Calling You Out On Your Calling Out

(Where I work, regular employees have supervisor status if they are working as openers or closers. I come in to work one morning to find the regular opener is gone, and the fill-in opener flustered.)

Me: “What’s wrong?”

Opener: “[Coworker] called. She tried to call out!”

Me: “Shoot, we’re really short-staffed this week. Is she sick?”

Opener: “Nope! She said because it was Friday and we had less work to do on Fridays, that she just didn’t feel like coming to work today!”

Me: “Is she coming in?”

Opener: “She better. I reminded her that we’re short-staffed and that, ‘I don’t feel like it,’ is not a good reason to leave your coworkers in the lurch.”

(Our coworker did show up, though it wasn’t the first time she’d tried to call out with that same reason. Unsurprisingly, when payday rolled around, she seemed to forget that working meant getting paid, and complained when her paycheck is smaller.)