Sarah’s dad died when she was very young, which would be a burden on any child for sure, but what was even worse for Sarah was that her mother was very sickly. As Sarah had grown up living with her mother alone, she would often have to fend for herself as well as care for her ailing mother. She still managed to do well in school despite struggling to help her mother and herself survive. When she grew even older things did not come any easier. When Sarah turned twenty, her mother took a turn for the worse. When her mother was at her worse, Sarah would have to take off from work to care for her mother so that she would not be left all alone in this cold and cruel world. Unfortunately for Sarah, most jobs did not put up with her being late, leaving early, or just plain not showing up for work in order to care for her sickly mother. She could never keep a job for more than a few months which was hell on them both.
She was never able to get any sort of health insurance whatsoever and Sarah was soon finding herself at her wits end. She needed help, or at the very least a caring boss who would allow her to take extra vacation time to care for her poor mother. Sarah was recently fired but managed to find a new job relatively quickly which was about the only bit of good luck she had had recently. She was now working as a receptionist at a large retail chain that paid decent money, but still not enough so that Sarah did not need more assistance with her sick mother. She could barely keep the hospital bills paid and knew she needed an at home nurse but just could not afford it. This always led to Sarah taking more time off and she knew that if this continued she would eventually lose this job as well.
What made it more difficult this time around was Sarah’s new boss, Mr. Anderson. He was kind of a jerk and was very intimidating to be around. Sarah had saw the man fire some of her coworkers for far less than missing a little time. She was always afraid to ask him for time off and knew that she would have to eventually. Her mother’s health did not stay balanced very long and sooner or later she would need to ask for time off. She hoped that an emergency never rose, because she was sure that with the added stress, she just would not be able to face Mr. Anderson. She had a feeling that he would not give her time off even in the most extreme cases.
As par Sarah’s course, her mother was getting steadily worse. She knew that she would have to face her boss, Mr. Anderson sooner rather than later now. She really did not want to talk to the man, but she was not in any position to argue. Her mother needed proper care and she was the only one that could make sure she had gotten it since they had so little money and no real health insurance to speak of. Sarah had to suck it up and finally went into Mr. Anderson’s office. His office was a great reflection of the man who had used it. It was dark and cold with many intimidating papers attached to his walls explaining what could get you fired from the company.
“Can I help you, Sarah?” he had asked her without looking up from his paper work.
“Uh… Good afternoon Mr. Anderson,” she had said with a mousy little voice “I had a question I wanted to ask you.”
“Well, get on with it, I do not have all day,” he had said still not looking up from his desk.
“Well… Mr. Anderson… It is about my mother,” she had said.
“Your mother?” he had asked “What the hell does your mother have to do with me?”
“Nothing, I mean,” she had stammered, already getting flustered talking to her boss “I mean I have to take care of her and…”
“So take care of her,” Mr. Anderson had
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