When did we start living to work instead of working to live?

Tweet

This post was borne of my anxiety for the day. Having just called in and knowing that I'm facing being written up at work for it, bear with me as I expound on what is currently giving me a panic attack. As a compulsive worrier, I am well aware of the anxieties of every day life. Food, shelter, well being... these are the top priorties in life (after your loved ones, that is). So when a provider falls ill, why should they have to stress out about losing their job because they have the misfortune of contracting a bad germ? I am an employee of a Walmart Pharmacy. The Walmart policy on absences is this.. there are no excused absences. The breakdown? If I contract the flu or some other debilitating illness that lasts more than a few days but less than a week, I will be considered a frequent absence case and reprimanded or dealt with accordingly. All because I caught an illness, probably in the line of duty at the pharmacy and didn't drag myself to work to spread the germ and make myself worse in the process. Another scenario... I live in the mountains. I commute 23 miles through mountain roads to get to work. When it snows or ices up, we get it worse than the store does, and we are low priority on the plow list. I am expected to risk my life to drive 23 miles through the mountains with ice and snow to get to work. Erm... how about no? The point here is that I am an employee, not a slave. I'm human, therefore I have human weaknesses. And I should be afforded at least the dignity of being able to recouperate from and illness or not have to risk sliding off a cliff to get to work without being treated like an ingrate or some sort of subservient lazy bum. When did employers get the nod that the job was more important than our lives? That we should be dedicated solely to our work, and not cherish that which keeps us going? I, for one, place more value and emphasis on my family, even tho it is just myself and my boyfriend and my 3 little spazcats at the moment. My job is just that.. a job. And I was looking for a job when I found this one. If they want to fire me, a fully capable worker that would take most of a year to train a replacement for, just because I refused to put the job before my family/health/wellbeing, then I say... where do I file for unemployment?? Because I'm tired of being mistaken for someone's indentured servant...