'No. Don't say that.': Employee tries to call out sick, manager begs them to come in

Yet, so many retail and service industry (and delivery?) operations operate in this way in a desperate attempt to reduce the bottom line by cutting the largest cost: labor. But how are you going to run a business with a skeleton crew? Oh… toxic internal policies and vague threats against your workers? Ok then.

To be fair to base-level management and the manager in this thread, they're often just the second level of exploited workers. Their salary is often used as a way to get them to work free labor hours in front-of-house, and any further reductions in staffing levels often then fall on their shoulders. 

^{via u/kalikid01}

That's why you see so many threads and text message exchanges where the manager is begging their workers to come to work. If the worker doesn't come in… It's going to be even more unpaid hours that the manager has to work. The unprofessional turn these conversations often take isn't helped by the fact that these managers are unqualified to manage people and were just the lunk they could line up for the job.

It doesn't make it right; when you're in charge of people, it's your duty (to an extent) to ensure they are professionally looked after and that the business you're managing is conducted safely. This manager's texts don't carry the impotent demands of the others we've seen emerge, but they do present their own problem. You can't just go begging your delivery driver to make close contact with 200 customers over 200 stops while dreadfully ill. 

Still, the situation presents a catch-22 for the manager, who is wedged in a stress sandwich between living up to their boss's expectations and doing the right thing — give a guess as to which side of the sandwich usually gives out first.

Keep that thumb or forefinger scrolling to see the screenshots below (it's a quick one.) For more, check out this hypocritical manager who tried to tell their worker that there was no such thing as a day off right before telling the worker not to message them on their day off.