Manager asks employee with a 101-degree fever to come into work, demands a doctor's note if he misses more than 2 days of work: 'The age of "get well soon" has officially ended.'

Author image for Emmy Pratt
Emmy Pratt • Senior Editor
May 24, 2026 7:45 AM EDT

The manager does not care about his employee's well-being. 

When you call out sick from work, there are really only two kinds of responses you can get from your manager. They will either say, "Get well soon!" or, "Are you really so sick that you can't come into work?" If you've never worked for the latter company, consider yourself lucky. 

Many companies have designated sick time for employees to use, so they don't feel the need to badger them about their exact symptoms. When a company doesn't offer sick time and relies on shift workers, they are more likely to question employees who call out sick. Managers are annoyed at having to find someone to cover the sick employee's shift, and they might have been burned before by employees claiming to be sick when they weren't. Even if that's so, it doesn't give them an excuse to be unreasonable to their sick employees and demand that they come in anyway. I don't want a sick waiter to serve me food. I would rather wait 90 minutes for my food than get it in 30 minutes and get the flu three days later. A 3-star review for slow service is not worth infecting the rest of your coworkers and customers alike. 

The employee in this story thought he was cool with his manager, until his manager started bothering him for calling out of work when he had a 101-degree fever. Does his manager want to get sick?

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  • Sick man lying in bed wearing pajama suffering cold and winter flu
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    A sick man recovers at home while his manager harasses him to come into work, even though he has a fever. 

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • The age of "get well soon" has officially ended.

    Today I'm not really feeling well. I truly very rarely call in sick but I have no choice. Send my manager pics of my 101 fever temp readings the night before, tell him "yo, didn't think it was happening but it's happening."
    via u/lilant702
  • Immediately he asks if I'm calling out or if I can come in or do a partial shift. I say I really just wanna get better soon, so I'm calling out. Tell him thanks and all that. I let
    via u/lilant702
  • him know I'm probably gonna need a few days and all he says is "You need a doctor's note if you're two or more days out sick."
    via u/lilant702
  • Senior doctor with tablet in his office writing
    via Getty Images (Unsplash+)

    The doctor writes a note for an employee who has been out of work for more than two days.

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • The sad thing is, me and this dude are cool at work. We get along very well, we interact a lot, no problems whatsoever. But like the fact that someone is willing to throw all respect out the door over the fact that I got sick? Is this really what we've come to?
    via u/lilant702
  • A man holding two plates of food in a kitchen
    via Vladislav Anchuk

    The manager happily interacts with his employee before berating him for taking a sick day.

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • The more I think about it, honestly the harder it bears on me. How am I supposed to keep trusting people when something so little can turn one against their own kind?
    via u/lilant702
  • CommunityGlittering2 as someone who has never needed a doctors note, what is the note for? To prove that someone is sick or to let them know it's ok for the sick person to go back to work, or both?
    via u/CommunityGlittering2
  • monkeybuttsauce Gotta prove you're sick. Even though most of the time you're not sick enough to need a doctor, but sick enough to get your coworkers sick. Bosses want to inconvenience you for taking time off basically. It also costs money to go to the doctor for the note. You must pay for your crimes of missing work
    via u/monkeybuttsauce
  • SLickkwetwillY96 Literally paying for the note might be the worst part... Like yes I'm sick and can recover fine resting at home on NyQuil. I don't need my doc to tell you that for me like a kiddo going to school
    via u/SLickkwetwillY96
  • NK1337 For what it's worth most places won't really do any verifying, they just want that piece of paper as verification. So in theory one could just give them a fake doctors note on official looking letterhead and that'll be it.
    via u/NK1337
  • Loud Ad 594 This is the way. With the HIPPA laws even of they call your doctors office, they can't give out any of your info.
    via u/Loud_Ad_594
  • BlueOrbifolia Not entirely true. Any data that YOU hand over willingly is now as good as public. So make sure your doctor note is generic and vague. A coworker turned in his bill from the emergency room. They were allowed to use all that personal information against him. It was a hot mess.
    via u/BlueOrbifolia
  • Imaginary-Friend-228 I know you think sending pics etc increases your credibility, but it really just screams 'I'm a pushover who is willing to debate this'. Next time just say "I'm too sick to work today" and save the back and forth
    via u/Imaginary-Friend-228
  • mountain_man36 As a manager the only justification I need or want is that your not coming in. I never ask or recommend you tell me why your sick. If my manager asks why your out I don't want the additional information. When I call out sick I send a message or email just stating I will be out sick today nothing else and you don't need to give them a reason.
    via u/mountain_man36
  • yulbrynnersmokes You and this dude are not cool. You're a worker. He's showing you that he's the company and has plenty more evil left in the warehouse.
    via u/yulbrynnersmokes
  • buzzcutbabygirl Management is never, ever your friend. And I've been one before - it's lonely but good managers don't act like they're trying to be.
    via u/buzzcutbabygirl

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employee manager work doctor fever PTO sick boss note trust
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