Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Calling out sick...Who will do it and who won't do it?
- Thread starter glocke12
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
the company i work for and i have been with them 8 years next year. I have never had a sick day up until a few weeks ago when the doctor told me that is it you need a break. I was told your off for 2 weeks, i was not bed ridden but doctor knows best.
I would be at work every day unless i was bed ridden. If i could get up in the morning, i would work, headache, flu etc i was there. I just medicated when needed and stayed away from staff. Thankfully my workshop is big enough so we are not crammed in and work in small spaces.
But as of late i have come to the realisation that i need to now put my health / life before work.
I would be at work every day unless i was bed ridden. If i could get up in the morning, i would work, headache, flu etc i was there. I just medicated when needed and stayed away from staff. Thankfully my workshop is big enough so we are not crammed in and work in small spaces.
But as of late i have come to the realisation that i need to now put my health / life before work.
I work in the entertainment industry as a stagehand, from general schlub up to crew cheif or designer, depending on the project. In this business, you don't call out sick unless you really are about dead, or unless you're low enough on the totem pole that your absence isn't noticed. The reason is that most of our work involves getting a show ready in that one day. And because a show happens when it happens, you can't just put off your job until the next day. If you are part of a show crew and you call out, there is no one to do your part of the job. It's not always a "just replace yourself" kind of thing. Also, we're generally working in large open spaces, so catching something is less likely. I haven't had more than a runny nose and sneezing in the past ten years, so it rarely is even an issue for me. Of course, if you are really and truly sick, then we'll find a way around it.
Funny story...one guy on one of my tours back in the day was not a popular guy. He was just an annoying weasel. When we got to his hometown on tour, he suddenly called out sick. You can bet that was about the end of his being taken seriously in the workplace.
As for the typical office, restaurant, or warehouse worker...I think calling in sick should be just fine, and encouraged, as long as your position isn't what holds the company together.
Wait...what? You support sick people working in kitchens?? Like, where they are preparing and handling peoples' food? What exactly do you do in this restaurant that is that important and doesn't have several other people doing the same thing?
Funny story...one guy on one of my tours back in the day was not a popular guy. He was just an annoying weasel. When we got to his hometown on tour, he suddenly called out sick. You can bet that was about the end of his being taken seriously in the workplace.
As for the typical office, restaurant, or warehouse worker...I think calling in sick should be just fine, and encouraged, as long as your position isn't what holds the company together.
Wait...what? You support sick people working in kitchens?? Like, where they are preparing and handling peoples' food? What exactly do you do in this restaurant that is that important and doesn't have several other people doing the same thing?
I hate systems like that. Vacation and "sick leave/personal time" should be kept separate. Sick leave/personal time is used for things like doctor's appointments and when you are sick or for parents when their kids are sick. Vacation is exactly that.
Not splitting them they found people are much more willing to come in sick and in turn get more people sick. The problem with that is while they are sick their productivity is shot and really it is found over all is cheaper for the company to encourage people to take sick days when they are sick. Fewer people get sick and lost hours works out to be less.
I know I went into work one day after I got sick with food poisoning. I got pretty much nothing done that day as I felt so bad.
As soon as they get combined into one then we have problems. I have no issue with vacation and then having "personal time". Correct uses of personal time are sick days, doctor appointments or you need to leave early one day to say take your car in. If you are sick they encourage you to telecommute if you feel up to it but avoid spreading germs.
in todays world of telecommuting a lot of people could do that on sick days at least get some work done and their lost productive will not spread as everyone else gets sick.
Tell me were you work so I know sure as hell NEVER and I repeat NEVER eat there.
So you do realize that not only are you subjecting your co-workers to your illness, you are subjecting the customers that eat at your restaurant to your illness, nice. I bet you also are the kind of person who doesn't realize the importance of regular hand washing.
I'm not clear on how a dead virus can produce symptoms of flu. It is my understanding that, like most vaccinations, the dead virus stimulates the body to produce antibodies which confer (temporary) immunity - as if you had had the illness. Wasn't aware that the process of antigen production produced symptoms - not my subjective experience.
Second, if you have the symptoms of the flu ( sneezing, coughing, muscle aches, chills, fever, etc.) - what is the difference between having the symptoms of the flu and having the flu? Signs and symptoms are the objective and subjective effects, respectively, of the effects of the underlying pathogen.
I need to learn some new stuff - look forward to reply.
I don't think sick days and personal time should be combined. Where I work, personal days and vacation days are pretty much the same thing, both available to take in 2 hour increments, only difference being that if you quit, remaining vacation days are paid out but personal days aren't, so everyone takes their personal days first just in case.
Sick days are an entirely separate matter. At my job, there's unlimited sick time. But even if you have a bucket of sick days to use each year, it should still be separate from personal/vacation days. Combining sick and personal days is why people don't call in sick, because if they know if they call in sick, that's one less personal day and it might screw up their vacation plans later in the year.
You all make the mistake of assuming there is nothing but cooking to be done in a restaurant. Ill people tend to be put on cleaning or cash and carry duty. You must be mad to think I'd be allowed to cook someone's food whilst ill. There are plenty of jobs in a restaurant that doesn't involve cooking and has minimal interaction with customers and other employees.
You are all also making the mistake that it is up to me. I'm not the restaurant manager (yet, I'm currently in training to be though), even though I support having staff come in to work unless they're in a seriously dire situation, it isn't actually up to me yet whether I do come in ill or I just call in sick. If I started calling in sick unless it was something serious, I may as well kiss goodbye to my promotion as I need to be on hand at the restaurant at the drop of a hat.
Btw, this isn't the only kitchen I've worked in that has this attitude. The majority of the ones I've worked in have very little tolerance for calling in sick.
This last summer I got an internship at a software development company as my first real 'job'.
I have no idea why, maybe it was waking up at 6 every dang day, but I got sick maybe 3-4 times in those two months.
I had no idea if I was allocated sick days, or what. So, I just called it safe, and said I'd work from home. Which, I actually did. So, no worries.
I have no idea why, maybe it was waking up at 6 every dang day, but I got sick maybe 3-4 times in those two months.
I had no idea if I was allocated sick days, or what. So, I just called it safe, and said I'd work from home. Which, I actually did. So, no worries.
Not quite true. I gave your employer the benefit of the doubt, perhaps incorrectly.
Still, even busing tables or handling cash represents a risk to your customers, not even considering fellow staff, who might be chefs/servers.
When serious epidemics are going around at my school they send people home who appear sick. At one point there were so many people away sick that out of my form class of 25 there were only 10 people showing up
Other than epidemics I go to school when I have a headache or a cold (if I'm sick sick though I stay home, although I'm almost never sick sick anymore). I just have lots of painkillers Some of my friends are ******* when it comes to being sick and stay home every single time they have a cold...
Other than epidemics I go to school when I have a headache or a cold (if I'm sick sick though I stay home, although I'm almost never sick sick anymore). I just have lots of painkillers
Some of my friends are ******* when it comes to being sick and stay home every single time they have a cold...
Viruses aren't, usually, considered to be living things. They can't therefore be dead or alive. I the appropriate term is attenuation.
I'm in the "sick days should not count as vacation days" camp.
If I'm going to have to take vacation for being sick, it's incredible motivation to come into work unless you are literally unable to work. Even if you get nothing done there it's still "better" in many ways.
These cultures are annoying, but in America, it's fairly true.
If I'm going to have to take vacation for being sick, it's incredible motivation to come into work unless you are literally unable to work. Even if you get nothing done there it's still "better" in many ways.
These cultures are annoying, but in America, it's fairly true.
Here if you are on holiday leave and you become sick you can claim those days back if you choose to! I'm not sure, but I think it is illegal to force someone to take sick days as holiday (but unless your contract says otherwise you are only entitled to statutory sick pay once you have been ill for 7 days).
I think the USA is one way worse in terms of sick pay than most of the rest of the world (well at least europe).
Then again, the government seems to have some ridiculously good benefits..
I often find myself avoiding someone at work who is under the weather and should have stayed home to avoid infecting everyone else. But they think that they should show up to demonstrate what hard-working employees they are. I think it's inconsiderate but I can see how corporate culture leads them to do this.
I'm not clear on how a dead virus can produce symptoms of flu. It is my understanding that, like most vaccinations, the dead virus stimulates the body to produce antibodies which confer (temporary) immunity - as if you had had the illness. Wasn't aware that the process of antigen production produced symptoms - not my subjective experience.
Second, if you have the symptoms of the flu ( sneezing, coughing, muscle aches, chills, fever, etc.) - what is the difference between having the symptoms of the flu and having the flu? Signs and symptoms are the objective and subjective effects, respectively, of the effects of the underlying pathogen.
I need to learn some new stuff - look forward to reply.
Vaccines are generally designed to stimulate antibody (or cell-mediated) responses against critical virulence factors of an organisms. Although it might be possible to make DNA-vaccines in the future, for now these are the three main types:
1. Killed vaccines - easier to manufacture, pose no risk of vaccine-associated infection. Generally the immunity generated from these is not as effective or long-lasting as a live one.
2. Live vaccines - an attenuated virus (an avirulent strain) more closely mimics the natural disease, so gives a longer-lasting immunity, while the attenuation assures that it can't spread/become full-fledged disease, but stops with the few cells it initially infects. These can't be given to immunocompromised people since theoretically, it could revert back to a virulent strain and cause disease with the patient's immune system unable to respond as well.
3. Vaccines with components of microorganisms/toxoids - second generation vaccines give only part of a pathogen (inactivated toxin, subunit like an important protein or polysaccharide bound to a required protein) together with an adjuvant booster to cause an immune response.
Sadly, generally the more of an immune response a vaccine generates, the longer lasting your immunity will be. So getting flu-like symptoms is actually pretty good as far as protection is concerned. Hope that helped!
[sorry for the non-sequitur
, but he asked, and vaccines are pretty cool...]
I thought it was "calling in sick"...
In the place where I used to work (military), you just didn't call in sick. Instead, you would get a certificate from a doctor which stated that you were incapable of performing your duties - or that the danger of infecting others with really harmful viruses was too high. Even then, you would risk that your colleagues said "oh, how convenient!" with a frown when they knew that you were on medical leave. In about half the cases, there would also be extrajudicial punishment ("motivation").
What this all comes down to is that it was far more acceptable to infect your colleauges than to put extra work on their shoulders. This is because every man is responsible for his own health anyway.
So yes - it's certainly about corporate culture.
In the place where I used to work (military), you just didn't call in sick. Instead, you would get a certificate from a doctor which stated that you were incapable of performing your duties - or that the danger of infecting others with really harmful viruses was too high. Even then, you would risk that your colleagues said "oh, how convenient!" with a frown when they knew that you were on medical leave. In about half the cases, there would also be extrajudicial punishment ("motivation").
What this all comes down to is that it was far more acceptable to infect your colleauges than to put extra work on their shoulders. This is because every man is responsible for his own health anyway.
So yes - it's certainly about corporate culture.
Last edited:
It's true: I've never had a sick day in nearly 40 years of being self-employed. I guess I'm just lucky.
It's highly frowned upon where I work and honestly it makes 0 sense as it quite literally is a matter of life and death. With my job if your thoughts or reactions a just a little slow you can quite literally end up dead. When I am under the weather and have to go to work I just do as little as I can to limit the risk as much as possible. Right now I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 hours of sick time. Plus side is you can use your sicktime to reach an earlier retirement date or retire at normal time and use it to boost your time of service for a slightly higher check.
I'm glad I didn't have to work in the same place as you. (before you reached your new realisation).
When I'm sick with flu or those types of things, I'll work from home rather that coming into the office and making everyone else sick as well. Coming into the office while sick should be made a criminal offense! It ruins productivity for everyone else. We are quite crammed in so it's impossible to avoid people who are ill.
Otherwise, if I'm injured but can physically get to work, I will. When I take sick leave, I am sick - and always have a doctors certificate even for those times when it's not required by policy.
I almost got through this year without getting any cold/flu viruses. And the one I did get a while back was mild - and happened on my leave... (argh).
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
These workplace martyrs should receive disciplinary action against them, or have their pay docked when they do this kind of thing - it's not acceptable to infect everyone else and make them all sick as well. I like your strategy on taking leave when someone else gets sick. Good thinking, well done!
Last edited:
I agree, to a certain extent.
You are fortunate that you can work from home. Office jobs should have this option, but unfortunately management, usually achieved via the Peter Principle, must be served.
For those that work with their hands, this is not an option, unfortunately.
These workplace martyrs should receive disciplinary action against them, or have their pay docked when they do this kind of thing - it's not acceptable to infect everyone else and make them all sick as well. I like your strategy on taking leave when someone else gets sick. Good thinking, well done!
In companies with a given number of sick-days per year for each employee (be it by law or by corporate policy), this could be legit. If nothing else, it would in the very least give them a good incentive to stay home when they're sick - and besides, it would show clearly how the company viewed such behaviour. But what if you don't have such welfare benefits? Getting the flu would cause you a payment cut anyway, either because of your absence or as a disciplinary reaction. Isn't this what they call "double jeopardy"?
Yeah, or Catch 22.
It's an unfortunate thing that we've reached a point in workplace society that we're so busy we don't actually have time to be ill and if the worst happens and you do get ill it's viewed as a weakness.
If you don't get sick pay then you've potentially got two worries: firstly the illness itself, whatever it may be, secondly how to fend off the vultures if you fall behind on payments, rent, bills etc.
Long term illness has led to a nasty downfall for ordinary working people before.
Fine if you're backed up with savings, not so good if you live week to week.
My opinion is that if you're sick, don't go work.
Fine for me to say 'cos I get sick pay, although it has it's limit.
I've worked plenty of jobs where sick pay isn't available and the only way not to sink is too drag yourself in and carry on.
I can sympathise/empathise with people in that position.
A final thought is how we change with the jobs that we get, thoughts, motives and opinions.
If the harsh boss found himself working on the shopfloor as an ordinary worker how unified would he be with his co-workers concerning lack of sick pay and job/accomodation jeopardy through sickness?
Plenty I should imagine.