First off, I'd like to say that this is my first job. I've been working as a cashier for a little over a month now. About three weeks ago, my dad had a stroke and was taken to the hospital. Upon arrival he had a second stroke and he was kept there for a week while he recovered. It happened on a Saturday night, and I called in to work Sunday afternoon. My dad is 57, has a long history of smoking, has had over 30 surgeries on various parts of his body, has high blood pressure, etc. Medically he is a mess. I was extremely worried about him, as my granddad passed away shortly after having two strokes in 2006. Front end manager was very understanding, I talked to her later that week when I went in to pick up my check. Last Tuesday, my mom texted me around 2:00 (15 minutes before school gets out) informing me that my dad had had another stroke while installing a garage door for work. I immediately drove to the hospital, called work as I was walking in and again, front end manager was understanding. I hoped I wouldn't have to explain the situation as I was in a hurry, but was confronted with, "So is this a serious family emergency?" I explained the situation. (this was a different person from the first time). The doctors did a lot of tests to figure out what was causing these strokes, and found a small tumor in his brain. At this point he was still functional, just a little loopy and out of it. He refused to have the surgery immediately, as he knows his situation. He's fairly old, and not in the greatest of health. He told me that he was going to wait until after Christmas, so if something happened, it would be after our last holiday. He scheduled to come in the week after Christmas. This brings us to today.
At 2:10 I get several calls from my mom, I leave class to answer the phone, and she is in tears. She told me that on his way to work, my dad was in an accident and was immediately taken to the hospital. The ER called to tell her where he was, and they said that he was unconscious and upon arrival he suffered another stroke. To date, he has had four strokes over the course of the past month or so. He is so incredibly lucky to still be alive, because with his odds he should have been dead the first time, and that's what's so scary about this. My family doesn't know when it's going to take his life. So of course as soon as the bell rings I run to my car, meet my mom at the hospital and rush in. He was taken into an emergency surgery to see the extent of his internal bleeding. By the time I remembered that I had to be in to work, I immediately went outside and called my store, asked for a manager, and told them that I had a family emergency. I was in shock, and upset, and I explained that my dad was being taken into surgery and that my mom needed me to be there. I was afraid she would be mad at me, so I wanted to tell her the truth of everything that I knew, and maybe she'd understand. She did not. She asked why I hadn't called earlier, and went on about how I was probably going to get into trouble before saying, "Okay, whatever. Bye." and hanging up. I tried to apologize but could not get a word in. I understand that they are down a worker, I should have remembered to call in as soon as I found out, but my priority was to get to the hospital and see my dad. I am extremely worried that I am going to lose my job, but I don't know what to do. If I leave my dad at the hospital alone, and he passes away without me, I will never forgive myself. The only thing I can think of is to tell the truth to whoever talks to me about my absence if/when they do. If anyone has any advice or experience with this I would appreciate it.
Find out who your union steward is at the store. Talk to them and explain your situation and have them set up a meeting with the store manager or the hiring manager so you can explain everything that you've said here. Just make sure it's not with the one that was a jerk.
First of all, don't ever put a minimum wage unskilled labor employer like Kroger above personal issues.
Secondly, when you call in, ask to speak to the associate/hiring manager or store manager. Don't ever call in to the front end supervisors, they are just front end clerks with an honorary position. Co-managers and everybody below report to the store manager and partly the associate/hiring manager. Talk to your associate/hiring manager first, they seem to always be more understanding and nicer than anybody else in management, including front end "leaders". They'll report directly to the store manager. IF you can, though, talk to your store manager before anybody else. Tell him or her your situation and explain that you don't know what your schedule is going to be like.
It is also important to remember that this is your first job and you work in the front end... Not very important or serious responsibilities besides getting carts or helping clear up busy jams by opening lanes. Those can always be done by supervisors, department managers, people trained in cashier from other departments, and even co-managers. If all else fails, or to just be secure, talk to your union steward.
Yeah, at this point I would try and get the union steward involved. This is a family emergency and I would rather be broke than to live with regret that I couldn't spend any time with an ailing parent because of Kroger.
I had to call out once during my probation. I had the flu and because of the nature of the job (I was in deli), I called out and let them know I wasn't coming in.
