Not sure what to do

Rants

I currently work for a grocery store since 2023. I started out in the produce dept and in mid 2024 I missed a good bit of work almost a month worth because I had a tear in my L4 and L5 vertabrae. While I was out I was moved from the produce dept to the grocery dept because someone was needed to cover my position in produce. When I was able to go back to work I was not in the best shape health wise. I did end up missing some days of work here and there. One week I was out due to covid, came back to work struggling to the point management even saw this and did nothing, to then be out some more days of work. Lately for many months now I probably missed a day or two of work until this recent February where I didn't miss a day. I didn't miss a day in March. We finally get to last night I called in because I had really bad pain in my feet and anything I took did not help. An email went out from the manager I spoke to who put exactly what I said that I was going to be out today due to foot pain. Another manager chimed in saying oh I think he was requesting today off. I get a call from the store manager being furious with me that he read in an email that the manager I spoke with over the phone had heard me say I was taking today off. The store manager continues saying how much work needed to be done today, we gotta suck it up and come in, how I requested off my time for Easter week and he conveniently forgot that I told him back in November why I needed the week off. I have bad nerves, anxiety, along with high blood pressure and I straight up told him I not to yell at me which in a way he didn't yell at me it was a poor choice of words on my end, but he did have his voice raised and threw all this at me while being furious. He throws in my face how I missed all the days I missed. The majority of the days I missed I brought in medical excuses for, but apparently that doesn't matter. I think he knew the moment I started to stand my ground over the phone that he was doing something wrong, but yet I can't prove it and I am taking things personally... well when you call me directly and you are furious with me with the wrong assumptions, then how am I suppose to take that? I really want to get out of this job, but no one seems to want to hire me. My wife sends me jobs that I know I am not qualified for or if I am then I get a letter saying I was not selected for the position. I worry about that if I do get a new job, then how long will it last until someone harasses me like in previous jobs I have had and they get away with it? I just don't know what to say or do now. I know if I try to get HR involved they will say yes he needed to be terminated long ago for missing too many days. If I was to be terminated then I would show them all the pictures of open containers of icing for cakes with icing still in them that were left open all night. I would point out how a majority of the staff in the store are on drugs. I have a list of how many times a particular manager that when he opens he shows up late and stinks from the smell of weed. I have never shown up late, I don't take drugs I wasn't prescribed, I don't chat for hours with a coworker/friend when I should be working, and I bust my ass doing my work and the work that the night crew refuses to do. The only reason I would even get HR involved is to say the store director should have been in a better mind set and not been furious when he called me. I think this is all I want to say for now. My question is what should I say? What should I do? I need a job and I feel saying or doing anything will get me fired from my current job. I am shaking so badly right now not knowing what to do or say and trying not to call the store manager back have a talk with him that he will never contact me in such a furious manner ever again and to get his facts straight before calling me.

If someone is curious about my work experience. I have almost 20 years of customer service experience from working in grocery stores, IT, and copier repair.

Six to seven years of produce experience with filling, rotating, culling, and a year of this experience with ordering produce.

Three years of experience in a law firm as a runner doing scan/copy jobs, make coffee, deliver documents, clear paper jams, and some minor cleaning.

Two years of experience with copier repair and networking, clearing paper jams, repairing/ordering parts, but nothing on the electrical side of things like repairing/replacing power supply or messing with the controller board.

Five years experience in IT that I never got training in. All I know how to do in IT is to do password resets, troubleshoot not receiving emails, troubleshoot print/copier issues such as not being able to print/scan. I have more experience just answering the phones, entering tickets, assigning those tickets, and grilling the technicians to update tickets due to SLAs. The ticketing system we used was Connectwise, so I know it pretty well. I was trained on checking backup systems quarterly one was Veeam and I don't remember the other system. I would report issues with backups to a specific technician. I don't want the pressure of being a technician again due to my anxiety, so being a dispatcher again would be nice.

About two years experience with grocery. Mainly stocking and rotating. We cannot even rotate properly due to over ordering and forcing the product out. We also scan in the product and bring damaged goods to receiving for credit.

Keep in mind I have health issues. High bp and anxiety which I do have medication for. BP is not the issue, but my anxiety is when I have a sudden attack for no rhyme or reason. An attack happens if I have a bad thought or even a good one, good dream or bad dream, I had something to eat/drink or not. I have mild back problems and I would like to get out of lifting heavy objects. I worry about our finances and so getting a proper therapist/psychiatrist is out of the question. My wife's work does offer a six free therapy sessions which I will do that again. The psychiatrist is needed I believe to diagnose me with anxiety disorder at some point 🤷‍♂️(?). I am not knowledgeable on a lot of my medical issues and I can not say things right at times, but I well spoken at times with customers and repeat back what is said to me assuring that I understand their needs.

Now I feel like I covered everything and I hope someone could help. I feel a bit better now that I have typed all this. I leave you with a joke my daughter just told me that helped me feel a bit better. If two vegans are arguing, is it still considered beef? Yes, it is a dad/bad joke, but I liked it.

Posted Apr 3, 2026, 4:55 PM UTC

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