Y'know, when I call work at 11pm and tell them I've been throwing up and won't be in the next day, it's because I'm sure I won't be fine by tomorrow. Granted, that was complete B.S., but I'm still really annoyed that the silly C-word from HR had the audacity to say, "What, you won't be better by tomorrow?" Then she grills me about what time I'm supposed to come in–"Noon," I told her. "Noon to what?" "I don't remember right now." I really couldn't and I didn't have my planner on hand. (4 or 4:30? Later? No, 4:30.)

I could feel the tsk! and eye-roll behind her words. As if they don't have the schedules there… All that hassle over a 4 hour mid-shift that doesn't technically need to be covered because there'd be another person there before I got there and another person coming in before I left.

I've been working there for about 5 months with no call-offs, no write-ups…and no valid customer complaints and yet they treat me like a child over the phone when I tell them I'm sick. If I'd really been sick, she would have been hassling me over it just the same. I gave her no reason to believe I'd lie about it–even though I actually was.

This is the stuff that makes me depressed about working in retail. Snotty customers come and go, but high-and-mighty HR bitches and overly-demanding management… that's what makes it so demeaning. The truth is, I'd have never called off if I wasn't on the brink of exhaustion from not getting a proper day off since X-mas. I'd have eventually called in sick for real and then been extra pissed because I can't afford to see a doctor and the HR broad was treating me so disdainfully. Who hassles them when they call in sick? Right. No one, because they're better than us piece-of-trash sales associates.

Truth is, I'm a good employee. I've done everything possible to be the person who gets things done and stays for a few extra hours and comes in on days off–the person my bosses can be sure of and it makes absolutely NO DIFFERENCE at all.

I really miss my job at the school. If I called off, it was only because I was really sick or because my car was really sick. They'd just say, "Okay, feel better" or "Okay, good luck with the car", not "Tsk! What, you won't be better by tomorrow?" or "Tsk! What, you can't just get a ride?"

God(dess), I'm not meant to work for other people, and this seems to be all there is right now. At least I have time to do some writing. There's always that.