9 months of earned personal time used up in 3 days

[joannemaria]

I do not understand how working parents with multiple kids do this. Our son is our only and started preschool. He got sick Saturday with a fever and congestion. Monday I take him to his pediatrician, it’s not strep or covid so we get to ride it out. Fast forward to Wednesday, the fever is gone but he is still feeling too crummy to go to school.

At this point I’ve exhausted most of my personal time for one lousy bug, which I have now acquired. I’m part-time so I only accrue 2 hours a month. Since he doesn’t have a fever I sent him to my parents and I’m going to try to make it through the day at work, but what happens if he gets sick again?? Maybe I apply for FMLA. That way I won’t get fired. I won’t get paid, but I won’t get fired.

I don’t know. I’m sleep deprived from trying to sleep upright, groggy from medication, I’m sore from coughing my lungs out all night, and my nose is running like faucet which should make wearing a mask for 8 hours just super. Maybe when the sun comes up things will seem more clear, but at the moment it feels like parents of children who work get a raw deal.

 

[moreruthlessjezebel]

@joannemaria We have the same issue today. I have some PTO, but it all needs to be saved for my kids dr appointments/sicknesses/etc. I feel sick as fck, but I can’t take off for me bc I need all my PTO for them.

Fuck the corporate world. How can they tell us how many hours we need off?

 

[thomaseubanks]

@joannemaria UGH. I am a single mom of 3 and just put my middle kid in kindergarten. I thought maaaaaybe I could work from home a little now. In the last month alone there was a week of a cold, a week of quarantine from covid exposure, a second stomach bug that had me going to school midday to pick kids up THREE times, election day no school, and then my daughter got a UTI that meant no school and doctors visits. I literally cannot anymore. If i worked an in person job I would be fired the first week.

 

[agnieszka1988]

@joannemaria I took a job that pays less than industry standard but I accrue almost 3 days off PTO each month. I figure whether I get paid less but get paid days off, or get paid more but lose pay after inevitably running out of PTO, it balances out.

 

[joannemaria]

@agnieszka1988 3 days a month!!!!! That’s amazing. And totally worth it. I can’t even imagine. In the crappy retail world they’ll just write you up if you’re out of personal time. After so many write ups you’re let go. Obviously it’s not the case 100% of the time, but on paper that’s what it’s supposed to look like.

 

[agnieszka1988]

@joannemaria I remember my retail days. No way I could do it with kids even though I worked for a 'family oriented' small business. I had one coworker who would take her lunch at 2:30 every day to go pick up her kid from school and he would hang out in the back office doing homework until her shift ended. At least he was old enough to entertain himself.

 

[janetdoe]

@joannemaria Ugh. My trick is to twist half a tissue into a screw and shove it up my nostril. One on each side. That’s my hack for actually being able to sleep with a runny nose. It should also work under a mask.