Boss Shows Up At Employee’s Front Door To Tell Him To Get Dressed & Come To Work After He Called In Sick
“Let’s put it this way — If you don’t come in, don’t come in again,” his boss threatened.
Prostock-studio / Shutterstock After an employee called out sick, he heard a knock at his front door. He never could have imagined the unwanted guest he would find waiting outside.
The man’s boss showed up at his doorstep and insisted that he come to work despite the man having called out sick.
A TikTok video depicted the Ring camera footage from the man’s front door when his boss arrived hours after he called out. When the man answered the door by talking into the Ring camera's microphone, his boss replied, “Oh good, you’re there!” He then asked if the man was ready and dressed to go to work.
Confused, the man reiterated to his boss that he was sick and could not come to work. Still, his boss ignored him. “Get dressed and we can go,” he said.
“Terry, I’ve already called in saying I can’t come in today,” the man clarified. However, Terry was not taking no for an answer.
“We’re desperate, and we’ve got a job and without you, we can’t finish it,” he said. “So get your kit and let’s go.”
When the man once again told his boss that he was sick and bedridden, his boss claimed that other employees had also called out yet they were still coming in. “It can’t be that bad!” the boss said of the man’s illness. “If we don’t do this job, we’re gonna lose a lot of money.”
When the man told him for a final time that he could not and would not be coming into work, his boss threatened to terminate him from his job. “Let’s put it this way — If you don’t come in, don’t come in again,” he told the man.
People online were horrified by the boss' actions.
Ben Askins, a content creator who often responds to work drama stories, could not believe what he just watched unfold.
“How bad of a manager do you have to be to be to think, he’s called in sick, do you know what I’m gonna do? I’m gonna go to his house, knock on his door, and just badger him through the doorbell until he comes to work,” Askins said in a TikTok video reacting to the Ring camera footage. “That’s your way to create morale and build a proper team?”
Commenters agreed with Askins's assessment.
“That has to be illegal,” one TikToker commented.
“They’re so short-staffed that he’s showing up to employees' homes yet not so short-staffed to tell him not to come back?” another user questioned.
Others shared their own horror stories about their bosses demanding that they show up for work despite calling out.
“I once called in because my daughter was sick and my boss came to the door and asked to see her,” one user revealed.
"My husband's boss-boss showed up at our house about 10 minutes after he called out... for UPS," another wrote.
"My husband's boss drove by one day he called in sick and yelled at him because his car wasn't there," another user shared. "He was at the doctor."
An employer should respect their employees' privacy and boundaries.
None of us plan to get sick. While it’s unfortunate that it does happen — and sometimes our jobs are left short-handed because of it — no sick employee should ever be forced to come into work nor should their boss show up at their doorstep demanding they come in.
Photo: baranq / Shutterstock
Unexpected visits to an employee's home by an employer without prior arrangement could be considered an invasion of privacy and may not comply with employment laws or regulations.
Not to mention that if a sick employee comes into work, they could infect the rest of the staff. Then the company will really struggle to hold the fort down and have enough employees to keep it up and running.
Megan Quinn is a writer at YourTango who covers entertainment and news, self, love, and relationships.