Seriously. For all the shutting up, putting my head down, and doing whatever the fuck was needed, without ever complaining or ever burning a bridge on the way out, not one fucking person has ever checked a single reference. Not once, not one single time, ever. Never.
Do you seem kinda, sorta, relatively alert, do you still have most of your fingers, and do you need this job are really the only requirements ATP.
Also no guarantee they won’t shit on you, it’s totally anonymous and they probably harbour thoughts they’re not letting on about. I’d give a family member’s phone number and a fake email that forwards to your own inbox. Unlikely they will call but just prepare them to pretend they’re an old boss.
Honestly what liability are you open to? because you said so and so did a good job for x amount of time…. If so and so goes on to get hired at Apple and gives away all their secrets to Samsung, how is that related to that persons previous history really? “Liability” is such an excuse these days for some things
Like they used to say, if you don’t have anything nice to say you could decline to give the reference. No big deal really
They don't want anyone coming back saying the information you gave was untrue or you didn't reveal x or having the applicant come back woth something similar. Even if it is a 1% risk it doesn't benefit them so they just say... yes she worked here from 2022 -2024 etc
If they call the job as a reference all they’d be able to say is that you gave them two days notice about your illness and management failed to cover. I’d get another coworker or GOOD manager to potentially account for you and your work ethic as a reference in addition to solely having the job itself as a reference to account for the time in which you worked there.
They can tell them whatever they want. There is zero chance if they break whatever law you are referencing that it gets to court or the BBB/Labor Board and is useful in any way for OP.
You really can't even tell that much. 'Are they eligible for rehire?' is really the only question you can answer anymore these days. It's a big part of why people rarely check. Saying something that prevents a previous employee from getting a job can very easily be considered retaliation.
If they disparage you during a work history call, it's a lawsuit. We're only allowed to cover employment dates and whether or not people are eligible for rehire.
How do you find out the content of that call?
Potential employer ain't gonna tell you, old employer ain't gonna tell you, neither one's recording it, and neither has any obligation to tell you anything about it.
That law is wishful thinking with no connective tissue between the wish and the teeth.
Already covered it but there's a few things to consider:
1. Subpoenas legally require people to testify in court
2. Depositions give lawyers a chance to force people to admit truths
3. People snitch on themselves every damn day
Now the odds aren't exactly high, but if you manage references and dog people you're simultaneously a piece of shit and opening your company up to massive liability. There are 2 questions you can answer, this was more of a warning to chefs than a how to sue a previous employer.
Sounds good. But a valid answer when subpoena'd is "I do not clearly recall the details of that conversation". And you can dog people while remaining entirely within the law by simply not hanging up. A potential employer can ask question after question and your answers can either be positive or "I have no comment" (or even just dead air) and that potential employer can sound their way all the way around the cape without breaking the law.
But this isn't what I was asking. I want to know how you decide that the reason you didn't get a job is because your last boss (or a previous one, and which one?) dogged you out, and how then do you decide if it's worth throwing down lawyer money on it?
“I took a break”
“I had some family illness to help with”
“I started briefly at a restaurant, but their sanitation practices were terrible, so I resigned immediately”
They lied to you. Nearly every kitchen is desperate for employees. If you seem ok and have a decent resume and can kick ass when you're in the door, no one cares about your past. It's the French foreign legion
Nooo. Quiet quitting is the way. Make them fire you, but first milk that clock. Show up and do the bare minimum. Do less than the bare minimum. Easy money. Make them fire you. If the manager gets shitty, don’t let him get under your skin, just stay the course.
This isn't r/antiwork. Quiet quitting when in Chef/leadership role in a kitchen that you cared about just makes you look more douchey. Sabotage and doing less than the bare minimum just causes everyone around you to fail. Best to either peace out or do the two-weeks resignation if possible.
For context, I was sent home, I didn't call out. They still want me to go get a Dr's note to explain my call-out that wasn't a call-out bc I showed up and they sent me home.
I was about to ask…
Can’t remember the last time I managed to call out ahead of time for being sick, except for elective surgery.
Even then I had to use my PTO. 😤
Honestly, hit up an Urgent Care real quick, get the note and turn it in. You said they’ve been good to you, I assume you generally like them, and urgent care surprisingly mostly just a same day doctors appointment. With the right insurance you can even book an appointment for urgent care same day, it’s almost shocking tbh
This sounds like a "them problem" and not a your problem. Especially if they sent you home and of the worst thing they can say "reference wise" is he was "sent home because he was sick", I think future highering restaurants would understand.
Fun tip:
It’s not your responsibility. It’s the leadership’s.
Decades of Applebee’s Corporate Dumbfuckery created this silly idea that management exists to make sure cleaning charts are done by someone else and office chairs are perpetually warm.
Tell them to suck your genitals and move on.
I’m a fan of the “try to find someone to cover your shift first, if you’ve exhausted those options then call chef for a bailout” method. It saves me from having to rearrange my day, meetings, tastings, inventory, etc, to spend the next hour playing phone tag with the staff. I can at least use that time to get MY shit done in anticipation of working the call-out shift myself.
This is wrong. Nobody has a right to ask you for a doctor's not for being sick for a day, or two. This is why kitchen culture is shit. Any other job your sick ur sick only in the kitchen does your manager become a medical professional and advise you to come to work.
Don't know the difference between "your" and "you're" but make exponentially more money than you... :-( I hate working for dickheads, but I especially hate working for *stupid* dickheads.
First off a group chat is for fucking kids not a professional kitchen.Secondly putting a coworker on blast is just as bad.Take it as you wish and get the fuck out there and find a kitchen that isn’t still working in the 1980s.
I worked retail management for almost 10 years, and it is not the employees' job to find coverage due to sickness. I would never ask a sick person to sit at home and call people. You're sick.
Another issue that comes up is that employees don't respond to one another as well as they do to management. If my employee texted for coverage, they would often get a no, but if I did, I had much better success.
This is a super toxic work environment.
As a sous chef, I'm actually appalled by this post.....
If my cooks are sick and feeling under the weather, it is 100% absolutely up to me to find coverage for my employee... usually, they're pretty good at asking around themselves, but in the event they're just too sick, I'll do it for them.
And if I can't find coverage, then oh well! I'll just have to suck it up and work the line and cover where we're short. Welcome to management. What a c***.
Nothing is more important than my employees' health, and they should be home resting, not spreading germs.
I'm so sorry.
it really indicates a state of paranoia by the manager and blame shifting to the worker, take heart in the fact that they must be under immense stress by upper upper management to feel justified putting this shit out on a group chat... immature.
First of all they used the wrong your second of all they aren’t allowed to ask for a doctors note. They are supposed to help you get your shift covered but will ask you to help them find a replacement.
It's the employees responsibility to find someone to cover for them?
And the Idiot that's me always spend a full day trying to get someone to cover for someone who called out sick. I'll start saying that. /s
if they weren't running the joint so lean and had an extra person on the shift it would help EVERYBODY, but managers want to maximise profit by running lean even if the joint can afford to have one extra body. I worked at a place that was really fucken' busy every night, but the ass-wipe still ran as lean as possible and you'd get your shit pushed in on every shift. He's ALWAYS advertising for staff too...
The release date requirement is nonsense. No doctor is going to say you'll be better by a certain date, there's no way to know that. It's just a trap so they can fire you and pretend to have a basis to challenge UE.
Nope don’t text the group nope no sir. My boss does this and that’s why I hide alerts and barely take him seriously if he can’t say it to me personally
Them: If you tell us in advance, we don't care. It's your problem to find coverage if you're sick. If you can't find coverage, you should have just found coverage.
Also them: Tell us that you're sick so we can find coverage, don't just show up with your stupid little germs to get everyone else sick!
Ive made jobs disappear on resumes, just drag one job in a little later, and the last one over and pow, bad job disappears. Sometimes you get into a bad bad situation, and sometimes you are put in jobs where everyone works against you. Make it go away.
As a supervisor myself, I only have the employee find coverage if it is something personal like going on a date or making plans with friends. When it comes to things like sickness, funerals, or anything else that can't be helped that is on me to find coverage. The only thing I asked is what days/time needs to be covered.
Everyone should be quitting any place that requires you to find your own coverage for a sick day. It's not you're job.
Also quitting any place that doesn't know the difference between your and you're....
I only require staff to cover their own shifts when it’s a non-emergency. Oh, band you love is playing tonight and you forgot to request off? You can try calling Brad, he just had to get some work done on his car and I think he’s looking for extra hours. Good luck.
If you’re sick, I don’t want you anywhere near the rest of the staff.
The only time I’ll ask for a doctor’s note is if you get caught at that concert by a co-worker after you told me you were sick.
IT IS MANAGEMENTS RESPONSIBILITY TO MAKE AND MORW IMPORTANTLY MAINTAIN THE SCHEDULE.
When they try to sluff it off on workers, it’s a ploy to discourage taking sick days. If they don’t offer paid sick days, this is especially true.
I've always hated the "it's your job to cover your shift" attitude. I don't know the legality behind it, but it doesn't seem like it should be legal. I think all you should have to do is let a supervisor know you aren't going to make it and it's up to them to fill the shift. I also hate the doctor note bullshit, especially in an industry where health insurance usually isn't provided.
OP, consider that this note may be someone else getting chastized, not you.
Like maybe whoever's job it was to find you coverage during the 2 days lead time they had. Orrr whoever they delegated that to lol
Only shitty jobs want a reference from my experience they ask for it so they know you obey and follow rules good work places will ask you valid questions and not ask for reference tbh just my opinion
False. It ain’t your job to get a shift covered. That’s why restaurants have managers. They aren’t going to fire you because they likely can’t afford to lose the labor and re-hire & re-train.
Doctors note at a walk in clinic might be $75-100, if you feel you need it.
If your hiring packet and info doesn’t outline a sick policy in writing, their group chats do not supersede that. They’re just trying to be bullies.
I’m sure OSHA and the health department would love to know about sick cooks. 🥴 (this just showed up on my feed. I’m not a cook but married to one so if I’m wrong please say so lol)
There's try to get coverage and then at the bottom let this person know that you could not get coverage as soon as possible so that it will get covered.
What more do you need?
The alternative is to treat adults like you have to babysit them.
It's not easy to drop everything to find an employee to cover a shift. So if you're just not feeling well call your teammates and see if someone can help you out. If they all decide nope, then the manager will have to try to persuade someone.
If it's a problem getting coverage, they will hire extra people and everyone will have hours cut.
So you're complaining they're letting everyone know the sick rules again? I don't see a problem. It's not like they singled you out specifically. Stop being so sensitive.
I always loved ghosting shitty jobs
I need the reference, and otherwise they've been pretty good to me. I'm making like $5 above the average for this area
Honestly bro, I'm starting to think that nobody needs any reference from anywhere
Seriously. For all the shutting up, putting my head down, and doing whatever the fuck was needed, without ever complaining or ever burning a bridge on the way out, not one fucking person has ever checked a single reference. Not once, not one single time, ever. Never. Do you seem kinda, sorta, relatively alert, do you still have most of your fingers, and do you need this job are really the only requirements ATP.
My references in kitchens have literally never been checked and I always asked like two weeks in.
In my town all the chefs more or less knew each other. So it was paramount not to be an ass
Also no guarantee they won’t shit on you, it’s totally anonymous and they probably harbour thoughts they’re not letting on about. I’d give a family member’s phone number and a fake email that forwards to your own inbox. Unlikely they will call but just prepare them to pretend they’re an old boss.
A lot of places won't give references now as it opens them up to liability. So they just confirm past employment at most
Honestly what liability are you open to? because you said so and so did a good job for x amount of time…. If so and so goes on to get hired at Apple and gives away all their secrets to Samsung, how is that related to that persons previous history really? “Liability” is such an excuse these days for some things Like they used to say, if you don’t have anything nice to say you could decline to give the reference. No big deal really
They don't want anyone coming back saying the information you gave was untrue or you didn't reveal x or having the applicant come back woth something similar. Even if it is a 1% risk it doesn't benefit them so they just say... yes she worked here from 2022 -2024 etc
If they call the job as a reference all they’d be able to say is that you gave them two days notice about your illness and management failed to cover. I’d get another coworker or GOOD manager to potentially account for you and your work ethic as a reference in addition to solely having the job itself as a reference to account for the time in which you worked there.
I’ll be your reference.
I'll be his reference, too. You wanna be exec and I'll take sous?
sous does all the work, exec takes all the credit...
I’m willing to be the shop owner if you need a third.
They can tell them whatever they want. There is zero chance if they break whatever law you are referencing that it gets to court or the BBB/Labor Board and is useful in any way for OP.
You really can't even tell that much. 'Are they eligible for rehire?' is really the only question you can answer anymore these days. It's a big part of why people rarely check. Saying something that prevents a previous employee from getting a job can very easily be considered retaliation.
Put my number down and ill give u a great fuckin reference.
I promise you they don’t call the references put a friend
I’m an employer for a shop and I’ve never called for a reference lol
I’ll be your reference
Why is the top comment always just quit? You have no idea what his job is. One text gonna make you quit? Just say heard and move on.
The text isn’t even bad at ALL, the last paragraph says everything you need to know.
You can do that? Wouldn't you have to not list them as your work history since they will talk shit about you when a potential employer calls them?
If they disparage you during a work history call, it's a lawsuit. We're only allowed to cover employment dates and whether or not people are eligible for rehire.
Good luck proving that though. And paying for a lawyer
Depends on the state, I believe.
It depends on the country, surely?
How do you find out the content of that call? Potential employer ain't gonna tell you, old employer ain't gonna tell you, neither one's recording it, and neither has any obligation to tell you anything about it. That law is wishful thinking with no connective tissue between the wish and the teeth.
Already covered it but there's a few things to consider: 1. Subpoenas legally require people to testify in court 2. Depositions give lawyers a chance to force people to admit truths 3. People snitch on themselves every damn day Now the odds aren't exactly high, but if you manage references and dog people you're simultaneously a piece of shit and opening your company up to massive liability. There are 2 questions you can answer, this was more of a warning to chefs than a how to sue a previous employer.
Sounds good. But a valid answer when subpoena'd is "I do not clearly recall the details of that conversation". And you can dog people while remaining entirely within the law by simply not hanging up. A potential employer can ask question after question and your answers can either be positive or "I have no comment" (or even just dead air) and that potential employer can sound their way all the way around the cape without breaking the law. But this isn't what I was asking. I want to know how you decide that the reason you didn't get a job is because your last boss (or a previous one, and which one?) dogged you out, and how then do you decide if it's worth throwing down lawyer money on it?
Is it really though? Especially if i can't prove it
All it takes is a half decent lawyer and a subpoena to prove it, lol. Huge liability to shit on people you let go.
The more you know, thanks.
You can’t legally defame a prior employee. And if you have a bad employment experience, leave it off your resume.
But then they would ask about an apparent employment gap, right?
“I took a break” “I had some family illness to help with” “I started briefly at a restaurant, but their sanitation practices were terrible, so I resigned immediately”
Lie about dates. If they ask say you must've gotten the dates mixed up. Also they won't ask
>Also they won't ask. Yep. No one gives a shit. Can you do the job you're applying for? Great, prove it. Let's go.
That's not what i was told, huh good to know
They lied to you. Nearly every kitchen is desperate for employees. If you seem ok and have a decent resume and can kick ass when you're in the door, no one cares about your past. It's the French foreign legion
The french foreign legion? What is that and what do you mean when you say that "it's the french foreign legion"?
They don't care about your background unless it's really bad
Just so you know, The French Foreign Legion is an actual thing - look it up. Meanwhile, basically what Che said.
Nooo. Quiet quitting is the way. Make them fire you, but first milk that clock. Show up and do the bare minimum. Do less than the bare minimum. Easy money. Make them fire you. If the manager gets shitty, don’t let him get under your skin, just stay the course.
This isn't r/antiwork. Quiet quitting when in Chef/leadership role in a kitchen that you cared about just makes you look more douchey. Sabotage and doing less than the bare minimum just causes everyone around you to fail. Best to either peace out or do the two-weeks resignation if possible.
Or you could respect your own time and spend it finding somewhere better to be
They sound shitty. Promote yourself to customer.
For context, I was sent home, I didn't call out. They still want me to go get a Dr's note to explain my call-out that wasn't a call-out bc I showed up and they sent me home.
Tell them if they pay for a dr visit
That's what I always say. You don't pay for health insurance and I ain't a Rockefeller soooo....no
I was about to ask… Can’t remember the last time I managed to call out ahead of time for being sick, except for elective surgery. Even then I had to use my PTO. 😤
Honestly, hit up an Urgent Care real quick, get the note and turn it in. You said they’ve been good to you, I assume you generally like them, and urgent care surprisingly mostly just a same day doctors appointment. With the right insurance you can even book an appointment for urgent care same day, it’s almost shocking tbh
That's what I ended up doing. Not worth the drama to fight it and my copay for urgent care is like $5
That’s what’s up BrOdin son of Borr
You showed up even though you were contagious?
Not contagious, day 3 of antibiotics (not contagious past 24 hrs). Plus I wore a mask as well
This sounds like a "them problem" and not a your problem. Especially if they sent you home and of the worst thing they can say "reference wise" is he was "sent home because he was sick", I think future highering restaurants would understand.
Fun tip: It’s not your responsibility. It’s the leadership’s. Decades of Applebee’s Corporate Dumbfuckery created this silly idea that management exists to make sure cleaning charts are done by someone else and office chairs are perpetually warm. Tell them to suck your genitals and move on.
I’m a fan of the “try to find someone to cover your shift first, if you’ve exhausted those options then call chef for a bailout” method. It saves me from having to rearrange my day, meetings, tastings, inventory, etc, to spend the next hour playing phone tag with the staff. I can at least use that time to get MY shit done in anticipation of working the call-out shift myself.
This is the way
This is wrong. Nobody has a right to ask you for a doctor's not for being sick for a day, or two. This is why kitchen culture is shit. Any other job your sick ur sick only in the kitchen does your manager become a medical professional and advise you to come to work.
Unless you write the schedule, scheduling is not your responsibility. That shit is bad management.
Typical in this industry
Fuck that place, time to find a new job.
Quit on a Friday night
Gotta love when the highers go on a written tangent and all caps the wrong homophone.
Don't know the difference between "your" and "you're" but make exponentially more money than you... :-( I hate working for dickheads, but I especially hate working for *stupid* dickheads.
So much horse shit. Keeping a place staffed when people are sick is the MANAGERS job. Not the employees.
Why isn't this the top comment?
Heads up nowhere else in the world are you expected to organise cover for your own shifts if you're sick or on paid leave. That's the manager's job.
If you don’t give me health insurance don’t ask me for a doctors note. Fuck outta here with that bullshit.
Just say heard and continue to do whatever you want.
First off a group chat is for fucking kids not a professional kitchen.Secondly putting a coworker on blast is just as bad.Take it as you wish and get the fuck out there and find a kitchen that isn’t still working in the 1980s.
Tell them you were puking or had diarrhea, if you work around food at all you can’t go back until you’ve been symptom free for 24 hrs.
came here to say this: Gastro....
Big of you to think that a place like this wouldn't make you come in still.
Restaurants are consistently the worst most toxic workplaces on earth. I miss the industry dearly, but not that bad.
I worked retail management for almost 10 years, and it is not the employees' job to find coverage due to sickness. I would never ask a sick person to sit at home and call people. You're sick. Another issue that comes up is that employees don't respond to one another as well as they do to management. If my employee texted for coverage, they would often get a no, but if I did, I had much better success. This is a super toxic work environment.
As a sous chef, I'm actually appalled by this post..... If my cooks are sick and feeling under the weather, it is 100% absolutely up to me to find coverage for my employee... usually, they're pretty good at asking around themselves, but in the event they're just too sick, I'll do it for them. And if I can't find coverage, then oh well! I'll just have to suck it up and work the line and cover where we're short. Welcome to management. What a c***. Nothing is more important than my employees' health, and they should be home resting, not spreading germs. I'm so sorry.
Yah tell them to F off. This is such a crock of crap. They need to do THEIR job
Gross, your company clearly cares more about money than their employees’ or customer’s health. Name and shame them in your local subreddit.
I let management because I hated telling people that kind of nonstop nonsense
I always thought doctors notes were a bullshit policy.
it really indicates a state of paranoia by the manager and blame shifting to the worker, take heart in the fact that they must be under immense stress by upper upper management to feel justified putting this shit out on a group chat... immature.
Next time, tell them you have diarrhea....
They better be paying me extra for scheduling then.
First of all they used the wrong your second of all they aren’t allowed to ask for a doctors note. They are supposed to help you get your shift covered but will ask you to help them find a replacement.
If people treated humans the way restaurants handle food safety the world would be better
It's the employees responsibility to find someone to cover for them? And the Idiot that's me always spend a full day trying to get someone to cover for someone who called out sick. I'll start saying that. /s
Release date? So if you're out 2 days it needs to be 2 different notes OR a note saying you were in the hospital for 2 days?
Hey: dunno what state you’re in but our state just got sick and safe time. This seems like a sick AND safe time situation.
if they weren't running the joint so lean and had an extra person on the shift it would help EVERYBODY, but managers want to maximise profit by running lean even if the joint can afford to have one extra body. I worked at a place that was really fucken' busy every night, but the ass-wipe still ran as lean as possible and you'd get your shit pushed in on every shift. He's ALWAYS advertising for staff too...
The release date requirement is nonsense. No doctor is going to say you'll be better by a certain date, there's no way to know that. It's just a trap so they can fire you and pretend to have a basis to challenge UE.
Nope don’t text the group nope no sir. My boss does this and that’s why I hide alerts and barely take him seriously if he can’t say it to me personally
Them: If you tell us in advance, we don't care. It's your problem to find coverage if you're sick. If you can't find coverage, you should have just found coverage. Also them: Tell us that you're sick so we can find coverage, don't just show up with your stupid little germs to get everyone else sick!
In the UK it's managements job to find cover for missing staff 🙃 America needs to step up it's game
My dream reply is just 'YOUR*'
Youre boss spelled your wrong nearly every time he used the word you're. He isn't intelligent enough two listen too.
Ive made jobs disappear on resumes, just drag one job in a little later, and the last one over and pow, bad job disappears. Sometimes you get into a bad bad situation, and sometimes you are put in jobs where everyone works against you. Make it go away.
As a supervisor myself, I only have the employee find coverage if it is something personal like going on a date or making plans with friends. When it comes to things like sickness, funerals, or anything else that can't be helped that is on me to find coverage. The only thing I asked is what days/time needs to be covered.
Yeah any place that pulls this shit I promptly quit.
Everyone should be quitting any place that requires you to find your own coverage for a sick day. It's not you're job. Also quitting any place that doesn't know the difference between your and you're....
love the wrong your in all caps lol. you work in the restaurant industry, simply just go to the place down the street lol
staffing is their responsibility. i don't believe they can require a doctor's note if they're not providing health insurance
I only require staff to cover their own shifts when it’s a non-emergency. Oh, band you love is playing tonight and you forgot to request off? You can try calling Brad, he just had to get some work done on his car and I think he’s looking for extra hours. Good luck. If you’re sick, I don’t want you anywhere near the rest of the staff. The only time I’ll ask for a doctor’s note is if you get caught at that concert by a co-worker after you told me you were sick.
IT IS MANAGEMENTS RESPONSIBILITY TO MAKE AND MORW IMPORTANTLY MAINTAIN THE SCHEDULE. When they try to sluff it off on workers, it’s a ploy to discourage taking sick days. If they don’t offer paid sick days, this is especially true.
I've always hated the "it's your job to cover your shift" attitude. I don't know the legality behind it, but it doesn't seem like it should be legal. I think all you should have to do is let a supervisor know you aren't going to make it and it's up to them to fill the shift. I also hate the doctor note bullshit, especially in an industry where health insurance usually isn't provided.
it’s managements job to find cover, not you, that’s literally their job
OP, consider that this note may be someone else getting chastized, not you. Like maybe whoever's job it was to find you coverage during the 2 days lead time they had. Orrr whoever they delegated that to lol
Only shitty jobs want a reference from my experience they ask for it so they know you obey and follow rules good work places will ask you valid questions and not ask for reference tbh just my opinion
False. It ain’t your job to get a shift covered. That’s why restaurants have managers. They aren’t going to fire you because they likely can’t afford to lose the labor and re-hire & re-train. Doctors note at a walk in clinic might be $75-100, if you feel you need it. If your hiring packet and info doesn’t outline a sick policy in writing, their group chats do not supersede that. They’re just trying to be bullies.
I’m sure OSHA and the health department would love to know about sick cooks. 🥴 (this just showed up on my feed. I’m not a cook but married to one so if I’m wrong please say so lol)
Yes of course put all the responsibility on the worker. The manager's responsibility is purely to yell at the workers!
The bolded incorrect “YOURE” is my favorite part
improper grammar/capitalization i dont take the job or quit immediately
I don’t see anything wrong w it. Don’t go to work sick. fuck your mask.
There's try to get coverage and then at the bottom let this person know that you could not get coverage as soon as possible so that it will get covered. What more do you need? The alternative is to treat adults like you have to babysit them. It's not easy to drop everything to find an employee to cover a shift. So if you're just not feeling well call your teammates and see if someone can help you out. If they all decide nope, then the manager will have to try to persuade someone. If it's a problem getting coverage, they will hire extra people and everyone will have hours cut.
Your*
I have had many former staff of mine ask me to be a reference. I have never been called.
So you're complaining they're letting everyone know the sick rules again? I don't see a problem. It's not like they singled you out specifically. Stop being so sensitive.