Woman's Job Wouldn't Let Her Call out So She Could Tend to Her Sick Kids

To say the workforce is crazy right now is a true understatement. Many companies are only staffing just enough people to keep the doors open. Rarely do they have ample coverage, which means when one person calls out, it puts the entire shift in jeopardy, especially if there’s no one available to fill the gap.

At the same time, people do have to call out sometimes, whether it’s for a doctor’s appointment or to care for sick kids. That’s the whole point of PTO and sick leave — so you can use it when you need it. But for Jessica on TikTok (@atrustedadult2.0), when she called out to care for her sick kids, she was later told she still needed to come in. Um … what? And how? Here’s her story and some of the surprising comments her video generated.

Jessica’s TikTok is pretty aggravating, so if you’re a parent, be prepared to get a little heated. Her video opens with her explaining that she had to call out of work two hours before her shift because her kids were sick and she had nobody to watch them. Totally understandable.

It sounds like one of those situations where the kids woke up sick out of nowhere, and she was left scrambling with no time to arrange child care, and obviously, she can’t just leave them home alone. Fine.

But then, about an hour and a half later, she gets a call from a woman named Gabby. She misses the call because, well, she’s busy caring for her sick kids, which, let’s be honest, is a full-time job in and of itself.

So she listens to the voicemail, and Gabby says she spoke with (presumably) a higher-up, and that they still want Jessica to come in. "After speaking with Alicia, she would still like you to come in … please give me a call," advises Gabby.

Jessica responds sarcastically in the video, saying, "I said I wasn’t coming in." Then adds, "I know you would like me to." But like … what exactly is this mom supposed to do?

Leave her sick kids home alone? Hold her own personal "Take Your Child to Work Day" (is that even still a thing anymore?)? To top it off, Jessica says, "This is the first time that I’ve called out." It sounds like maybe Jessica's employer should cut her some slack.

Most people in the comments agreed Jessica was entitled to the day off, especially because it wasn’t like she was lounging by the pool or binge-watching Netflix in bed all day. She had a valid, legitimate reason: Her kids were sick.

But one person dropped a pretty shocking take that made it sound like they’d be the "Alicia" in this situation or maybe just don’t have kids. They wrote, "YOUR kids are not your employer’s problem. YOU are responsible to find child care. If YOU can’t do your job and be there as SCHEDULED, you should get FIRED."

Whew. That’s a bold thing to say to someone who rarely takes time off and was juggling a round of sick kids. While I can sort of see where they’re coming from, as yes, parents should ideally be at work as scheduled and have childcare lined up, this was clearly an isolated case and should be treated as such.