Medical drama

So much for having a drama-free week at the restaurant. Each time I go
back to work after my days off I silently hope that THIS will be the week
without drama, but my dream is usually dashed quite quickly, on the 1st
or 2nd day of my workweek. Our hostess with the mostess, Tina, fell ill
at the beginning of the week, placing the nightshift schedule in total flux.
Apparently she started off with a cold, that turned into an ear infection,
that turned into a perforated eardrum. I am no doctor, but that is quite
a turn of medical events. Then dayshift got thrown into a tizzy thanks to
Tiffany. She called out sick with an EXTREMELY dubious medical
situation - a stomach virus that turned into kidney stones, and she had
been in the emergency room all night. Again, I am no doctor, but as this
was NOT the first time she has had mysterious medical ailments
(especially on days AFTER she made alot of tip money and was planning
a night out with a boyfriend or other) that raised a red flag. So the other
manager and I decided that this time we would actually ask to see a
doctor's note or some kind of paper from the emergency room; after any
kind of hospital visit there is some kind of documentation. (Staff
members on the up and up produce a doctor's note without prompting,
those who aren't always lose the note or forget to bring it.....right.) Well
of course, when Tiffany was confronted with the fact that she would be
required to produce some type of medical excuse, she flipped out, just
went ballistic. She started screaming, incredulous that we DIDN'T
believe or trust her and actually asked for documentation of her medical
travails; she then threatened to quit. Wrong move. I just took her off the
schedule for the rest of the week and filled her slots in with another gal.
A medical excuse, apology, and/or confession will get Tiffany back on next
week.....maybe. Y'all know as well as I do that her maniacal outburst was
due to the fact that she had no doctor's note to produce. She went out with
her flavor of the week, got drunk, stayed up too late, was in no condition
to work, and then used the all too common 'emergency room' excuse.
Yeah, like we haven't heard that one 10, 100, 1000 times!