Me Minus Meds

Healthcare in an Uncaring World

I was sick last week. I slept for 2 days.

I have been sick plenty in the last 20 or so years. Before I learned I had allergies, I’d get sick like clockwork. I left a job with over 800 hours of sick time. I’ve had jobs with no sick time. I’ve gone to work in such bad shape that I could barely get out of bed, let alone drive a car. Helped customers when I probably could have been in a hospital bed.

I’ve worked with the flu. Worked through exhaustion countless times. I’ve had back injuries that I worked through. Essentially had a subscription service to Dayquil for years. I don’t know how many times I’ve called out of work, but decidedly less than I should have.

I’d like to say I am alone, but 62% of Americans admit to going to work in person while sick. From that same article -

A new poll of 2,000 employed Americans found that 41% “always” or “often” work while sick because they cannot afford to take a sick day from their job – 64% said taking a sick day would cause financial strain.

It gets more staggering when you factor in minorities, they are less likely to call out at an alarming degree. Ever gotten food poisoning at a restaurant? There’s a good chance that was because the people preparing your food were sick.

You might think it’s the money. And a lot of times it is. Sick pay at service jobs is nonexistent. Retail, grocery and food service does not give employees paid time off for health. If you’re sick and you don’t come into work, you’re not getting paid. If you have a chronic illness, you’re likely to lose your job. There are protections, but employees are ignorant of those protections.

There is also the cultural aspect. Managers sow discontent when employees call out. Frequently managers will blame employees for their illness, telling their coworkers it is the person’s health that is causing other people to have to pick up their shift. Bad managers will threaten employees that don’t cover shifts.

"Prior studies show there are many reasons workers come in sick — certainly, there are financial reasons, but there are also social reasons, such as not wanting to let their coworkers down," the agency's statement said.

The reality of being in the trenches too is that you don’t want to put your coworkers in a bind. Most businesses run on such short staffing that one person being out means co-workers are put into a horrible situation. They will have to deal with irate customers and more work than they can handle because there are no other options to help alleviate that work load.

An article from Business Insider touches on the realities of the modern work force. Frontline employees go in knowing there is more work than they can do in a day before anyone calls out. If someone can’t make it to work, you might be pressed into a job you get to learn on the fly. Ever had someone who did not know what they are doing help you? That’s by design. Sink or swim is the MO in most front line jobs.

Beyond that, if you do have a call out in these workspaces, you might not be able to get anyone to come in. Despite the need for more hours, employees are burned out from being overworked in their shifts. Many employees are required to have another job.

More Americans than ever hold two full-time jobs, amounting to more than 70 hours of work a week. In June, 426,000 people were working two full-time positions, compared to 308,000 in February 2020, according to federal labor data.

You’d think a company would WANT their employees to be healthy and dedicated to the job at hand, but they openly tell their employees to get a second job to make ends meet. McDonald’s famously told their employees to get a second job.

If an employee were to have coverage and sick time, there’s another factor at play here. Health insurance. Nearly 30 million non-elderly Americans don’t have health insurance. Worse yet, Americans are underinsured to an alarming degree.

By mid-2022, 43 percent of adults ages 19 to 64 had inadequate insurance coverage, meaning they were uninsured at the time of the survey (9%), had coverage when surveyed but experienced a time without coverage in the past year (11%), or had continuous coverage over the past year but were underinsured (23%).

Being sick as a frontline worker is cost prohibitive, can threaten your livelihood and creates undue stress on your co-workers. Inflation is on the rise, but so are corporate profits - Top Retail Companies’ Profits Soared by Over $24B After Raising Consumer Prices. I can tell you from personal experience, it was just easier to live on cough syrup and hope I survived the day.

I had to quit my job to adequately recover from a cold.