Spectacular Management, Boss
I’m a manager and not easily expendable. My coworker is, due to ovarian cysts, a heavy stoner. Having her working is just a little better than being short-handed, so she is often the recipient of the bosses’ ire. I traded shifts with [Coworker] one day.
I overslept on the morning shift and arrived two hours late, roughly. I lived about ten minutes’ walk away, so I didn’t call first; I just booked it over.
As I walked in, the bosses were making a fuss over [Coworker], very angrily. Since we had done an official swap due to [Coworker]’s health, I had expected that I would be the one in trouble.
Me: “Excuse me, hi?”
Boss #1: “Oh! Great! Are you busy now? Or do you know where that b**** [Coworker] is? We need someone before the rush.”
Me: “I’m here to work. Our valued coworker, [Coworker], is unable to walk due to extreme pain.”
Boss #2: “Well, she knows she needs to call out and get coverage! As soon as she can get her butt out of bed… Well, I might as well fire her.”
Me: “You might as well not fire her! Excuse you. I’m the one who is late. You were notified of this. As soon as the swap was approved, this wasn’t her responsibility.”
They actually kept arguing, refusing to believe that it wasn’t somehow [Coworker]’s fault.
Me: “Look, you’ve been harassing her all morning. I’m going to apologize to her, but I expect you to do so, too. This is unacceptable. You shouldn’t be angry with her for my error.”
Boss #1: “Where were you this morning, then? I had to cover…”
I stared him down.
Me: “Sleeping.”
Boss #1: “Oh. Okay.”
Me: “I am going to catch this place up. Since both the owners were working in my stead, I’m sure it’s not too far behind, of course. We can discuss this later. Please apologize to [Coworker] for harassing her while she is in pain.”
They never brought it up with me again. When I next saw [Coworker], she told me only one of them apologized, barely, and the other continued to blame her for everything.