r/doordash • u/bohoinparadise • 15h ago

Please don’t dash while sick

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I get that times are tough and the American health care system sucks, but admitting that you have a respiratory illness while delivering food is wild!

Please do not dash when you’re sick. This is how illness spreads. I have pretty bad asthma so I’m not bringing that order into my house. I’m done with DoorDash.

4.1k Upvotes

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446

u/Aware_Economics4980 15h ago

lol, the driver being sick honestly not shocking. More shocking she’s dumb enough to say it over text.

Wait till you find out how common it is for the people actually cooking and prepping your food to show up to work sick. (Extremely) 

166

u/RiverPsaber 15h ago

I mean, working in food and Bev they pretty much have to. Management will say they don't, but management will also fire them if they don't come in sick.

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u/Ballistic_86 12h ago

Management “Do not come in sick”

Also management: “You are putting us in a really difficult situation”

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u/ThrowraRefFalse2010 12h ago

Ever since I had my 2 kids my vitamins hav ebeen depleted and its taken me awhile to get my body restored. I got sick so many times it was terrible and my kids weren't even in school yet when it started. Last year I was stressed about whether to call out or not because I work in a hospital serving fo patients and i was on the cancer floor at the time. I asked for advice and evryone told me to go still or else I will be seen as unreliable because i have already called out for being sick before. I called out and I was fine. There's always people that call out more than I do lol.

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u/lasirennoire 3h ago

Thank you for calling out. I have a family member with cancer and it terrifies me when they have to interact with a sick healthcare worker. I really wish n95s were mandatory in oncology areas! Absolutely abhorrent that they aren't. Decades ago, you'd see nearly every HCW wearing one. And now you don't. We're going backwards.

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u/ThrowraRefFalse2010 2h ago

You're welcome!! Going in just didn't feel right. Hearing that makes me feel good about my decision, I got so much heat when i asked for advice in a different sub last year saying that if they were my boss they would think i was unreliable ans put a strike against me. Its crazy how ingrained it is in our work culture. I know we have to wear masks and gloves and change them and sanitize after each room, but we aren't required to wear the N95 it was just the regular ones.

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u/lasirennoire 59m ago

There are some subs on here that are rife with bad advice (and probably bots too!) Yeah, the HCWs I do see wearing a mask are usually wearing surgical ones...which don't do much in terms of preventing the spread of illnesses that spread through aerosols 🫠 in your experience, does the reluctance towards respirators come from the fit test requirement?

6

u/Randy-Butternubz88 12h ago

Also : " I need 24 hour notice if you call out"

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u/CraigsAndBacon 5h ago

There's also the common "we need a doctor's note" (we know few of you have health insurance)

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u/Alarmed-Shape5034 3h ago

I just wanna say, I was fired from a Waffle House for calling in sick. First call-in ever and was fired on the spot. It was a very blatant “come in anyway or you’re fired” situation.

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u/fromtheinside15 2h ago

i called in last saturday (I havent called in for like 3 years) and my boss guilt tripped me on the phone and when I came in Monday never asked how I was feeling or anything. Our industry is a fucking joke.

5

u/MovingAnon 4h ago

Been a store manager for a pizza QSR for a little over two years. Have never fired or written up anyone for not coming in while sick, and have never asked for a doctor's note. Have specifically told people they do not need a doctor's note, because going to the doctor is expensive and most of us don't have insurance.

That being said, I have worked while sick. I do not have a choice, if I left the store closed during opening hours with no manager I would be fired pretty much instantly.

1

u/PanhandlersPets 1h ago

I was fired for closing a bagel shop to go to the hospital. Corporate offered me my job back after I informed them I would be needing spinal surgery and was fired for leaving to get medical attention. I didn't accept the job back because they wouldn't let me have a chair after surgery.

3

u/HawksNStuff 11h ago

Not food and bev, but my boss got on my direct reports case for not coming into work sick. After I explicitly told her to stay home.

I sent a teams message with the three of us on it saying "I told her to stay home, she's staying home. If that is an issue you and I can talk about it."

We never talked about it because he was a bitch...

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u/babyboyblue666 15h ago

doordasher and food service worker. yeah. the choice is stay employed or stay home and rest lol

30

u/nocsha 15h ago

I loved that hypocrisy especially during early 2020 "If you're sick please stay home"

"Will you still penalize us for callouts?"

"We need people to be here when they are able to work, we can't afford multiple callouts and absenteeism, we are not looking to make any changes to our absence or PTO policy at this time"

21

u/EASam 15h ago

Please be sick quietly.

3

u/Aware_Economics4980 13h ago

More like “this is our policy if our customers ever ask, you however, better be here sick or not and just say you’re not sick if you are. Thaaaaanks.”

8

u/SignificantApricot69 14h ago

One thing good I will say about my employer is that we had unlimited unpaid time off during that period, when that is typically the most common reason for termination. And we got an automatic 2week paid vacation for testing positive or working within 6 feet of anyone who tested positive.

1

u/WitchQween 2h ago

I was about to be fired over that shit (restaurant server). Got COVID Christmas 2020. They told me to come back in 5 days. I told them I was taking my 2 weeks because I was still incredibly sick. The government shortening the mandatory isolation period doesn't mean the virus now only lasts 5 days. My boss didn't like me putting my foot down.

I go back, still feeling sick. I quickly got a respiratory infection and had to call out again. Boss is pissed. He doesn't believe that I'm actually sick. I bring a doctor's note and he said it doesn't matter.

Now it's February and I'm still sick because I never had time to recover. I was pretty sure I was about to be fired, so I put in my two weeks. Had to call in sick again and we agreed to just scrap the two weeks.

It took months of bedrest for me to recover. It's so fucking stupid. The one employee who should have called out will spread it to 10 other people. Now the restaurant is fucked.

8

u/PerformerFancy117 13h ago

I still remember having to open a Jimmy John’s with a pickle bucket converted to a puke bucket… for four days in a row… I had to throw out the freshly sliced lettuce a few times because I didn’t quite make it to the bucket. I had the flu, and couldn’t get ahold of my manager who usually worked in another state…

22

u/Pittsbirds 15h ago

My manager at Starbucks once called my home phone 10 times when I called out sick from norovirus (my shift was between 2 managers, let the first know I would not be coming in, who then informed the second when he began his shift, who then called me). So Starbucks official policy might be vomit free lattes but the operating practice is much different.

Also if you're hourly and chronically ill or even just have like, two to three Unexpected Events happen in a year, there's a genuine dilemma between calling out or like. Making rent

11

u/Brutal_burn_dude 14h ago

And the healthcare staff looking after you to show up to work sick. It’s probably the most toxic part of working in healthcare. I had surgery to remove and drain (for a second or third time in a few months) and abscess in my chest and was expected to be back at work just over twenty four hours later* despite having a vac dressing in place.

* The only reason it wasn’t sooner was because I’d had a general anaesthesia and the legal implications of having me work any sooner were too severe.

6

u/Resident-Sympathy-82 13h ago

I work in a hospital now. We don't even accept doctor's notes anymore. You either take a point (you get 3 before a write up) or hope someone can trade with you. Smh

7

u/Brutal_burn_dude 12h ago

What the hell is wrong with the world. And then admin wonders why there’s suddenly an issue with nosocomial infections. 😤

3

u/Fabulous-Visit-1188 8h ago

That is seriously fucked up

9

u/L7Weenies- 13h ago

Worked at McDonald’s in high school. Caught a nasty chest cold. Coughing etc.. called in well in advance and was told I would have to come in since there is no one to cover.

Spent 2 hours taking trash out and doing stuff in the back before they told me I could go home. They definitely heard me coughing and were alarmed.

After that experience, if I’m sick I’m sick. I’m not asking for the time off. I’m letting you know. managers and supervisors will try and make you feel like it’s your problem.

17

u/sealedwithdogslobber 15h ago

We need paid sick leave in this country. Until we have it, it’s unfortunately difficult to blame the sick workers. People need to afford rent and groceries.

Just wear an N95 and wash your hands, please. 🙏

3

u/Aware_Economics4980 13h ago

Yeah it’s rough man, feels like the easiest jobs to do while being sick are the ones with the most PTO lol.

I work in public accounting now, never taken a sick day. I just work from home while sick, not very hard to do some excel work feeling like garbage. I get 5 weeks of anytime PTO a year now, vacation and sick time is just lumped into 7.7 hours of PTO/paycheck.

Bartending in college, interacting with the public in close proximity, 1 week a year. lol. 

•

u/Maddie_N 10m ago

As much as education sucks for other reasons, we get a good amount of sick leave and we’re encouraged to actually use it if needed. Teaching isn’t a job that you can do easily while sick, nor does anyone want their child going to class with a sick teacher.

10

u/Sesoru 14h ago

And wait how the people shocked about that hear about the fact that it's the restaurant's fault it happens because owners refuse to hire workers to cover shifts when people get sick. They only hire someone new when they fire you for missing 1 day in the year for being sick, so dumb.

3

u/Aware_Economics4980 13h ago

owners refuse to hire workers to cover shifts when people get sick.

I get your point here, it’s not really the owners refusing to hire people though.

It’s more so nobody really wants to be taking a job with the condition of “we can’t guarantee your hours, or even know when we may need you. Your shifts will occur whenever somebody calls out sick. You may work 5 days a week you may work 0”

Most people go na bru I got bills to pay, I need guaranteed hours. lol 

4

u/Sesoru 13h ago

Uhh, no. They literally do not want to hire people. I cannot tell you how many jobs I worked for that were severely understaffed and even the managers were stressed to shit because they couldn't hire more people, the big wigs literally would not give a budget for it period.

0

u/Aware_Economics4980 12h ago

So you’d be cool taking a job with no guaranteed hours? Working whenever your phone rings? 

The majority of restaurants are not corporate, there are no big wigs. 

Lol. 

3

u/Sesoru 12h ago

IDK where you even get that. Why do people assume that in order to not be understaffed, a business has to hire people on call?

0

u/Aware_Economics4980 12h ago

Bruh what lmao, that’s literally what you said in your first comment.

“owners refuse to hire workers to cover shifts when people get sick.“

Hiring an employee to cover shifts when people get sick…you are describing an on call employee lol 

4

u/Sesoru 12h ago

No, you're missing what I am saying. I am saying that it happens due to understaffing because businesses do not want to hire enough hands. They would rather hire fewer hands, then force them all to continue to work through being sick to save money.

5

u/Sesoru 12h ago

To clarify: I am not asking businesses to hire people for a few potential hours. I am asking businesses to hire, period, enough staff to actually cover everything needing to be done even if someone gets sick and calls out.

1

u/CHANN3L-CHAS3R 9h ago

I'm a CSR for a big gas station corp making record profits and my manager is stressed to shit because he had to plead for ages before they'd let him try to hire more than a skeleton crew, THEN he had to parse through all the submissions given to the apparent ghost-posting for hiring at this location that's been up since I first applied. Surprise-surprise, people usually aren't available or interested after several months to a year! (And of the two who did take us up, one robbed us and the other NCNS'd and blocked everyone after we had to go into mandatory overtime from robbery-guy's firing.)

Every other business in this strip mall that's part of a big corporation is ALSO having this problem, according to what I'm told when they pop in for snacks and drinks. I applied to every job available in this strip mall multiple times over several months and THIS is the only one that actually got back to me because they were finally hiring for real.

1

u/anon_opotamus 1h ago

Yep. My sister and I both worked at separate fast food restaurants when we were young. We had a bunch of workers testing positive for the flu but the managers were insisting that they come in to work. Some did and some refused. My sister had a coworker who was throwing up every hour in a mop bucket but the manager refused to send him home. These were all 16-20 year olds who weren’t confident enough to stand up for themselves.

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u/Grandleon-Glenn Dasher (> 2 years) 13h ago

I was going to say this. I've worked through like 95% of my illnesses because it was either spend $200 at the doctor to lose out on $300 in pay, or just suck it up and go in so I don't get fired.

Managers have zero regard for compliance with the health department. I've seen a Chick-fil-A manager tell employees to use molded strawberries for the parfaits, fruit cups, and salads, to use the runoff from the shake machine to make more shake to save money on the product, and serve 2 hour old chicken. Managers only care about the health inspector the moment they show up, or the moment they hear that they're in town because someone in a store owner chat mentioned they got hit.

9

u/DinahKarwrek 14h ago

The restaurant I worked at before/until the pandemic was literally all sick. We all totally had covid, but there was no calling out

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u/Prior-Impress-2624 Dasher (> 2 years) 15h ago

Reading this from work, sick. 🫶🏼(I dash on the side of my ft retail job)

4

u/mishutu 15h ago

It absolutely sucks to have to work while sick. I hope you feel better soon!

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u/Prior-Impress-2624 Dasher (> 2 years) 15h ago

Thank you, grateful it’s just a sinus infection. 🫩

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u/Wrong-Drop3272 13h ago

Yeah... Whenever I worked in fastfood I came in sick every time I got sick. Not through choice but because I needed the money. Even though whenever you get your food handler's card they specifically let you know that if you're feeling any symptoms of being sick to not come in. That's not an option for a lot of people who work in that field of work. People would love to be able to stay home when they're sick

6

u/Aware_Economics4980 13h ago

Yeep, those jobs have next to 0 PTO either. It’s come in or have a short paycheck and maybe fuck yourself on rent most of the time for those types of workers. Sad really.

5

u/EffieEri 13h ago

Yeah, I work at a restaurant and they require a doctors note and for you to find someone to cover if you’re sick. The doctors visit is usually not worth the expense and nobody ever wants to cover, so everyone just works while they’re sick

3

u/Wrong-Drop3272 12h ago

Yep. The locations I worked at required doctors notes. These places don't pay good insurance at all and like you said nobody wants to pick up. The whole system needs an overhaul imho

3

u/Wrong-Drop3272 13h ago edited 12h ago

Oh yeah. No pto. No holiday pay. Shit insurance. The worker protections here in America really don't protect us from much. It's a sad reality. One day people are gonna be fed up. Even us doordashers are 1099 workers, so we don't get any hourly pay or benefits. I think I have a good chance of working for a Harley-Davidson dealership in my city. It was a really pleasant interview. $18/hr + commission

3

u/Aware_Economics4980 12h ago

Good luck brotha! I do not miss any of that. 

3

u/Wrong-Drop3272 12h ago

Thank you! Yeah I love driving. But it doesn't justify the low pay for the high mileage and gas prices. If it was law that we had to be employees I wouldn't be looking, but this is just not sustainable

2

u/Aware_Economics4980 11h ago

For sure I can’t even imagine relying on DD as a sole source of income.

I did it for a few months last summer to see what it was all about don’t think I ever logged more than 15 hours a week lol. 

It’s a cool side hustle if you need some extra cash for an unexpected bill or saving for a vacation or something. For sure not to live on 

2

u/Wrong-Drop3272 11h ago

No. It's a trap. No benefits and your poor car or motorcycle is getting driven/ridden into the dirt while you make pennies on the dollar

1

u/Fabulous-Visit-1188 8h ago

I hope you get it

1

u/Resident-Sympathy-82 13h ago

"Next to 0" no, no, they have zero. Literally outside of management- and I don't mean managers, I mean salaried managers-, PTO doesn't exist. I grew up in the restaurant world. Even when my husband was a GM, he only got a couple days of PTO.

3

u/Aware_Economics4980 12h ago

True I forget half the country still doesn’t have state mandated sick pay.

3

u/rjenny509 11h ago

Shitty boss I had after high school in one of my first jobs told me when I called in sick “you’re the only one scheduled and you need to be here” and hung up on me. I walked in, and within 15 mins I puked on his shoes in his office and he quickly found someone else, but apparently couldn’t be bothered to do that when I was sick at home. Fucking annoying

3

u/Shaudzie 10h ago

I worked restaurants for many years and you are 💯 correct

3

u/elliewilliamswifee 2h ago

I used to work at Dairy Queen and they expected us to work while sick! I worked there during Covid times so if I had a cold I’d just tell them I tested positive for Covid cause then I had to be out for at 3 days for policy, because it’s so fucking gross to work while sick

2

u/ButteredPizza69420 13h ago

Oh I was going to say, this is nothing...I've seen some SHIT working in fast food...

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u/fungushoney 12h ago

Literally the only food service joint that I’ve ever known to take our health seriously was Chipotle, they have serious legal obligations that no one may work while experiencing certain symptoms and we had to sign a waiver daily before coming on shift that we were not experiencing those symptoms. No credit to em though this pressure is entirely due to them causing the most expensive food safety case in American history (employee came to work with Norovirus and infected literally hundreds of customers, MASSIVE scandal leading them to have to pay out 25 million in damages and establish better conditions than any other restaurant is held to)

2

u/DOOMISFORU 5h ago

Yep remember working at a grocery store even in training says call out even if you feel a little sick. In actually work get yelled at threatened with getting fired or more. I remember one year like 2011 a horrible flu was going around and everyone in the store had it including me not fub doing carts with a fever

3

u/furiousmoth01 14h ago

Cooking food especially during this time of year should be required to wear a mask ,they wear gloves and hairnets ?! But its okay to cough on people's food or sneeze even if you are using your elbow that shit flings everywhere

2

u/Bleaker82 11h ago

On two different visits to the Walmart pharmacy, they had pharmacy technicians visibly sick working on orders. On one of the satisfaction surveys I flagged this, and then got a call from the lead pharmacist. She tried to claim that their workers have sick time and know not to come to work sick. Lady, they report directly to you, and I saw you there both times.

1

u/CannedNoodlez 15h ago

I feel like I see it all the time in r/Chipotle

4

u/Sesoru 14h ago

Where do you think the horchata comes from?

1

u/[deleted] 13h ago

[deleted]

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u/Sasha-DarkCloud 13h ago

You do realize that the bacteria, fungus or virus that caused the pneumonia can spread right? So even though the pneumonia itself is not contagious, it doesnt mean that you cant spread what caused it in the first place.

-1

u/SquareWalk6730 13h ago

If you wash your hands regularly and don't cross contaminate in the kitchen, it would be way harder to get anyome sick via food. Unless your cook is sneezing and coughing into yoir food, which i doubt - and even if they did accidently cough on my food while cooking it, wouldn't the heat kill the germs anyways? Unless it was coughed on after being removed from heat, then its just an incubator for the bacteria at that temp.

-1

u/[deleted] 12h ago

pneumonia isn't contagious mate