I am now into my third week at work. I am working in the motor trade my first week was all over the place no communication between managers. Second week slightly better. On Saturday I messaged the GM to ask for Sunday off as I was going to be at work for 7 days straight. He gave me the time off but this morning he showed a colleague/manager the message I sent him and said it was unacceptable as I should have called him or the other sales manager. I am now feeling lost and I don't know where to go who to go to. I want out, I am lost and don't know who to go to.
I think its reasonable for your manager to expect a phone call rather than a message. If you want an expert's advice I'd recommend you give ACAS a call. I'm sure they'll be able to advise you. If it was me I'd be saying to my manager - sorry I made a mistake. I understand now that I must ring you if the same thing happens again. Are you ok with that? (the question at the end then forces them to say yes or no).
I have no experience of the motor trade, other than as a customer! However, in my career in teaching, we had a policy for staff sickness/leave, which detailed how sickness/absence from school should be reported. This involved a specified telephone number to call, between certain hours, the phone would be answered by a member of the senior leadership team, who then arranged appropriate cover for my timetable.
Just for future reference, you could check what specific procedures are in place for reporting sickness/leave issues, as this hasn't been made clear to you - probably because you've not been ill previously. If you had known the 'chain of command' you would have followed that procedure. Then the ball is in the management's court!!