Manager forces convenience store employee to work 14-hour shift after coverage doesn't show up: 'My manager would rather us work 16 hours than close the store'

Should you be forced to pick up your coworker's slack?

When you're on a 'team,' you're probably expected to act like a team. But that only goes so far. You don't want to be held accountable for other people's messes, even if you share some amount of responsibility. If someone else is bad at their job, it's not your job to come in and fix it. It's your job to mind your business, show up when they need you, and do your best, especially in workplaces where respect is a limited resource. They don't treat you how you want to be treated, so you can only do so much for them. That's what happened in this story, where an employee was consistently punished for their coworker's shortcomings. 

When you're working a long shift, the last thing you want to do is more work. If you've been planning to leave at a certain time, and then you can't leave then, it's devastating. You know this if you've experienced it. You've summoned up all your energy to get through the day, knowing that you'll clock out at 4 PM. But if 4 PM rolls around and you suddenly have to stay another hour, that's going to be the longest hour of your life. I don't make the rules. That's why it's so frustrating when management doles out uneven hours and leaves their employees hanging when they least expect it. That's what kept happening to this employee, who figured that there had to be a better way.