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Calling out sick...Who will do it and who won't do it?
- Thread starter glocke12
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For some reason I find myself very resentful and angry with anyone who gets me sick, especially when they knew they were sick and just decided to gamble with my health. I think it's totally selfish. I'm very prone to sinus infections so these acts of selfishness can mean antibiotics and weeks of misery for me.
That being said, in SOME jobs I know people carry a feeling of obligation, perceived or not. I lived in the US and had a couple crappy jobs where not only were you NOT paid if you called in sick, you received a mark against you for it. At one place if you had 5 consecutively a doctor's note was required to return. The kicker was that they didn't offer health insurance either. I got the flu, couldn't afford to see a doctor and lost that job. WOOHOO, freedom!Granted, not all jobs are so lousy but I never shook the feeling of shame for needing a sick day here and there. It's absurd. People shouldn't contribute to spreading their illnesses around and workplaces should accomodate for that.
"you must be a lazy liberal mooching off the union tit"-Republicans
"You must be a lazy liberal mooching off the union tit." - Republicans
Make it your business to seek out your boss, and give his/her hand a shake for your job.
Bonus points for sneezing on/near him/her.
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Another vote for labeling this thoughtless and selfish irresponsibility. Short of requiring that everyone be gloved, gowned, and masked - sick people tend to make other people sick. Poop on them!
Another vote for labeling this thoughtless and selfish irresponsibility. Short of requiring that everyone be gloved, gowned, and masked - sick people tend to make other people sick. Poop on them!
Twice a year it happens to me, regular as clockwork for last 5 years.
The woman on the opposite shift gets a cold, one in summer, one in winter.
We share the same office space, keyboard, 'phone etc.
She soldiers on whining, moaning, coughing, sneezing and generally being a heroic martyr.
I get it and collapse in heap on the third day and get the comment - Well miss X worked through it - I've half a mind that next time she gets it I'll just take the week off anyway and avoid the cold.
Feel loads better now I've said that, almost empowered
Twice a year it happens to me, regular as clockwork for last 5 years.
The woman on the opposite shift gets a cold, one in summer, one in winter.
We share the same office space, keyboard, 'phone etc.
She soldiers on whining, moaning, coughing, sneezing and generally being a heroic martyr.
I get it and collapse in heap on the third day and get the comment - Well miss X worked through it - I've half a mind that next time she gets it I'll just take the week off anyway and avoid the cold.
Feel loads better now I've said that, almost empowered
Good idea!
Since if you get sick you'll be out for a week anyway (and sick as a dog), you might as well take the same amount of time off - and enjoy it.
Work place martyrs are a pain in the ass - and they're always so proud of
themselves.
My job offers unlimited paid sick time (although I'm sure after enough sick days, they'll want to see a doctor's note), but I also have the option to work from home pretty much whenever I want, so I do that if I'm not feeling well. I've never been sick enough to warrant taking a sick day.
I have have never actually heard it called "calling out sick."
Seems to be the same idea as "filling out a form".
You write in the spaces on the form, so why wouldn't it be called "filling in a form"? You add stuff to holes, so it's filling in.
It's like shovelling soil in to a hole and calling it "filling out a hole".
Seems to be the same idea as "filling out a form".
You write in the spaces on the form, so why wouldn't it be called "filling in a form"? You add stuff to holes, so it's filling in.
It's like shovelling soil in to a hole and calling it "filling out a hole".
Yeah, I always thought it was calling in sick - as in, you make a phone call to your boss to tell him you're sick.
You might say "I'm out sick today" to imply that you're out of the office, but the actual process as I've known it has been referred to "calling in sick"
It's like "standing in line" or "standing on line". I've always known it as in line. You're in a line of people. On line doesn't make sense to me.
Yes I used to say "standing on line" or often just "on line."
But then one time while I was at a store I texted my gf "I'm on line now" and she was like "WTF? On line? You told me you went out!" So now it's "in line" for me. lol
Michael
Yeah, I've noticed. In my career, I have noticed most of my jobs have fallen into two camps: Good money, crappy benefits (little/no time off) or good benefits and crappy money. I have yet to find a good balance.
Yes, I have had that curious imbalance, too. However, aside from good/poor money and good/poor benefits/conditions, there is a the third variable which is good or poor bosses; while a good boss is an absolute joy to work for, there are few hells on earth as vile as working under an awful boss.
I'm not sure it is possible to have all three at the one time; certainly, in my experience, it's rare.
Yep. I did this last week. I had my work computer at home, just laid in bed all day and worked from there.
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Even when I am sick, I don't call in. I go to work. If I'm that bad and it looks like they will manage the evening without me, my manager will send me home. If I'm not, then I'm good to work. Work distracts me from the pain of my illness to be honest, so I don't mind.
My company allows 5 paid sick days per year. If you don't use them, you lose them. Since I almost never get sick, I do take a day off every once in a while when we're not busy.
No kidding. I have encountered it so often that I have accepted it as normal.
It's why I have jumped jobs quite often in the past few years. Sadly, one of my favorite places I ever worked was also the lowest paying. I loved working for a university, especially my alama mater, but the pay was laughably low. The benefits were killer, but that won't pay the rent. I got curious about a year ago and checked on open positions with the university. Honestly, I would gladly go back there, even with a reasonable pay cut. I did find one job similar to what I am doing now, and it was almost half of what I make now. I would be willing to take a cut, but half isn't going to happen.
I work from home so calling out sick is essentially stupid for me unless I'm unable to get out of bed. I've had 2 sick days in 3 years and before that (when I worked in an office) I had 3 sick days in 6 years.
As someone mentioned, calling out sick seems to be frowned upon. I just happen to not get sick often, thank goodness.
As someone mentioned, calling out sick seems to be frowned upon. I just happen to not get sick often, thank goodness.
And that's the exact problem. Illness is not really something you can measure and the definition is quite simple: if you feel ill, you are ill. The same for pain. And that is very very personal. Others may disagree with you. Some people do not feel ill enough and go to work. Their co-workers might think they should have stayed home.
People should also remember that getting ill is something that is inevitable. You can get ill everywhere from any thing. There is also some delay in catching the illness and becoming ill. Your co-worker and you might have been infected by somebody else by simply opening a door or shaking hands. If he's been ill and you've become ill quite quickly after him than you can be quite sure he wasn't the one that made you ill: somebody/something else was. And the worst part of the story: being ill is NOT a requirement for infecting somebody else. You can infect somebody else without being ill yourself.
In other words: staying home when you're ill for your co-workers is a nice gesture but nothing more than that. It doesn't prevent co-workers from getting ill. Staying home only makes sense if you are simply too ill to work.
Btw, in my country it is better to be ill for a week than just 1 or 2 days. If you are ill for 2 days about 4 times this will raise alarms. Very simply put, being healthy is not a good thing...
The issue, for me, is that you are exposing all your co-workers to your illness. They may not find, as you do, that being sick at work is an effective distraction form pain or illness. They don't want the pain and illness that you pass along in the first place.
While going to work helps you through your illness (which is good), making other people sick is not so good.
I don't intend this as nasty criticism, and I hope you won't take it that way. Just an observation...
I used to work at apple, I came in with strep throat crying my eyes out bc I didn't want to get a point for an absence. I sat there in a corner( to not contaminate everyone else) crying in pain. I had clocked in and everything -- my jerk boss still gave me a strike.
I subsequently went to the doc. Got meds and a note and excused my absences I had following but left the original strike! ( I didn't have any)
Really crappy. Anyways that's an extreme circumstance. But I don't usually miss class or work for being sick unless I feel like death...which is rare
That seems pretty excessive.
I've been lucky enough to work a few places that are fairly lax about sick days and for the most part it is not abused. I work in a position now where I don't get paid for time off and I have to cover another co-worker's job when they are out. Part of that includes using their computer etc... So if they get sick... so do I, the only difference is I don't get paid.
I did that the other day, well, not the lay in bed part. My work laptop is a beast and would probably burn my nuts if I had it in my lap. But it's nice waking up at 7:14 to start your work day at the usual 7:15 and being able to work in your pajamas.
The shot is a dead virus. The nasal spray (relatively new) is a live one.
The problem with flu shots that some people have is that it can give you the symptoms of the flu without actually having it (depending on the persons reaction).
As a retail manager, I've sent people home for coming to work sick because I've seen how fast those things spread. It's simply unsafe (and unproductive) to come to work sick if you're coughing and hacking all over. I don't want you there anymore than you want to be there.
The unfortunate thing is that there are a lot more bad managers/bosses than good ones.
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Newsflash - taking any day off where I work, ill or not, without booking it 2 weeks in advance, is seriously frowned upon. I'll leave it up to the restaurant manager to decide if I'm too ill to work or not. I've seen people sacked for calling in sick too many times. Co-workers can either put up with it or leave.
And in all honesty, I support this sort of attitude. I've worked in some slack kitchens before and it isn't good.