AITA for walking out on my job?

A waitress who had been hospitalized in the ICU is penalized by her employer for calling off work, despite notifying her boss in advance. After being informed of the punishment, she refuses to sign the paperwork and walks out. Now, her coworkers and boss are calling her out, and she’s questioning whether she overreacted.

‘ AITA for walking out on my job?’

I(29f) work as a waitress at a restaurant with a point system. It’s 1 point if you are late, 3 points to call off with notice, and 5 points for calling off within 4 hours of your shift. This is fine with me as I have no points this year and have only called off once since 2018. I’m the type who covers shifts, stays late and generally just go to do my job.

Last week, I ended up calling off and was out for a week due to being hospitalized in the ICU with a horrible infection. I let my boss know at 2am that I was being sent out by helicopter and kept her informed of everything going on. Today was my first day back. I’m not 100% yet but like many places, we are short staffed. When I came in today, I opened and got to work.

My boss came in 2 hours later and called me into her office. She informed me I was getting 8 points, losing my discounts and bonuses for 90 days, and was on probation. I was dumbfounded and told her I wasn’t signing the papers as it was out of my control. She said if I didn’t, I would be terminated. I told her not to bother and walked out.

I’m now getting calls and texts from her and my coworkers saying they need me and I was an ass for quiting over something so small. My husband thinks I was in the right because it was ridiculous that I was getting punished for almost dying.. AITA?

Check out how the community responded:

[Reddit User] −  NTA. You were so sick that you needed to be airlifted by helicopter and relocated to seek special treatment outside of where you currently live, which is well outside of your control. Then you went above and beyond, by keeping your boss in the loop the whole time as if your boss were part of your family, something you should not have had to do. Lastly, as a favor to them, even though you’re not 100% better, you still made the effort to come in.

And what do they do? They take away your perks and threaten you with termination. Not only are you not the a**hole, but you should also be proud of yourself. You stood up for yourself. And it would seem you called their bluff since now they want you back. Do not go back. I have a family member (cousin) who is working as a server in a restaurant (dinner) and I really would love to see them do the same.

RaysUnderwater −  NTA x 1000!!!! An employer penalising a staff member in good standing for nearly dying. You were even being considerate enough to communicate during the whole ordeal. Employers keep saying “people don’t want to work” …. But then treating them like they’re not people. Your country needs more unions. This should never have happened.

[Reddit User] −  NTA. You left a toxic environment, and you do not owe those people a thing. Going to the hospital isn’t something “small” and shouldn’t be punished. I’m glad you’re away from boss and coworkers now.

Distorted_Penguin −  NTA. Calling out with notice gets you “points”? This just perpetuates people coming to work sick or putting work above their own mental or physical health and family. Glad you got out.

[Reddit User] −  NTA. The market is such that you can find another job easily. Do that and don’t look back. An employer who would do this to you deserves to be short staffed.

karmagrl31276 −  Report the restaurant to the labor board or your countries equivalent. In the US, this type of thing is illegal. Edit: After looking it up, I discovered it isn’t illegal in most states. I was under the assumption that it was because another coworker told me it was at my first job and pretty much every place I’ve worked at had that policy in their handbook so I never questioned it.

I should have researched this just to be sure before I commented, so I apologize for that. I would like to stress that you should always read your employee handbook front to back because if you are written up for anything by mistake, that handbook might save your livelihood.

Free2Aloha −  NTA. How are they gonna threaten to fire you then get upset when you quit? Tell your coworkers to quit too. Tell them it’s your managers fault.

bureaucratic_drift −  NTA – let your local TV news stations know about this.

[Reddit User] −  NTA. I’d say YTA (to yourself) if you didn’t quit that job. They clearly don’t give af about you or anyone else. Good for you!

xpotential31 −  NTA. That is ridiculous! It’s hardly like you had a choice in the matter. Would you go back if the points were waived?