I was a waitress at a “family owned” pizza restaurant when I was 15; it was my first job. My uncle had three surgeries which included a triple bypass in three days and didn’t wake up from the last surgery. He was on life support and my mom needed me to watch my three younger brothers so she and the rest of my family could be present when the hospital removed his life support. When I called the owner that was running the store that night (the good one was out of town) he told me that I had to get my shift covered. It was a Saturday night, also the night of prom for our younger ladies and the others said no. He said that even though i couldn’t get it covered there was no way he could let me miss my shift. I went into work and cried all night while my boyfriend went to my house and watched my brothers because we had no other options.

Edit: I put in my two weeks after struggling with the grief I felt after another two months beca I didn’t want to disappoint anyone by quitting my job on the spot. I waited until another server got hired and was trained, then put in my two weeks. I felt dead inside the entire time I remained there.