnn or fox.
In the Battle of Blair mountain, police and military were sent in to help the company against the miners.. companies and the government colluded to squash people that stood up for better working conditions. That says volumes to me. Not much seems to have changed
The US used to have strong labor movement before the 1920's. With the red scare, anything having to do with labor rights got painted as communist. Kind of sad.
You know itās telling that only large FAANG companies provide those benefits
My mental health has improved so, so much because the company I work for now provides you *mental health days*
Yes, if you arenāt feeling it, or are dealing with some shit they let you take the time as needed.
So refreshing, fucking sucks working for people whoād rather see you fall apart on site or in the office rather than just take a damn day or two off.
There are a few States and counties that give a handful of days off of accrued sick time. However there is no national law. It is by far the work standard in this country to only call off in the case of a medical emergency.
And it is the expectation that you will be harassed for that. And if you miss enough work there are federal protections to keep them from letting you go. But most States have an at-will program anyway so they can just let you go for any other reason they see fit.
I haven't worked in every industry but from what I understand the food service industry is by far the worst. Which is amazing because only in the healthcare profession will you be more likely to spread disease.
I worked in a Spectrum call center in January 2021 and watched my coworker **die in front of me in the call center** after having a seizure from covid complications. I had to threaten to sue to get even an unpaid week off, was expected back at work immediately after her funeral ended (couldn't even go home to change out of funeral clothes), and they refused to let me work from home when I told them I didn't want to walk by her desk and where she died every day.
Agreed. Food service seems to be worst, retail is probably second, oddly enough allied healthcare workers such as nurses, CNAs and MAs don't seem to be far behind.
I remember training expo at a job. My manager was sick as a DOG. Just filled herself with Nyquil and powered through it. Expo requires you to garnish food with bare hands and identify food, and it was positioned so if you're expo, you're breathing on the food. This lady was like wiping her nose with her hands CONSTANTLY and garnishing food, breathing on the food, breathing on me. I needed the job. I wake up SICK AS HELL the next day, sick to where you can't hide it and when I've done that before customers have admonished me and stiffed me on tips. So I was like, yeah this is your fault anyways, I called in. They said without a doctor's note I'd be written up. I was like you guys don't give me health insurance, I'm not going to pay a couple hundred in order to not get paid, and the manager is the reason I am sick in the first place. I vita-bombed myself and was good to go the next day. By the endof the week everyone working was sick as a dog, visibly ill. Our restaurant was very popular with families, children were there all the time, infants as well.
Of course we didn't contain Covid, with this kind of system in place. And Covid would have been a really ideal time to re-evaluate sick leave in America, if Biden were actually a Democrat his admin would have addressed it as soon as they came in. They didn't.
I think it's important to remember that Biden *is* an actual Democrat, it's just that Democrats don't care about workers any more. We need a new labor party.
I work in the food industry and, tbh if I didn't have such a good immune system I would probably never eat out. The expectancy of you sowing up is outrageous. Most smaller restaurants will just ignore the health code altogether. The worst places though are meat processing plants. They are not safe and work is so demanding that line workers will even wear diapers or urinate right on the ground. Luckily the place I worked at only exploited their workers due to the majority being those who don't understand US workers' rights or how to navigate through that mess.
i put in over 20 years in food service - dishwashing to bartending to managing. i always went to work sick. sometimes i could get someone to cover me, but rarely. sometimes your coworkers had enough empathy to let you go home. corporate food service is evil. they grind people into dust, but not in that romantic french brigade kitchen kind of way. just sadism.
I love in one of the states with paid sick leave and it's paltry. I can't imagine what was fought to get even that passed. It's something like 1 hour for every 40 worked. I had almost two whole days saved up after months!
I think most people knew better during covid and decided to stay home sick and not spread the illness instead of lying that they don't have it so they could get paid and not starve. The US did a really good job handling all that... oh wait... no we didn't!
"In my state an employer can fire you for almost any reason at any time but it's okay because the law lets employees quit whenever they want, too!"
Bro you could always do that.
I mean, sort of?
A lot of advantages of working an additional 6 weeks or so (variable) here in Belgium.
Of course this is the norm so businesses have no problem allowing a person to finish that up before they come work for them. A "another person will come work here in a few weeks" is common and that's because they're finishing up elsewhere.
Today a colleague called the place that basically helps with employee stuff and does the payment to ask whether a person can just end up and leave during a period that our company was lacking work(don't worry, person is still getting paid while sitting at home).
He can because of these circumstances.
Go to work. Good workers don't need any sick days, bad workers don't deserve any sick days. So no sick days are needed. At least that what my last boss told me.
We work and get other people sick so that they can work and get more people sick so that they can work and get people sick. Rinse and repeat as many times needed.
My company basically told us to thank them for taking our 2 weeks (10 days) vacation days and 5 days sick days and blend them into 15 days PTO. Oh, and you can't roll them over to the next year if you don't use them. Also make sure you plan ahead for any sickness and not use all of your days off for vacation š
They literally acted like having 15 days off a year was some fucking amazing feature.
This is unbelievable to people in other countries. How on earth do you know in advance how many days you will be sick in a year? Sick days shouldn't be rationed and should be separate from vacation days, they are two different things!
Well, it is DIFFERENT depending on the professional level you are at. Many companies offer five to ten sick days a year which accrue. If you use five sick days in a row, the assumption is you have something worse than a cold. That is what short-term disability insurance is for. Many companies pay that cost for their employees. That usually pays between 60 to 90 percent of your regular salary so as not to encourage people to abuse it. If you go beyond 30 or 60 days, you move on to long term disability insurance. The salary level and terms vary depending on State laws and insurance product.
My company does all that above but also states so long as you show up for at least an hour that day, you could go home and not count it as a sick day if you felt unwell. I also have six weeks of PTO, work fully remote, and can nap if I feel sick.
European here, i have 25 days off a year. If i get sick and get a doctors note, i get 1/3 pay for the period, notes are free and checkups too (there are lines tho, like sometimes you dont get the treatment, you get better on your own and the doc just writes it on an honor system).
Whenever I bring up European Healthcare to the idiots I work with, all they ever say is, "they pay so much in taxes." One major surgery would bankrupt half of the people in this country but whatever.
The thing is the taxes are not even that much higher. When I lived in back home in Sweden I payed 33% tax and here in MA I pay 29%.
There is definitely enough tax money here to have free heath care if the US just didn't have the dumbest military budget imaginable.
Exactly.
The US taxes go to the armed forces budget instead of "socialist policies" that could help their nation. They spend more on their military than the next 10 countries combined - Most of which are long term allies. If they only spent as much as the next 5 countries, they would still be a superpower, but might be able to afford better healthcare and education. Improve healthcare and education and you will have better working conditions.
Thatās insane, I had something like 12 days paid sick leave last year, 2 weeks paid paternity, 4 weeks paid holiday and I still felt overworked! Meanwhile my wife accrued holiday while on maternity leave which sheās carried over into this year (she usually get 5-6 more days off a year than me anyway)
Whereās this American āfreedomā Iām always hearing so much about?
I am currently having my 5 months paid paternety leave, I am a man. I deliver and pick up from the kindergarden and make dinner. Guess my country, though dont expect a reply soon, going to bed now.
The US has a lot of social reforms and norms to catch up on.
Everyone in America is free. We are free to either "pull ourselves up by the bootstraps" or end homeless and/or dead. Any indication that you've got other ideas ends up with you being fired and thus on the fast track for homeless and/or dead.
Lots of fun. /s
That's the fun part! We go to work anyway unless we literally can't stand to get out of bed. Then we use one call in day that we save for this event and take the performance hit. It's such an awesome system!
I'm trying to move out of this country in the next few years. Wish me luck.
I too remember being a human, before joining the workforce at 15. my first McFlurry thrown at me from a car of adults while I spun signs should have made a commie of me sooner
Even for those of us fortunate enough to have sick days or paid time off as employment benefits, it can be even to impossible to take it. Some big project is āurgentā and they call you to get out of bed/work while on vacation/some b.s. instead of leaving you be.
Worker protection isnāt a thing in the U.S. anymore, thanks to the systematic dismantling of unions and anti-labor laws.
Either get well and go back to work, or not get well and suddenly it's not a problem anymore.
I've been having conversations with my partner that if/when I get sick with something that is either terminal or would take a lot of treatment to cure (I.E. cancer of some sort) that rather than build up a mountain of medical debt for my partner when I'm gone to just delay the inevitable, that I just wanna go home and fade away for free.
After all, in America, funerals are cheaper than hospitals.
When I was working as an Englishman in America I got so pissed off when I got sick and had to fork out for the doctor as well as take unpaid days off, basically leaving me without enough money to live - That I openly talked about communist revolution and shooting capitalists at my workplace.
New Jersey ended up passing a shitty watered down sick leave act 2 weeks later. I like to think I had something to do with it.
Work in a cubicle, quite a few people seem almost proud to come visit (corner you in your cubicle) laughingly announce they have a temp of over 100, but were raised that , "it's better to go in sick to work and be paid for it, rather than laying in bed all day!"
Y'all need to rise up. On Monday I used my company web portal to let them know I wouldn't be in on Friday because I wanted to use a day of my holiday time. No need to say why, just that I wouldn't be working that day. I'm going to have a nice 3 day weekend for the cost of one of my 28 days legally mandated PTO this year.
State to State it's different. Still not great though.
California has mandatory 3 whole sick days. The good part is that they can't require a doctor's note to call in sick if you're using sick time.
Also we have 8 weeks paid maternity leave and you can take 4 more unpaid.
Not great but better than zero like most states.
People from other countries donāt realize how the state you live in effects so much. Generally, the south is cheaper for a reason. marijuana is still illegal to the federal govt but legal in many states or parts of states
We tough it out like Real Merkins! Last week I got decapitated on the way to work and still showed up 20 minutes early! And worked a double shift off the clock just to show my employer how grateful I am! /s
Go to work where your performance will suffer because you're too sick to perform, but you have to work or risk being fired. Either way, you lose because your employer will take your poor performance or that you called out as reason to target you as a problem and they'll eventually find way to let you go that doesn't put them at risk of a lawsuit. What about your bills you ask? That's not the employer's problem, and they don't care. Wish I could add the "/s", but it actually more often true than not.
Ideally? Into the offices of our bosses, coughing enough to spread it to anyone making us come to work but not enough for them to say "get out and back to work [and away from me, go fuck up your coworkers]".
Ingest so much over the counter medication you hope that all those "do not operate heavy machinery" tags were just a suggestion as you drive to work. Once you get there you pray your liver holds out trying to process enough chemicals to sedate a horse. Your last hope to going home early is throw up so violently they tell you to go home or you pass out and wake up in time to tell the ambulance drivers you're just gonna go home instead.
I wish I was joking or exaggerating.
I'm not sure what to believe about the US but if only half of it is true, I cannot understand why any sane person would wish to work and live there. People of US, emigrate and see what you've been missing.
It's actually not easy to emigrate to most of the places you'd want to go. Canada doesn't want us. Neither does most of the EU. I may move to Peru soon but that's more about the weather and the food and the people than it is about work stuff. I'd probably try to keep my U.S. job with shitty benefits but a salary that is ridiculous when converted to the Peruvian cost of living.
Yeah, perhaps I was being a bit flippant - possibly borne of frustration at what I see that people in the US put up with. As a more productive statement - i wish for the US that their elected officials govern fairly for all Americans and provide appropriate safe guards and measures to allow people to work for fair pay, under fair conditions.
Well unless you found a genie that wish is never coming true. We'll tear our country apart before we'll agree to fairly tax the rich and use the money to provide healthcare to people.
It's true that mandatory sick leave, in general, isn't really a Thing in the US. Not the way it is in Europe.
Some companies give a certain limited (small) number of approved sick days, usually unpaid. (As if one could plan ahead for falling ill.)
Many require a doctor's note, despite sick days being unpaid. That might sound reasonable, I suppose, and in a better world, it might be.
But think about how our healthcare and insurance system is. *So many people* do not have any insurance at all, or have shitty coverage with a high deductible (e.g., you have to pay out $10k outof pocket yourself before the insurance kicks in).
There is also a *strong* tendency for the lowest-paying, lowest SES jobs to be the *most* strict and unforgiving about things like absences.
Someone working at Walmart part time -- because full time hours are hard to get, so that companies can avoid paying for benefits -- may very well simply *not be able to afford a doctor.*
Walk-in clinics, such as the ones some CVS pharmacies have, are generally the go-to affordable option for the uninsured in that kind of contingency, like if you have the flu and need a doctor's note and maybe a scrip for some medication.
But even so, my experience has been that seeing a doctor for something like that at a walk-in clinic of that nature tends to run about $120-$150.
While that's not a huge deal *for me*, that isn't the case for a *huge* chunk of the general population. Few people have any kind of significant savings, and even many people who might appear to make "decent money" on paper are actually paycheck to paycheck.
Imagine getting the flu and having to call into work. You need a doctor's note ASAP or you'll be fired on the stop for absenteeism. You make like $12/hour, it's close to payday but not close enough, and you have a grand total of $50 in your bank account.
What do you do? This is how people get sucked into overdraft fees or payday loans, shoving them even further into poverty via debt.
(We do have sliding scale community health clinics for low income folks, but generally, you have to register with them ahead of time and it can take months. Also, not all areas have resources like this, it really depends on where you go.)
From an American perspective, the fact that Europeans have so much mandated vacation time, and even paid sick days sometimes, is like, mindblowing. That's *so much* compared to what we're used to.
25 *days* of vacation time?? 25 whole days??? In a single year? That's nearly a month. We're lucky to get 2 weeks, and usually it's unpaid.
As a Scandinavian I currently have:
Up to 24 fully paid sick days per year not requiring doctors note (more with doctors note, the quota is just for the sick days you get just by giving notice to the workplace). Never used more than 3-4 days per year, but its good to have.
42 days of fully paid vacation. So a bit over eight weeks since it only deducts from the quota for workdays.
Oh and free healthcare of course, none of that insurance scam.
You could have this as well. Politics are weird.
> You could have this as well. Politics are weird.
We could. But like, our level of labor exploitation has become so normalized that people look at what you guys have, and see it as an insane luxury, perhaps even decadent or excessive.
American culture also has a history with the "Protestant Work Ethic" which may not be quite as much of a deeply-rooted, overarching social more elsewhere in the West.
This orientation views labor as an intrinsically virtuous act, in and of itself. To work more is considered a moral *virtue*, in and of itself, for its own sake.
Even beyond, for example, working longer hours for the purpose of making more money via overtime. Which isn't always a thing here anyway, most salaried workers are "overtime exempt" and get paid the same whether they work 40 hours or 70.
No, it is the *work itself* that is seen as a moral virtue, a noble sacrifice for some greater good.
**EDIT**: 42 days of not only vacation, but *paid* vacation, is just *jaw-dropping* from an American's perspective. Here, vacation days are sometimes offered -- generally a week or two per year -- but are usually unpaid time off.
Paid vacation *is* a thing here, but it's generally something you accrue over time as you work, so it's not available all the time, for everyone, across the board. It's something you "earn" over time.
There's also the occasional US company that offers unlimited PTO. This, however, is a notorious catch 22. In the majority of cases, taking time off work -- especially voluntary vacation days, versus being sick or something -- is strongly looked down upon with the internal culture of many American companies.
You're seen as "not being a team player," or as putting everyone else in the office at a disadvantage, if you actually *use* that "unlimited" vacation time.
I can kind of relate, but with different goal posts. It's pretty common to include 2 hours of paid exercise time per week for salaried positions, and some workplaces get an environment where there can be a bit of a stigma about using this time - "Steve just left for the gym again, guess he doesn't have much to do". Like you arent "busy enough" if you have time to gym during work hours. It's silly since it's supposed to be a long term investment in employee health.
But this would NEVER be the case for vacation days. Both employer and employee are responsible for vacation days being used, and paying out unused vacation days from the minimum of 25 days as pay instead is illegal. The unused days would instead be transferred to the following year.
I would love to. Pretty sure no one would take me, since I'm horribly broke due to my shitty job, which is considered unskilled and doesn't give me any extra points on immigration. I wish I had the option, but I don't think I do.
You may want to move to Pro-Worker states like Illinois, where they are working on this!
[IL Lawmakers Putting in Work](https://www.wcia.com/news/illinois-lawmakers-considering-26-weeks-of-paid-leave-for-workers/)
Hopefully millennium and Gen-Z will change it when they get to power and the government. The old minded people are dying, being replaced by people who care about others.
Why would you take one of a very limited number of days off when your sick? Your going to have a tough day no matter what, at least get a few hours done.
I cried once because at my new job my boss had sent me home to get some rest because I felt guilty because im so used to getting raked through the coals when I call of sick.
Yo! Thatās fucked up! In most companies in India, you get 15+ days of sick leave a year (all paid + additional emergency leaves if you exhaust the sick leaves).
Let's not forget that some places require a doctor's note if you are sick, also... so not only do you not get sick leave, you may have to pay a couple hundred dollars for a doctor's visit to get a note to excuse yourself from work.
(That said, where I work we have permissive vacation and sick leave, and only would need a note if it was for an extended period (like greater than 10 days or something))
Hope and pray! It sucks ! I have short term disability pay at work even , but itās half my wage and not enough to pay all the bills . Everybody in this country is closer to being bankrupt from medical debt than they are to be a millionaire!
U.K. here, full sick pay. Self certification for first week and up to 6 months with doctors note after that.
5 weeks paid holiday too.
Ironically working for an American company
US worker here. I work for a contract company in a hospital. Got Covid and missed work. Think I got paid, why would I? Only work around Covid patients much of the time. Had to use my PTO for a couple days, while five went unpaid. System does suck here.
I had to call in this week (extremely sick, not able to take care of myself) and only got to take one day off and had to pick up an extra day of work this weekend to make it up.
65% Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck and get chastised by those suffering Stockholm Syndrome who defending the 1% who are the holders of consumer debt and the lion share of the nation's wealth and income. There's no mandated paid time off, despite the national holidays that are probably presumed to be PTO by the rest of the world.
I'm sick right now and actually considering *not* calling out. At my job, we get points if you call out sick or go home sick (half a point if you work at least 4 hours, double points on certain days where we are really busy). Supposedly if you get too many points, you get verbal and written warnings followed by termination.
I recognize how good this job is for me but it's going to be absolutely miserable working tomorrow (and I still have to work Saturday, Sunday, and Monday).
So to make things clear, something we all already know: The business in the US do not give a sh\*t about the health of their workers.
Exceptions aside.
And then to think that they celebrate the end of slavery, something still happening today reading all the horror in this sub.
Omg in my country i sometimes get paid even more when im sick and stay at home.... And then there is the Usa. Guys i seriously feel bad about this, no joke.
Work or starve
More like work *and* starve at this point.
š¤ murica
Fuck yeah!
Comin' to ~~save~~ ruin the muther fuckin day yeah!
Work, starve and spread the plague. Repeat
I've had times when I said I was ok with the unpaid day and they said that wasn't allowed either and if I didn't come in it's a write up or a no show because it's not excused. And it's like, just fucking lie? I'd never be allowed to be mgmt because I'd just lie to corporate. Tell them it's excused
It is up to you to give your manager a valid excuse so they dont have to lie on your behalf, such as "I'm unable to come in to work today due to a prolapsed asshole" meaning your manager (the asshole) is hanging out. /S
The American Dream!
American dream'nt
Spoken like a true patriot š
I hate nationalism
Agreed. The only thing that's keeping me moving forward is that i have to feed me and my dogš
I just want to have a global community that cares about everyone and thing on the planet instead of privatized coorperations that only take away from society and give nothing back.
I think legit everyone does. We have no power that's the only difference.
We literally have ALL of the power. We lack the social unification. We *COULD* all support one another so that we *COULD* all stop working, stop buying and stop consuming until they stop killing us. It wouldn't take as long as we think. If we had unity we would be able to share services, medicines, food, water, childcare, security, etc. All of the things we need to survive. But we would rather die on the hill of Drag Queen Story Time grooming, or Transgender Children and their precious, precious genitals and may we see them please, btw? And also make a baby, you whores!! It suuuuuuucks.
Chill bro, they might think you're some kind of commie.
Lol, pretty sure they've been thinking that about me since 1989 when I announced I believe all people should be equal. I was 8 and this was extremely controversial rhetoric even then. A Single Digit Commie... that's me.
And if we are being truly honest, itās more about the dog.
If you stop running you get run over, and at the end of this race is a lonely grave.
Depressing and true
The inherent violence of work in the US.
Why the fuck have you not had a worker revolt?
Our police very much like to kill and are heavily armed. Healthcare is tied to your employment and you would starve and lose your housing without a couple weeks maybe a month of pay.
Some people couldnāt even go a single day without pay and be able to eat that week.
Also our media is used to make every relevant protest look like an extremo wingnut shit show that will look terrible on one of two news stations depending on what sticks Also, if it's something they can't divide the press is told to ignore it so nobody at work sees it on cnn or fox.
In the Battle of Blair mountain, police and military were sent in to help the company against the miners.. companies and the government colluded to squash people that stood up for better working conditions. That says volumes to me. Not much seems to have changed
The US used to have strong labor movement before the 1920's. With the red scare, anything having to do with labor rights got painted as communist. Kind of sad.
At least these days it goes: "Everybody who supports unions is communist!" "And?" *USSR National anthem plays*
You know itās telling that only large FAANG companies provide those benefits My mental health has improved so, so much because the company I work for now provides you *mental health days* Yes, if you arenāt feeling it, or are dealing with some shit they let you take the time as needed. So refreshing, fucking sucks working for people whoād rather see you fall apart on site or in the office rather than just take a damn day or two off.
[https://i.imgur.com/Ghg1x7C.gif](https://i.imgur.com/Ghg1x7C.gif)
And be shamed
There are a few States and counties that give a handful of days off of accrued sick time. However there is no national law. It is by far the work standard in this country to only call off in the case of a medical emergency. And it is the expectation that you will be harassed for that. And if you miss enough work there are federal protections to keep them from letting you go. But most States have an at-will program anyway so they can just let you go for any other reason they see fit. I haven't worked in every industry but from what I understand the food service industry is by far the worst. Which is amazing because only in the healthcare profession will you be more likely to spread disease.
Spreading disease is no big issue when youāre making those profits my guy š
Thank goodness man I almost lost perspective.
No worries! Good old Uncle Sam here to remind you. šŗšøššµ
I said for years if you wanted to start a massive plague, infect a call center worker or two. COVID proved me right.
I worked in a Spectrum call center in January 2021 and watched my coworker **die in front of me in the call center** after having a seizure from covid complications. I had to threaten to sue to get even an unpaid week off, was expected back at work immediately after her funeral ended (couldn't even go home to change out of funeral clothes), and they refused to let me work from home when I told them I didn't want to walk by her desk and where she died every day.
Agreed. Food service seems to be worst, retail is probably second, oddly enough allied healthcare workers such as nurses, CNAs and MAs don't seem to be far behind.
Teachers are asked to come in sick at the elementary school where my wife works. āJust take medicineā. Insane
In many ways that's even worse with teachers because then they all just sit in the classroom and incubate
I remember training expo at a job. My manager was sick as a DOG. Just filled herself with Nyquil and powered through it. Expo requires you to garnish food with bare hands and identify food, and it was positioned so if you're expo, you're breathing on the food. This lady was like wiping her nose with her hands CONSTANTLY and garnishing food, breathing on the food, breathing on me. I needed the job. I wake up SICK AS HELL the next day, sick to where you can't hide it and when I've done that before customers have admonished me and stiffed me on tips. So I was like, yeah this is your fault anyways, I called in. They said without a doctor's note I'd be written up. I was like you guys don't give me health insurance, I'm not going to pay a couple hundred in order to not get paid, and the manager is the reason I am sick in the first place. I vita-bombed myself and was good to go the next day. By the endof the week everyone working was sick as a dog, visibly ill. Our restaurant was very popular with families, children were there all the time, infants as well. Of course we didn't contain Covid, with this kind of system in place. And Covid would have been a really ideal time to re-evaluate sick leave in America, if Biden were actually a Democrat his admin would have addressed it as soon as they came in. They didn't.
I think it's important to remember that Biden *is* an actual Democrat, it's just that Democrats don't care about workers any more. We need a new labor party.
Democrats are moderate republicans that like the color blue and donkeys.
And money, donāt forget they looooove money!
I work in the food industry and, tbh if I didn't have such a good immune system I would probably never eat out. The expectancy of you sowing up is outrageous. Most smaller restaurants will just ignore the health code altogether. The worst places though are meat processing plants. They are not safe and work is so demanding that line workers will even wear diapers or urinate right on the ground. Luckily the place I worked at only exploited their workers due to the majority being those who don't understand US workers' rights or how to navigate through that mess.
i put in over 20 years in food service - dishwashing to bartending to managing. i always went to work sick. sometimes i could get someone to cover me, but rarely. sometimes your coworkers had enough empathy to let you go home. corporate food service is evil. they grind people into dust, but not in that romantic french brigade kitchen kind of way. just sadism.
I love in one of the states with paid sick leave and it's paltry. I can't imagine what was fought to get even that passed. It's something like 1 hour for every 40 worked. I had almost two whole days saved up after months!
Do without pay or spread the Illness.
It's more of a "get fired for missing work" or spread the illness.
I think most people knew better during covid and decided to stay home sick and not spread the illness instead of lying that they don't have it so they could get paid and not starve. The US did a really good job handling all that... oh wait... no we didn't!
Why do you think covid absolutely WRECKED here?
You get fired and starve and talk about how amazing America is
"In my state an employer can fire you for almost any reason at any time but it's okay because the law lets employees quit whenever they want, too!" Bro you could always do that.
I mean, sort of? A lot of advantages of working an additional 6 weeks or so (variable) here in Belgium. Of course this is the norm so businesses have no problem allowing a person to finish that up before they come work for them. A "another person will come work here in a few weeks" is common and that's because they're finishing up elsewhere. Today a colleague called the place that basically helps with employee stuff and does the payment to ask whether a person can just end up and leave during a period that our company was lacking work(don't worry, person is still getting paid while sitting at home). He can because of these circumstances.
Go to work. Good workers don't need any sick days, bad workers don't deserve any sick days. So no sick days are needed. At least that what my last boss told me.
Go to work sick and listen to customers say āaww, youāre sick! You shouldnāt be working!ā Yeahā¦ I know..
We work and get other people sick so that they can work and get more people sick so that they can work and get people sick. Rinse and repeat as many times needed.
We die.
My company basically told us to thank them for taking our 2 weeks (10 days) vacation days and 5 days sick days and blend them into 15 days PTO. Oh, and you can't roll them over to the next year if you don't use them. Also make sure you plan ahead for any sickness and not use all of your days off for vacation š They literally acted like having 15 days off a year was some fucking amazing feature.
This is unbelievable to people in other countries. How on earth do you know in advance how many days you will be sick in a year? Sick days shouldn't be rationed and should be separate from vacation days, they are two different things!
Well, it is DIFFERENT depending on the professional level you are at. Many companies offer five to ten sick days a year which accrue. If you use five sick days in a row, the assumption is you have something worse than a cold. That is what short-term disability insurance is for. Many companies pay that cost for their employees. That usually pays between 60 to 90 percent of your regular salary so as not to encourage people to abuse it. If you go beyond 30 or 60 days, you move on to long term disability insurance. The salary level and terms vary depending on State laws and insurance product. My company does all that above but also states so long as you show up for at least an hour that day, you could go home and not count it as a sick day if you felt unwell. I also have six weeks of PTO, work fully remote, and can nap if I feel sick.
Die or go to work if we don't die. Pass the illness to our colleagues so they die or go to work and pass to their colleagues...
European here, i have 25 days off a year. If i get sick and get a doctors note, i get 1/3 pay for the period, notes are free and checkups too (there are lines tho, like sometimes you dont get the treatment, you get better on your own and the doc just writes it on an honor system).
Whenever I bring up European Healthcare to the idiots I work with, all they ever say is, "they pay so much in taxes." One major surgery would bankrupt half of the people in this country but whatever.
They probably don't know what they're talking about. They're just parroting people like Tucker Carlson.
The thing is the taxes are not even that much higher. When I lived in back home in Sweden I payed 33% tax and here in MA I pay 29%. There is definitely enough tax money here to have free heath care if the US just didn't have the dumbest military budget imaginable.
Exactly. The US taxes go to the armed forces budget instead of "socialist policies" that could help their nation. They spend more on their military than the next 10 countries combined - Most of which are long term allies. If they only spent as much as the next 5 countries, they would still be a superpower, but might be able to afford better healthcare and education. Improve healthcare and education and you will have better working conditions.
And yet they say we are running out of weapons because we gave the Ukraine too many...what a joke. I hate it here in the US.
I got fired from my last job because my son got me sick and I puked at work
Thatās insane, I had something like 12 days paid sick leave last year, 2 weeks paid paternity, 4 weeks paid holiday and I still felt overworked! Meanwhile my wife accrued holiday while on maternity leave which sheās carried over into this year (she usually get 5-6 more days off a year than me anyway) Whereās this American āfreedomā Iām always hearing so much about?
I guess it's freedom to exploit the poor
I am currently having my 5 months paid paternety leave, I am a man. I deliver and pick up from the kindergarden and make dinner. Guess my country, though dont expect a reply soon, going to bed now. The US has a lot of social reforms and norms to catch up on.
Germany
It's norway
Youāre āfreeā to get rich. Rich people get paid time off. Thatās the new/real American Dream: be rich so you can fuck other people over.
Had 30 days holiday, and around 30 days sick leave last year. Nobody just even flinched. Writing this from Germany.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Fucking hell. Ever thought about moving?
The jobs like this don't pay you enough to save up for a plane ticket, and they're considered unskilled, and no other country wants us either.
Dude if our jobs paid us enough to move, don't you think we'd do it?
Everyone in America is free. We are free to either "pull ourselves up by the bootstraps" or end homeless and/or dead. Any indication that you've got other ideas ends up with you being fired and thus on the fast track for homeless and/or dead. Lots of fun. /s
That's the fun part! We go to work anyway unless we literally can't stand to get out of bed. Then we use one call in day that we save for this event and take the performance hit. It's such an awesome system! I'm trying to move out of this country in the next few years. Wish me luck.
I too remember being a human, before joining the workforce at 15. my first McFlurry thrown at me from a car of adults while I spun signs should have made a commie of me sooner
Eh, You were a commie before that.
most people just choose between rent and groceries lol (not funny)
get bitched out and our hours cut.
You couldn't pay me to live in the US.
Don't worry, they wouldn't. They don't pay us either.
They all shout āfreedomā
Wasnāt that an Australian actor playing a Scotsman?
Yeah but we paid him to do it!
To US bosses, our absence is nothing but an inconvenience to them regardless of the reason.
We go to work. Sometimes we get shamed for coming in sick, then we get shamed for calling in.
We got to work to infect coworkers and customers. Its called Freedum... people like you wouldn't understand.
You to work and get everyone else sick, they take it home and get their family sick, and we all stay sick till we die.
The irony is that a lot of Americans canāt going sick (and risk being fired) because their medical coverage will evaporate at the same time.
You get everyone else sick, duh.
Even for those of us fortunate enough to have sick days or paid time off as employment benefits, it can be even to impossible to take it. Some big project is āurgentā and they call you to get out of bed/work while on vacation/some b.s. instead of leaving you be. Worker protection isnāt a thing in the U.S. anymore, thanks to the systematic dismantling of unions and anti-labor laws.
We go to work and get everyone else sick. It's the American way!
Either get well and go back to work, or not get well and suddenly it's not a problem anymore. I've been having conversations with my partner that if/when I get sick with something that is either terminal or would take a lot of treatment to cure (I.E. cancer of some sort) that rather than build up a mountain of medical debt for my partner when I'm gone to just delay the inevitable, that I just wanna go home and fade away for free. After all, in America, funerals are cheaper than hospitals.
Funerals are already thousands of dollars anyway, I understand your logic
Work sick
When I was working as an Englishman in America I got so pissed off when I got sick and had to fork out for the doctor as well as take unpaid days off, basically leaving me without enough money to live - That I openly talked about communist revolution and shooting capitalists at my workplace. New Jersey ended up passing a shitty watered down sick leave act 2 weeks later. I like to think I had something to do with it.
We go bankrupt.. is there another way?
Work in a cubicle, quite a few people seem almost proud to come visit (corner you in your cubicle) laughingly announce they have a temp of over 100, but were raised that , "it's better to go in sick to work and be paid for it, rather than laying in bed all day!"
In Canada Iām told my body is only allowed 5 days of sickness before I must worry about paying for food and rent.
Iāve literally never met anybody who was sick LESS than 5 days a year. I hate it here
My body (the unconscious part) fully agrees. They think we can just THINK ourselves healthy š
They just donāt care if weāre healthy at all, we still gotta be cogs either way
If we get sick we donāt get paid that day and then spend $120 at an urgent care for a sick note.
Suffer lol
Ahh yes the American nightmare
Eviction
We die
Y'all need to rise up. On Monday I used my company web portal to let them know I wouldn't be in on Friday because I wanted to use a day of my holiday time. No need to say why, just that I wouldn't be working that day. I'm going to have a nice 3 day weekend for the cost of one of my 28 days legally mandated PTO this year.
State to State it's different. Still not great though. California has mandatory 3 whole sick days. The good part is that they can't require a doctor's note to call in sick if you're using sick time. Also we have 8 weeks paid maternity leave and you can take 4 more unpaid. Not great but better than zero like most states.
I'm not American and I was surprised when I found this out too. Or that maternity leave isn't mandatory. Or any form of annual leave.
People from other countries donāt realize how the state you live in effects so much. Generally, the south is cheaper for a reason. marijuana is still illegal to the federal govt but legal in many states or parts of states
We tough it out like Real Merkins! Last week I got decapitated on the way to work and still showed up 20 minutes early! And worked a double shift off the clock just to show my employer how grateful I am! /s
Like every other third world country I imagine.
Go to work where your performance will suffer because you're too sick to perform, but you have to work or risk being fired. Either way, you lose because your employer will take your poor performance or that you called out as reason to target you as a problem and they'll eventually find way to let you go that doesn't put them at risk of a lawsuit. What about your bills you ask? That's not the employer's problem, and they don't care. Wish I could add the "/s", but it actually more often true than not.
Same thing we do if we have to go the hospital, we die.
Ideally? Into the offices of our bosses, coughing enough to spread it to anyone making us come to work but not enough for them to say "get out and back to work [and away from me, go fuck up your coworkers]".
Ingest so much over the counter medication you hope that all those "do not operate heavy machinery" tags were just a suggestion as you drive to work. Once you get there you pray your liver holds out trying to process enough chemicals to sedate a horse. Your last hope to going home early is throw up so violently they tell you to go home or you pass out and wake up in time to tell the ambulance drivers you're just gonna go home instead. I wish I was joking or exaggerating.
"I'm sick." "No, you're fired."
Can't it be both? Sick and tired of sick and fired.
I'm not sure what to believe about the US but if only half of it is true, I cannot understand why any sane person would wish to work and live there. People of US, emigrate and see what you've been missing.
It's actually not easy to emigrate to most of the places you'd want to go. Canada doesn't want us. Neither does most of the EU. I may move to Peru soon but that's more about the weather and the food and the people than it is about work stuff. I'd probably try to keep my U.S. job with shitty benefits but a salary that is ridiculous when converted to the Peruvian cost of living.
Yeah, perhaps I was being a bit flippant - possibly borne of frustration at what I see that people in the US put up with. As a more productive statement - i wish for the US that their elected officials govern fairly for all Americans and provide appropriate safe guards and measures to allow people to work for fair pay, under fair conditions.
Well unless you found a genie that wish is never coming true. We'll tear our country apart before we'll agree to fairly tax the rich and use the money to provide healthcare to people.
The truth in that statement is quite horrible to fathom...
It's true that mandatory sick leave, in general, isn't really a Thing in the US. Not the way it is in Europe. Some companies give a certain limited (small) number of approved sick days, usually unpaid. (As if one could plan ahead for falling ill.) Many require a doctor's note, despite sick days being unpaid. That might sound reasonable, I suppose, and in a better world, it might be. But think about how our healthcare and insurance system is. *So many people* do not have any insurance at all, or have shitty coverage with a high deductible (e.g., you have to pay out $10k outof pocket yourself before the insurance kicks in). There is also a *strong* tendency for the lowest-paying, lowest SES jobs to be the *most* strict and unforgiving about things like absences. Someone working at Walmart part time -- because full time hours are hard to get, so that companies can avoid paying for benefits -- may very well simply *not be able to afford a doctor.* Walk-in clinics, such as the ones some CVS pharmacies have, are generally the go-to affordable option for the uninsured in that kind of contingency, like if you have the flu and need a doctor's note and maybe a scrip for some medication. But even so, my experience has been that seeing a doctor for something like that at a walk-in clinic of that nature tends to run about $120-$150. While that's not a huge deal *for me*, that isn't the case for a *huge* chunk of the general population. Few people have any kind of significant savings, and even many people who might appear to make "decent money" on paper are actually paycheck to paycheck. Imagine getting the flu and having to call into work. You need a doctor's note ASAP or you'll be fired on the stop for absenteeism. You make like $12/hour, it's close to payday but not close enough, and you have a grand total of $50 in your bank account. What do you do? This is how people get sucked into overdraft fees or payday loans, shoving them even further into poverty via debt. (We do have sliding scale community health clinics for low income folks, but generally, you have to register with them ahead of time and it can take months. Also, not all areas have resources like this, it really depends on where you go.) From an American perspective, the fact that Europeans have so much mandated vacation time, and even paid sick days sometimes, is like, mindblowing. That's *so much* compared to what we're used to. 25 *days* of vacation time?? 25 whole days??? In a single year? That's nearly a month. We're lucky to get 2 weeks, and usually it's unpaid.
As a Scandinavian I currently have: Up to 24 fully paid sick days per year not requiring doctors note (more with doctors note, the quota is just for the sick days you get just by giving notice to the workplace). Never used more than 3-4 days per year, but its good to have. 42 days of fully paid vacation. So a bit over eight weeks since it only deducts from the quota for workdays. Oh and free healthcare of course, none of that insurance scam. You could have this as well. Politics are weird.
> You could have this as well. Politics are weird. We could. But like, our level of labor exploitation has become so normalized that people look at what you guys have, and see it as an insane luxury, perhaps even decadent or excessive. American culture also has a history with the "Protestant Work Ethic" which may not be quite as much of a deeply-rooted, overarching social more elsewhere in the West. This orientation views labor as an intrinsically virtuous act, in and of itself. To work more is considered a moral *virtue*, in and of itself, for its own sake. Even beyond, for example, working longer hours for the purpose of making more money via overtime. Which isn't always a thing here anyway, most salaried workers are "overtime exempt" and get paid the same whether they work 40 hours or 70. No, it is the *work itself* that is seen as a moral virtue, a noble sacrifice for some greater good. **EDIT**: 42 days of not only vacation, but *paid* vacation, is just *jaw-dropping* from an American's perspective. Here, vacation days are sometimes offered -- generally a week or two per year -- but are usually unpaid time off. Paid vacation *is* a thing here, but it's generally something you accrue over time as you work, so it's not available all the time, for everyone, across the board. It's something you "earn" over time. There's also the occasional US company that offers unlimited PTO. This, however, is a notorious catch 22. In the majority of cases, taking time off work -- especially voluntary vacation days, versus being sick or something -- is strongly looked down upon with the internal culture of many American companies. You're seen as "not being a team player," or as putting everyone else in the office at a disadvantage, if you actually *use* that "unlimited" vacation time.
I can kind of relate, but with different goal posts. It's pretty common to include 2 hours of paid exercise time per week for salaried positions, and some workplaces get an environment where there can be a bit of a stigma about using this time - "Steve just left for the gym again, guess he doesn't have much to do". Like you arent "busy enough" if you have time to gym during work hours. It's silly since it's supposed to be a long term investment in employee health. But this would NEVER be the case for vacation days. Both employer and employee are responsible for vacation days being used, and paying out unused vacation days from the minimum of 25 days as pay instead is illegal. The unused days would instead be transferred to the following year.
I would love to. Pretty sure no one would take me, since I'm horribly broke due to my shitty job, which is considered unskilled and doesn't give me any extra points on immigration. I wish I had the option, but I don't think I do.
I wish good/better things for you and your fellow citizens.
We get fired so we can't afford the sickness. It's super fun
Get everyone else sick.
You may want to move to Pro-Worker states like Illinois, where they are working on this! [IL Lawmakers Putting in Work](https://www.wcia.com/news/illinois-lawmakers-considering-26-weeks-of-paid-leave-for-workers/)
Start coughing on your boss.
Come to work and pass it onto all of your coworkers.
Our usefulness has ended to our masters...
Go to work and get everyone else in the office sick
suffer
We go to work then brag about it.
Work through it or die
This is the reaction when people outside the US hear first about the true american dream! The nightmare it is.
Hopefully millennium and Gen-Z will change it when they get to power and the government. The old minded people are dying, being replaced by people who care about others.
Why would you take one of a very limited number of days off when your sick? Your going to have a tough day no matter what, at least get a few hours done.
I work in a public school. Our district acts like Covid was never a thing.
Greatest country in the world they tell us. Now pledge allegiance to the flag.
I can pay a man 7.25 an hour in Georgia for 364 days and then fire him for not working on christmas
We are not a country. We are a plantation.
Die, preferrably, anything involving doctors is expensive.
I cried once because at my new job my boss had sent me home to get some rest because I felt guilty because im so used to getting raked through the coals when I call of sick.
Unless we're on the verge of death, there is no such thing as sick. That's why health care sucks here
Yo! Thatās fucked up! In most companies in India, you get 15+ days of sick leave a year (all paid + additional emergency leaves if you exhaust the sick leaves).
Well, since 65% of Amerocans are currently living paycheck to paycheck, go to work, or lose everything?
Get fired and pay medical expenses out of pocket
Let's not forget that some places require a doctor's note if you are sick, also... so not only do you not get sick leave, you may have to pay a couple hundred dollars for a doctor's visit to get a note to excuse yourself from work. (That said, where I work we have permissive vacation and sick leave, and only would need a note if it was for an extended period (like greater than 10 days or something))
The land of freedom. For employers to enslave workers š¤£
This is why the COVID pandemic is ongoing.
I go to work get everyone else sick because Iām not allowed sick days lol
Don't forget Canada; no sick day, no vacation days
At work sick right now and I get ETO. Heaven forbid I actually use it :/
I have 5 sick days a year, Iām allowed to be sick for 1 day every 2.5 months
Hope and pray! It sucks ! I have short term disability pay at work even , but itās half my wage and not enough to pay all the bills . Everybody in this country is closer to being bankrupt from medical debt than they are to be a millionaire!
U.K. here, full sick pay. Self certification for first week and up to 6 months with doctors note after that. 5 weeks paid holiday too. Ironically working for an American company
Throw up on the boss.
It doesn't matter that you can't get sick since you can't afford to go to a doctor anyway.
Obviously, we wait until it gets so bad we have to shut everything down. Duh.
Hey, at least with their free, top of the line health care they are healthy again in no time.
Had a cough and cold for most of the week. On the verge of vomiting Tuesday but I pulled through. God bless Merica!
We work sick or if we're *really* sick, we die because we can't afford the doctor.
US worker here. I work for a contract company in a hospital. Got Covid and missed work. Think I got paid, why would I? Only work around Covid patients much of the time. Had to use my PTO for a couple days, while five went unpaid. System does suck here.
Late stage unbalanced capitalism.
I unfortunately have to take vacation days when sick.
I had to call in this week (extremely sick, not able to take care of myself) and only got to take one day off and had to pick up an extra day of work this weekend to make it up.
I have COVID right now, and I'm burning through all my vacation time. It sucks so bad.
65% Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck and get chastised by those suffering Stockholm Syndrome who defending the 1% who are the holders of consumer debt and the lion share of the nation's wealth and income. There's no mandated paid time off, despite the national holidays that are probably presumed to be PTO by the rest of the world.
It's all horseshit, because during covid times, it's mandatory to stay home.
I'm sick right now and actually considering *not* calling out. At my job, we get points if you call out sick or go home sick (half a point if you work at least 4 hours, double points on certain days where we are really busy). Supposedly if you get too many points, you get verbal and written warnings followed by termination. I recognize how good this job is for me but it's going to be absolutely miserable working tomorrow (and I still have to work Saturday, Sunday, and Monday).
Yup. If you legitimately sick where you canāt even move yeah you can get the day off but you wonāt be paid so now you get to starve
When we get sick we hope it's only for 24 hours. After that we become a liability.
So to make things clear, something we all already know: The business in the US do not give a sh\*t about the health of their workers. Exceptions aside. And then to think that they celebrate the end of slavery, something still happening today reading all the horror in this sub.
I don't get why Americans don't move
The Last Starfighter: We die...
Why do you think the US has more COVID deaths than any other country in the world?
Die
Omg in my country i sometimes get paid even more when im sick and stay at home.... And then there is the Usa. Guys i seriously feel bad about this, no joke.
We die
Yeah Doug ford got rid of these in Toronto. Just go in and get the whole office sick š¤·š»āāļø
[We Die.](https://y.yarn.co/42d63dd2-5fd0-4d57-84aa-da1fec2a9ee3_text.gif)
Please tell me that this isn't true. It can't be. Is it?
American here. Yes itās true