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AIBU?

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Original poster

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:
WallyWantsWine · 26/09/2017 13:00

OP sounds like a twat

namechanger2735 · 26/09/2017 13:05

I assume though this is paid time off. If it wasnt, I can see why the company would be happy to tell this person "stay at home"..but I think if you're paying someone to do something they should contribute SOMETHING.
Why can't this injured girl do something that doesn't require her finger? I agree tills wouldn't be suitable but cigarette kiosk? Petrol garage if you have one, helping run checkout, so if a cashier needs someone to run and grab a bottle of milk, I'm sure she can do that. Even if she stood at the bloody door greeting customers, I don't think she needs to be at home where flowers be honest, she's not resting in bed is she

DeleteOrDecay · 26/09/2017 13:10

don't think she needs to be at home where flowers be honest, she's not resting in bed is she

How the fuck do you know?Confused

ChocoholicsAnonymous · 26/09/2017 13:14

You're a bit insensitive. It might really hurt especially if she's just done it.

ilovesooty · 26/09/2017 13:20

namechanger when did you achieve medical qualifications in remote diagnosis?

namechanger2735 · 26/09/2017 13:21

delete is this thread about you? If not, don't be so defensive.. i don't think anyone needs to lay in bed to recover from a broken finger, let's not be silly.
And choco not insensitive, just realistic.. I work in a supermarket, recently fractured my finger, I was told this 2 months after I'd done it when I went to minor injuries as it was still hurting. Didn't miss a days work over it, didn't complain to anyone, in fact had people asking why my finger was misshapen/mis coloured and if I'd had it looked at. We're not all this over the top

namechanger2735 · 26/09/2017 13:22

sooty it says "common sense" at the top of my certificate

BrokenFingerOffWork · 26/09/2017 13:22

Are you my team leader?

namechanger2735 · 26/09/2017 13:23

^Grin

LittleBooInABox · 26/09/2017 13:27

YABU - that's what sick pay is for.

It's up to her to determine she isn't well enough to come in

woodhill · 26/09/2017 13:30

I wasn't allowed to come to work when I broke 3 fingers even though I wanted to. H&S issue.

BlurryFace · 26/09/2017 13:31

I've never broken a bone, but I know breaks need to be kept as immobile as possible while they heal and having worked checkout I can't imagine anywhere worse.

Comparisons to one - armed workers are daft. This woman is used to working with two hands so if she was working with just one she would be incredibly slow compared to someone used to compensating for only having one hand. If she instinctively reached out with the hand with the broken finger she could jar it very easily. She would struggle with heavy things like cases of beer etc.

I'm unsurprised by your post, OP as retail supervisors seem to either be wonderful or awful people in my experience.

Mia1415 · 26/09/2017 13:38

YABVU! She's off sick. It is not for you to decide if she is well enough to work or not. If you don't have enough staff to cover sickness then you should concentrate your efforts sorting that out!

And how do you know she isn't planning to put a claim in? Just because she has said so? Please don't be so naïve. People have several years to claim and often do so way after the event.

FuckMyUterus · 26/09/2017 13:38

Never seen a thread backfire so badly Grin
OP I hope your regional manager or equivalent sees this, tracks you down and sacks you, surely this comes under some form of gross misconduct?! If not, it should!!!

DeleteOrDecay · 26/09/2017 13:49

delete is this thread about you? If not, don't be so defensive..

Not being defensive, just don't see how you can assume this woman is fit to work. Non of us have any idea of the extent of the break and what strong painkillers she might be on.

How wonderful for you that you were able to carry on with your fractured finger, it must have been a very minor one for you to have gone that long without seeking medical help. But not all bone breaks are the same in severity, you only have to read the responses here to see that.

Can't stand jumped up people who think that just because they managed x with y then everyone else should too and if they don't then they are somehow lesser humansHmm

namechanger2735 · 26/09/2017 13:54

A very minor bone fracture.. interesting.

icequeenxox · 26/09/2017 14:01

Sainsburys have been sent the link Halo

gettinfedduppathis · 26/09/2017 14:07

This member of staff is off sick and the reason has been accepted by your manager. The reason is irrelevant. She is legally allowed time off sick.

perhaps she broke one of her fingers while sticking two of them up at you behind your back

BertieBotts · 26/09/2017 14:08

"I think if you're paying someone to do something they should contribute SOMETHING."

Jesus Christ, it's called SICK LEAVE. They contribute at ALL THE OTHER TIMES THEY ARE NOT SICK. That's literally how it works! Otherwise you might as well gasp in horror at people having toilet breaks or not working 24 hours a day. Shock horror people have human need for rest and rehabilitation.

I thought we were still a humane country, not a purely profit driven one. I'm sure Sainsbury's can cope with some of their staff members being ill occasionally.

FrankyStein · 26/09/2017 14:10

Ah Sainsbury's!

They have a very unfair sickness policy which I'll share with you all. This policy is across the board and not just for new starters by the way.

So, you call in sick. They won't pay you for your first three days off. They will then - at their discretion - start to pay from day 4 ... so you will always be unpaid for those three days. This is whether you've been there 2 weeks or 2 years. And they operate an absence policy and not a sickness policy ... so, in a 12 month period, if you take half a day off for a family emergency, and have a day off for a bug and a day off for your child being sick, you'll be given a verbal warning

So they don't pay absence as a rule. And of course they get away with it

Idontevencareanymore · 26/09/2017 14:11

Yabu. You've no idea how she's feeling or coping.

I fractured my patella. Severely, had to have an op. Obviously couldn't walk without aid or get dressed as couldn't bend knee. On lots of strong painkillers.

It was suggested to me by a supervisor that I could come in and juSt sit on a checkout. I couldn't even pee on a toilet but yeah I could work a till.

Some sympathy wouldn't go amiss sometimes.

namechanger2735 · 26/09/2017 14:22

franky same policy as Tesco

Idontevencareanymore · 26/09/2017 14:24

@namechanger only new employees.

I get sick pay from day one as written in my over a decade old contract.

namechanger2735 · 26/09/2017 14:28

For Tesco? I've worked there 4 years and this is the policy for me.
There is a big difference between new and old contracts, include the whole Sunday pay ridiculousness

Mia1415 · 26/09/2017 14:28

Its the same sick pay as most companies have. Its really very standard.

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