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When you think about work, it’s still quite normal to think of a Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm working pattern. That’s because that has been the ‘norm’ for a long time now, with plenty of office workers still adhering to that structure. However, over time things are changing, to the point where plenty of folk don’t work anything resembling that pattern.

Of course, there have always been plenty of professions that are very different to working 9 to 5 (Rest in peace and godspeed, Dolly). Factory workers and farmers, nurses and doctors, taxi drivers and pilots, actors and cinema staff – and the list goes on. Plenty of occupations have always naturally operated over very different schedules, with night shifts, unsociable hours, long working days and non-weekend days off actually the norm for some.

For the pharmacy worker in this story, working patterns meant some evenings and weekends – but with a regular Tuesday off. So naturally she fit her life around this – until suddenly, things changed in her workplace.

Read on to find out what happened.

WIBTA if I don’t go to work on my off day?

I (24, female) work in a community pharmacy and Tuesdays are usually my off days.

Last week I receive a phone call from my doctor saying that I have an appointment with my primary care doctor.

I looked at my schedule before and saw that it was on the Tuesday, which was good for me because I wouldn’t have to make the call explaining why I can’t come in.

Plus, I was going to run some errands.

But then things changed with the schedule.

Anyway, over the weekend I believe a co-worker’s daughter gave birth and the co-worker said she wasn’t coming in this week because she was on maternity leave to help her daughter with the baby and adjust to the changes.

So the pharmacy manager and the store manager told me that I was coming in on my off day.

I told the pharmacy manager I had a doctors appointment which was during the evening, and they want me to come in during the evening.

I was supposed to have this appointment in January or February but it was cancelled so I had to wait until June for this appointment.

However, her employers really don’t seem to care.

The pharmacist asked if I can reschedule the appointment.

But making appointment to see a doctor is not easy, because you have to wait for an opening and first come first served.

I wanted to go to the doctor so they can put a referral in for the dermatologist and a nutritionist (that’s the only way that I can be seen in my state anyway, by a referral).

So would I be wrong to go to the doctors instead of going to work on my off day?

WIBTA?

Unless this kind of flexibility is written somewhere in her contract, her employers have absolutely no right to demand she works on her day off.

You’d think that a healthcare organisation like a pharmacy would understand the importance of prioritising doctors visits, but apparently not.

She shouldn’t be having to put her health in jeopardy to cover for her colleague.

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Let’s see what folks on Reddit thought about this.

This person thought she should refuse to reschedule her appointment.

While others insisted it was her employers’ problem, not hers.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about an employee who decides to mute her boss’s number after he insists on calling her at home after hours.

Meanwhile, this Redditor explained that her colleague should not be entitled to maternity leave.

It’s crazy that another woman’s ‘maternity leave’ (when she hasn’t had a baby herself) is being prioritised over another woman’s medical appointment. The truth is, the colleague’s leave should be considered annual leave, and cover should have been organised when her leave request was approved. That doesn’t mean that others should have been forced to cover her either. Contingencies need to be in place where perhaps a manager steps in if no one else is available to work during the leave period – it’s never acceptable to try to force other workers to come in to cover on their day off.

And this is made even worse by the fact that this woman they’re expecting to come into work has a medical appointment that she’s been waiting a long time for. She should absolutely not be forced to sacrifice her health for her job by cancelling the appointment, when it’s the employers’ issue that they are short staffed. They need to read up on acceptable workplace practices because this is absolutely not okay.

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Author

Kyra Piperides

Kyra Piperides, PhD | Contributing Science Writer

Dr. Kyra Piperides is a contributing writer for TwistedSifter, specializing in Science & Discovery. Holding a PhD in English with a dedicated focus on the intersections of science, politics, and literature, she brings over 12 years of professional writing and editorial expertise to her reporting.

Kyra possesses a highly authoritative background in academic publishing, having served as the editor of an academic journal for three years. She is also the published author of two books and numerous research-driven articles. At TwistedSifter, she leverages her rigorous academic background to translate complex scientific concepts, global tech innovations, and environmental breakthroughs into highly engaging, accessible narratives for a mainstream audience.

Based in the UK, Kyra is an avid backpacker who spends her free time immersing herself in different cultures across distant shores—a passion that brings a rich, global perspective to her writing about Earth and nature.

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