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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to think someone with a broken finger can still work in a supermarket?

240 replies

SpinalDra · 25/09/2017 22:45

Surely they can just be put on the tills? I'm a team leader and really pissed off. A girl has recently phoned in sick to say she can't come in as she broke her finger at work. Store manager has said she can stay off because it causes less fuss especially as she did it at work Hmm it's a piss take. He's not the one who has to run the shift with lack of staff.

AIBU to think she could still have worked on till?

OP posts:
Fluffypinkpyjamas · 28/09/2017 20:37

I can't believe there are people who would see someone sacked over a stupid post on mumsnet. What spiteful people you are

Hmm

Oh come off it, the OP is the spiteful one and if she lost her job it would be her own fault for being such a gossip Grin

DrKrogersfavouritepatient · 28/09/2017 20:40

How long would you allow a teenager off school with a broken finger?
I'd likely leave that to their GP to work out tbh
But are the two things especially comparable?
Working in a supermarket, lifting groceries, pushing buttons, handing people money etc all sound like perfect opportunities to further injure that broken finger. ouch.

JonSnowsWife · 28/09/2017 20:59

How long would you allow a teenager off school with a broken finger?

It depends. Neither of my DCs schools have children pushing around giant trolley cages, stacking and sorting and lifting heavy goods into the in-store warehouse.

WaxOnFeckOff · 28/09/2017 21:03

well they are not comparable in the way that you get paid to go to work, but most people can manage some sort of work with a broken finger. I am sure there will be complex breaks or people with underlying conditions that would make it difficult, but for the vast majority it's no worse than a painful bruise.

Aside from the more complex situations as described, I can't see a Dr signing anyone off or recommending they be absent for a broken finger. They may recommend doing lighter duties which is what any reasonable employer would offer. It would also depend on the finger involved. Index finger more of an issue than a pinky.

There must be loads of jobs someone with an minor injury could do in a supermarket, stock sheets, staff rota's, supervising self service tills, doing the announcements.

I though the "fit note" was supposed to sort all this out? Where instead of being signed off sick, you get a note saying what you are fit to do? Or has all that gone by the wayside? I have no idea as i'm fortunate to keep good health and have never had a major injury (though have broken a finger) so have never needed to be signed of in the 34 years I've been working.

Hulababy · 28/09/2017 21:05

I went to work - teach in an infant school - with my arm in cast following a nasty elbow dislocation. Was a few days (5 days later I think) after as it happened on holiday and was then weekend. Was still painful and delicate.
Couldn't drive so had to get lifts to and from work, and used taxi a couple of times or so.
Wasn't my writing hand but was awkward and not easy esp in a crowded busy work place full of small people who aren't overly great at special awareness and are just the wrong height for a painful elbow!

However I couldn't have justified taking time off with it by that time.

I couldn't have worked the first couple of days after mainly due to pain and the amount of very strong pain meds I was taking.

Smarshian · 28/09/2017 21:14

In my line of work (hospitality) if someone breaks a bone AT WORK then the company is liable for that injury. Your employee is likely to sue the company as they broke a bone while at work.
You sound very immature and unfeeling OP. The health of your team is much more important than one or two shifts being short staffed.

GetOutOfMYGarden · 28/09/2017 21:21

How long would you allow a teenager off school with a broken finger?

If the headteacher had decided to let them have it off to prevent legal issues, then I'd let them have it off and get them studying at home.

WaxOnFeckOff · 28/09/2017 21:29

Why would an employer or school automatically be at blame for an injury on the premises? I've not seen what happened in this case, but it is possible for something just to be an accident. i.e I could trip going up the stairs but the stairs could be perfectly fine and safe and I've just misjudged or am wearing shoes that don't fit well etc.

DeleteOrDecay · 28/09/2017 21:56

There must be loads of jobs someone with an minor injury could do in a supermarket, stock sheets, staff rota's, supervising self service tills, doing the announcements.

Supermarkets don't employ a specific person stand by the mic doing announcements all day and the rota isn't a job that just anyone can do it's usually done by management. Self service tills still require an amount of hand work at times for example when a customer needs help lifting a heavy item.

QueSera · 28/09/2017 22:50

Op you are a right piece of work. I hope i never have to encounter someone as cruel, self-centred and unreasonable as you.

melj1213 · 29/09/2017 00:36

There must be loads of jobs someone with an minor injury could do in a supermarket, stock sheets, staff rota's, supervising self service tills, doing the announcements.

None of those are in any way appropriate "alternative" jobs for an injured retail colleague.

Stock sheets are done by the warehouse and/or the relevant shop floor department manager. A checkout colleague would not have the training necessary to have any control of that, and it is a small part of someone else's job that would not occupy them for an entire 8/10 hr shift.

Staff rotas are done either by the department supervisor or department manager and there's no way they would give the job to a checkout colleague - both because they don't know the system and because the algorithm used to allocate specific shifts will involve a lot of different factors, including confidential information known to their direct supervisor but that other colleagues have no need to know (eg knowing that Pat can't do a self scan shift because she has a dodgy knee and can't stand on it for that long or John never does Monday mornings because he has counselling sessions at 10am) Also, again is a minor job that would not take up an entire shift.

Self Service attendants are still required to use their hands - collecting baskets, carrying items customers have changed their mind about back to the collection point, getting bags for customers, helping customers with awkward/heavy items, having the dexterity for the screens for when you have to put your colleague number in to authorise an override, be able to change the till rolls which is trickier in a self scan than a normal till and they all seem to run out at the same time etc

Announcements ... in my store that is the job of the Customer Service Desk and again is a very small part of a much larger job - I have just finished a 10 hour shift on the desk in my store. I spent maybe 10/15 minutes over the course of my entire shift making announcements and that time is only that high because I was on the late shift so had to do the closing announcements and also the calls to inform customers of the late night mark downs. In an average day shift you'd rarely spend more than 5 minutes making announcements, they really don't need someone sitting there just in case they need to call someone to the checkouts or someone lost their child.

Slarti · 29/09/2017 09:39

The OP isn’t one of the employers remember

No, but with such disregard to the welfare of the employees she supervises and her rather self centred view of sick leave as an inconvenience to herself, I'd say she's (a big) part of the problem.

RestingBitchFaced · 29/09/2017 09:47

Yes YABU! It's not her fault that you can't get more staff in

WineBeforeCake · 29/09/2017 11:03

I broke two ribs as a teenager, and still pulled all my shifts at the local Tesco. I seem to recall they were kind and let me wear stuff under my uniform to keep all the strapping in place, and understood I had to keep fairly still at the till and not twist too much. I was slower than normal but absolutely okay to work.

I carried on as normal with broken toes too.

Yet someone I know had a month off work for breaking one toe. It was baffling.

AprilLady4 · 29/09/2017 11:33
Shock
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