Toxic boss demands injured employee to return to work by Friday: ‘I can give you a chair’
As per a WhatsApp conversation, the manager promised to give a chair to an employee with a broken leg and insisted they come to work.
Imagine breaking your leg and being told, “We can get you a chair”. This is what happened to one employee, just days into a new job, as per a video shared on Instagram. According to the WhatsApp conversation shown in the clip, a manager repeatedly asked the employee to return to work despite the worker suffering a broken leg in a bike accident.
Ben Askins, who often shares posts about toxic workplaces and bosses, shared the video with a caption that read, “Don’t worry if you’ve broken your leg, I can give you a chair.”
Also Read: Manager’s demand of 16-hour workday leaves new employee burnt out: ‘She has a management style of shouting'
As per the text messages, the manager initially tries to bargain with the employee to convince them to return to work by a Friday despite being informed about the medical emergency. When that fails, the boss tries to guilt-trip the worker and accuses them of taking time off after joining the company two weeks prior.
“Then let me make it even easier for you,” the employee responds, adding, “I quit.”
Take a look at the post:
Social media reacts:
Narrating a similar incident, an Instagram user wrote, “Years ago, while working for this publishing house of a fashion magazine, I fell ill. The boss/owner refused me sick days (even if by law I would have been entitled to them) because ‘you’re not really sick it’s just a cold’ then, during an after-hours meeting and when my presence was completely useless, tell me ‘you must cough in silence, you are interrupting me while I speak’. I assure you that such scenarios do happen.”
Also Read: Micromanaged, humiliated, then fired: Employee speaks out after HR ‘betrayal’
Another added, “I had an employer offer me a chair so I could come back to work when I was off with tendonitis in my foot. When I got back to work, I asked for the chair I’d been offered, and they said, ‘We don’t really do that, can’t you stand on one leg?’”
A third joined, “I worked for a company that was pretty bad about letting people take off from work. One day, I noticed a large lump in my neck. My doctor said I needed a specialist; they are only open during the day. My work would not let me off to see the doctor. Finally, after several months, I got a day off to see an ENT. He said surgery right away due to the size of the tumour nodule. I had surgery and was told it was, in fact, thyroid cancer, and I would need radioactive iodine treatment. After three days in the hospital, I was released to go home and wait for the treatment. The day I was released, I got a call from HR, and she asked me what my intentions were. I said, ma’am, that 'My intention is to survive'. And she said, 'No, I’m asking when you are coming back to work'. And I said I need to take care of myself. I’m not dying for you, and that was the end of that.”
A fourth remarked, “Not in a 100 years I would have quitted. Way better to wait getting fired so I can put my claim.”
