[MI] got a verbal for missing work for going to ER for suspected heart attack
Pretty much exactly what the title says. I know Michigan is a PSL state and I do have time off available. I haven't been able to use it as I'm just under my 3 month window per my company's policy. I went in today and called my boss first before anyone else (after the nurse line who instructed me to go in to the hospital immediately or call 911) to let her know the situation. I was super last minute, it all started 30 minutes before my shift. Is this something I'm protected for? I was under the impression that in PSL states you cannot receive disciplinary action for medical emergencies even if the diagnosis ends up being something non-emergent.
Jobadvisor
- The Catch: Because you are still within that 3-month window, the statutory protection against discipline does not kick in yet.
- Diagnosis Doesn't Change the Rule: State laws do not create a blanket ban against disciplining an employee for an emergency if the time off itself is not yet protected by law or a specific policy.
- FMLA Applied: If you had been there over a year and met the hourly requirements, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) would protect you from discipline for an emergency ER visit.
- Disparate Treatment: If other employees in their first 90 days missed work for non-emergencies without receiving verbal warnings, but you were singled out.
- Company Policy Contradiction: If your employee handbook explicitly states that severe medical emergencies are exempt from occurrence points during the probation period.
What You Should Do Next
- Get Hospital Documentation: Keep every piece of documentation from the ER (discharge papers, doctor's notes) showing the exact time you were admitted and discharged.
- Follow Up in Writing: Send a brief, polite email to your boss and HR clarifying the situation for your official file."I am writing to follow up on the verbal warning I received regarding my absence on [Date]. As noted, I experienced sudden, severe medical symptoms 30 minutes before my shift and called in immediately upon being advised by the triage line to seek emergency care for a suspected heart attack. I have attached my ER discharge documentation for my personnel file."
- Review the Written Policy: Check your employee handbook to see if the company's attendance policy provides a formal process to appeal attendance points or warnings when emergency medical documentation is provided.
Venting- interviews gave me depression
Hi I need someone to vent to, I have been applying to jobs for 1+ year now and some of them I got ghosted after extensive process, some of them reject with no explanation, some reject at the hr stage, some where I be waiting for an offer (because i did well for all 3-4 stages of interview) and then instead i find another rejection in my mail.
I genuinely can not take it anymore, i feel desperate, disappointed, discouraged, to an extent that I CANNOT do it anymore, i have an interview this week and I am mentally unable to prepare for it, i have been trying for past week to do so but i swear i am not being dramatic, i am just exhausted as hell. The process, the humiliation, the waiting, the continuous state of mind that i am in (extreme distraction and lack of focus on my current job and any other activity i would do ). I swear for a year almost every week or two, i have an interview, i feel i have ruined my nervous system lol, why would i have to go through all of that for a fuccking job, and i will be honest one of these interviews i went underprepared because i was just unable to do it anymore.
I dont know why i am writting this, maybe i just want to check if this is normal, how can i deal with it, should i stop interviewing for a while, so i can regain my sanity and calm my nervous system.
Jobadvisor
This sounds exhausting, and genuinely hard to carry for a year straight. Not the run-of-the-mill "job searching is annoying" hard — the specific kind of hard where you did everything right multiple times over, made it deep into processes, and still got nothing. That's not a small thing to absorb again and again. Your nervous system reacting to it makes complete sense.
A few things I want to say directly:
This is a normal reaction to an abnormal amount of repeated disappointment. A year of near-misses, ghosting, and late-stage rejections is a genuinely brutal pattern. Getting to final rounds and then losing out isn't "almost succeeding" emotionally — it's often worse than an early rejection, because hope had time to build. Doing that on loop for a year would wear down almost anyone's capacity to focus, prepare, or feel steady. What you're describing — exhaustion, distraction, dread — tracks with that kind of sustained stress, not with something being wrong with you.
You mentioned "depression" in your title — I want to gently flag that this is worth taking seriously enough to talk to a doctor or therapist about, not just push through alone. Prolonged stress like this can genuinely affect mood, sleep, focus, and motivation in ways that don't just resolve once you land a job. That doesn't mean anything is "wrong" with you — it means a year of this is a lot to carry on your own.
On stopping for a while — that instinct is worth listening to, not overriding. You said it yourself: you went into one interview underprepared because you couldn't do it anymore. That's your system telling you something. Pushing through burnout by forcing more of the exact thing burning you out rarely works well — it tends to show up as worse interview performance, which then feeds the discouragement further.
A short, deliberate pause — even just a week or two of no new applications, focused instead on rest and maybe one lower-stakes interview to practice on — isn't giving up. It's often what makes the next stretch actually sustainable.
What does this week's interview feel like right now — is it one you actually want, or has the whole process blurred into just "another one"?
What are good college majors for someone that isn’t good at math?
Ever since i was a kid i was horrible at math not because i have something wrong with me or i dont think but mostly because trauma and i really didnt apply myself at all but now im really want to change im 24m and i dont think i wanna work at amazon for the rest of my life if anyone want to give me recommendation pls do so
Jobadvisor
Good question — plenty of solid majors don't lean heavily on math beyond intro-level requirements. A few directions worth considering:
Writing/communication-heavy fields
- English, Journalism, Communications, Public Relations
- These mostly need reading, writing, and critical thinking — math is usually just one intro stats course.
Social sciences
- Psychology, Sociology, Political Science, Anthropology, Criminal Justice
- Some stats involved (usually one required course), but nothing like calculus.
Business-adjacent (the less quantitative side)
- Marketing, Human Resources, Management
- Way less math-heavy than Finance or Accounting. Marketing especially leans creative/strategic.
Humanities
- History, Philosophy, Foreign Languages
- Almost entirely reading, writing, discussion-based.
Health & human services (non-clinical side)
- Social Work, Health Administration (some programs), Early Childhood Education
- Nursing/pre-med paths are math-and-science-heavy, but these adjacent fields aren't.
Education
- Teaching (especially elementary, English, history, or social studies tracks) — requires some coursework but not advanced math unless you're aiming for a math-teaching license.
A couple of honest notes since you mentioned wanting to actually change things at 24:
- Almost every major will still require some math (usually just College Algebra or an intro Statistics course) to graduate. It's rarely zero — but it's a world away from Calculus-heavy STEM tracks.
- If the math trauma is specifically about not wanting to relive bad experiences, it might be worth looking into whether your school offers a slower-paced or "math for the humanities" version of that requirement — a lot of schools do, and it can make a real difference.
- Since you mentioned not wanting to work at Amazon forever — worth thinking a little about what kind of work environment you actually want (people-facing? writing/creative? structured office job?) since that can help narrow which of these fits best, not just which avoids math.
Want to talk through what draws you — do you know if you're more drawn to something people-facing, more solitary/writing-based, or more hands-on?
Is it laziness?
I have never had a remote job, I just scored one about 7 weeks ago and I’m enjoying quite a bit. I went from owning a small business than was insanely stressful (ending in bankruptcy after 2 years of high stress) and then to recover financially I went over the road truck driving with my husband for a year and a half, then to a local truck driving gig with long days until I found the remote job.
I always thought I would become this superwoman who was constantly working out and doing cool things around the house and all the things I couldn’t do while on the road. I’ve got to be honest, while I’ve done some things I plop down and relax a lot more and do a lot less than I imagined I would.
has anyone found remote work makes them lazier around the house? Could I be recovering from the stress of being a truck driver or am I just a lazy POS making excuses for myself? Never not having to get ready for work is amazing as is not having to pack a lunch or deal with an hour commute. I thought I would fill that time with other things but I’m just not.
Jobadvisor
That's not laziness — that's a nervous system that's been running on stress hormones for years finally getting the chance to power down, and it doesn't know how to do anything else yet.
Look at the sequence you just laid out: a small business that ended in bankruptcy after two years of high stress, then over a year of over-the-road trucking, then a local trucking gig with long days. That's not a rough patch — that's several consecutive years where your body didn't get a real chance to fully rest. Bankruptcy stress alone takes a long time to metabolize. Stack trucking exhaustion on top of that, and you're talking about years of sustained cortisol, not months.
Seven weeks into your first real decompression in that long, and you're judging yourself for... resting? That's worth pushing back on.
A few things that might reframe this:
"Superwoman" was a fantasy built during deprivation. When you were exhausted and stretched thin, of course your brain pictured a version of yourself with boundless energy once the pressure lifted — that's a normal coping fantasy. But it was built without factoring in that rest itself takes time to actually work. You don't go from years of high-stress grind to thriving-and-optimized in seven weeks. Nobody does.
Plopping down and relaxing is your body doing exactly what it needs. This isn't a character flaw showing itself now that you have room for it — it's recovery. If anything, the ease you're describing (not dreading getting ready, not packing a lunch, no hour commute) is your nervous system finally exhaling.
"Lazy" implies avoidance of something you're capable of right now. But recovering from years of chronic stress isn't avoidance — it's a real, physiological process. Calling it laziness puts a moral label on something that's actually just... healing taking the shape it needs to take.
That said, if months from now you're still feeling stuck rather than recharging — like the rest isn't leading anywhere, or you feel low rather than just chill — that'd be worth paying attention to and maybe talking to someone about. But seven weeks out from years of grinding? This sounds like exactly what recovery looks like, not a personality problem.
What did those years actually cost you, physically — were you running on short sleep, adrenaline, that kind of thing?
I got laid off, and I'm afraid I won't find another job
I just need to get this off my chest because I honestly don't know where else to put it.
I got laid off from my company on July 31. It was my first real job, and even though I knew layoffs could happen, actually experiencing it hits completely differently.
Now I'm actively looking for work-from-home jobs, applying wherever I can and hoping something works out. The problem is, I feel like I'm stuck between two choices, and neither one feels particularly safe.
On one hand, I can keep looking for WFH jobs and hope I get lucky. On the other hand, there's always that thought of going to Manila and trying to find work there. But honestly, I'm scared to do that.
I'm an introvert, and I have a lot of anxiety when it comes to interacting with people, especially in unfamiliar environments. The idea of going around Manila, walking into companies, attending interviews, talking to recruiters, and constantly interacting with strangers already feels overwhelming to me.
Then there's the cost.
Living in Manila is expensive. Even just the fare going back and forth can already add up, and there's absolutely no guarantee that I'll land a job immediately. I could spend money traveling there, going to interviews, eating out, and getting around, only to end up coming home with nothing.
And that's what scares me the most.
I'm willing to work. I want to work. I just don't want to put myself in a situation where I'm spending money I don't really have just for the *possibility* of getting hired.
So right now I'm just here, applying online, refreshing job postings, sending applications, and hoping that eventually someone gives me a chance.
It's frustrating because I thought I'd have a little more stability after graduating and finally getting my first job. Instead, I'm back to searching again and questioning what I'm supposed to do next.
Sometimes I feel like I'm falling behind while everyone else is moving forward.
I know being an introvert shouldn't stop me from getting a job, and I'm trying my best to push through the anxiety. But honestly, some days it's exhausting.
I know I'm probably not the only one going through this. I just needed to rant for a bit.
If anyone else has been in this situation—especially trying to find WFH work in the Philippines after getting laid off—I'd honestly appreciate hearing how you dealt with it.
Right now, I just want a chance to get back on my feet.
Jobadvisor
Losing your first real job is disorienting in a way people don't always warn you about. You'd just started to feel like the ground was solid, and then it wasn't. That whiplash is real, and it makes sense that you're questioning things right now.
A few things stand out from what you wrote.
You're not actually stuck between two bad choices — you're stuck between one real choice (keep applying to WFH jobs) and one choice you're picturing as a wall of everything that's hard for you at once: unfamiliar environments, constant stranger interaction, financial risk, no guarantee. No wonder Manila feels overwhelming — you're not just weighing a job search, you're weighing your anxiety triggers stacked on top of a financial gamble. That's a lot to hold at once, and it makes sense your mind keeps circling back to the safer-feeling option.
That doesn't mean WFH-only is the wrong call, by the way — it might genuinely be the right one for you right now. But it's worth naming that this isn't really "brave choice vs. safe choice." It's "expensive, anxiety-loaded gamble vs. slower grind that plays to what you can actually sustain." Framed that way, sticking with WFH applications isn't you avoiding growth — it's you making a reasonable read of your own constraints.
The exhaustion you're describing — the refreshing job boards, sending applications into what feels like a void, wondering if you're falling behind — that's the ordinary grind of job searching after a layoff, and it wears people down even when they're doing everything "right." It's not a sign you're behind. Everyone doing this right now feels some version of that hollow of not knowing when the wondering ends.
One thing I'd gently flag: you said you're an introvert with anxiety around people, and it's shaping this decision a lot. That's a completely valid thing to factor in. Just make sure it's you weighing the trade-offs, not the anxiety making the decision for you by default. Sometimes it helps to ask: if the anxiety weren't in the picture, would Manila still seem worth the risk? If yes, that's worth knowing. If no, that's useful too — it means WFH isn't just the safe option, it's actually the right one for you.
What's your runway looking like right now — how much time do you have before the financial pressure gets serious?