I think this is an everywhere thing because it has more to do with the type of person rather than the company itself. Many fast food/retail places understaff and don’t account for call outs so when it does happen they act like it’s the end of the world.

I don’t think you’re being too sensitive. To assume someone is lying about being sick when they have a history of being reliable is just... gross imo. Kind of unprofessional.

Qt my old store, I had called out ONCE. I couldnt even move without throwing up. It was a closing shift-4-930pm. I called at noon saying id been throwing up since 4am, and I couldn't move without throwing up. The shift basically told me it sucks to suck and to be in. So I laid around til I had to leave, got up slowly got dressed, got sick, and got in my car and tried to make it the literal 3 min to my store. I couldnt. I threw up all over my steering wheel (still not sure why I didnt bring a bucket but thats besides the point now. I drive a new car and don't have to worry about it. It also got detailed sometime later)... I went home crying. I took a picture of my steering wheel, sent it to my shift and my sm (who was understanding af) with the caption "X wanted me to still come in despite me saying I was sick. I tried" and turned off my phone.

You're hardly being sensitive at all! I know the feeling of going to work after a car accident.. I was legitimately run over by a car crossing the street and I called my manager to tell her I may need to go to the hospital for a while and she told me to find coverage... Couldn't so I worked. Now in what works is something like that okay? You EARNED your place in getting a pass on a call out. At least it wasn't a no call no show. You've accumulated sick time for a reason and this is it. Plus starbucks requires anyone to stay home if they have diarrhea or vomiting due to listeria outbreaks anyway. Plus they hung up on you? Do they even want their job?

You're not being too sensitive, and your manager sounds like a dick. If it's an option to transfer stores I would if I were you because I have never once had a manager be that blantly rude and callous.

First of all. This is part of the reason I don’t go to Taco Bell. That and I question what some of their food is actually made of but not the point.

Second if you’re throwing up don’t even bother trying to get ready for work. I get it. If I get a cold I’m on something for allergies, a nasal decongestant and DayQuil before work. I also kept one or two doses of DayQuil in my work bag to take if I forgot before I left home. Accidentally took NyQuil before work once.

Third people don’t always take things as a joke. I call myself a dumbass or tell people to get out/go away because I’m taking over their position and they’re done, going on a break or elsewhere. Now my coworkers know me well enough to know I am joking but I also say I’m kidding or you know I’m joking right? Maybe they didn’t know it was a joke. Your manager shouldn’t have thrown that back at you because you can tell when someone feels like shit and if you sounded as miserable as you felt then it should’ve been obvious.

Ah I remember showing up to one of my Opening shifts with a sm and I threw up in the parking lot and they're like "just clock in I'm sure you'll start to feel better later" lol

I don’t understand managers who are so rude about partners getting sick, especially since we handle people’s food. If your store is doing Covid coach like they should, you would’ve been sent home anyways. I got a sore throat a couple of days ago and covid coach sent me home, I couldn’t work even though I wanted to.
This is definitely something that depends on managers, at my previous job anytime I called out sick I got chastised and bothered about proof, etc. Now with my amazing SM I’ve been able to take 3 shifts off using my sick time and have never once been made to feel bad about it.

So many of those situations you describe are legit reasons to call out sick. And I would completely support someone for doing it. You shouldn't come to work if you are sick or injured.

If my manager doubted me like that I would send them a text of the the vomit. I find it absolutely obnoxious how often I hear stories about managers doubting partners when they call out sick. It's behavior like that which contributes to us being in the pandemic because employees hesitate to use sick time when they really are entitled to use it.

This isn't just starbucks, this is most places of work. And the only thing I've seen help at all is having a union agreement that prohibits managers from pulling this kind of BS.

The one time I’ve called out for being sick my SM screamed at me and made me sob over the phone. It took until I physically couldn’t breathe for her to actually let me stay home.

What more do they expect? A picture of your vomit?!

I called out because I get ovarian cysts. One of them popped and I would have intense moments of pain where I couldn’t stand or walk and would almost fall over. My manager texted me after I called and said, and I quote, “you have to find yourself coverage or you have to come in.” I was really debating going to the hospital just out of spite. I was sobbing and in pain and was unable to find myself coverage, so it’s the managers/shift on duty’s job (as the handbook states). So, the fact that my manager refused to find me coverage when I should’ve gone to the hospital was fucking ridiculous. (A shift who wasn’t even working found me coverage.)