Calling out sick...Who will do it and who won't do it?

[bigeasy_uk]

I'm self-employed, so if I have time off I don't get paid. So I do work when I'm not feeling well, sometimes it makes me feel better than sitting around at home or lying in bed with a cold/flu.

Unfortunately I've just had a nasty fall and went over on my ankle so I can hardly walk at the moment. I lay wooden floors (solid wood, laminate and veneer) so I'm on my knees and getting up and down all the time, so I'm having to take time off until my ankle recovers. Hopefully I won't be off for longer than a week, but if I go back to work too soon I risk damaging it further so I have to wait it out until it is fully healed.

On the plus side the new Mario and Zelda games have just come out and I've still got the last half of SJ's biography to read so I'm not going to be totally bored

 

[Mord]

I won't endanger others if I feel like I'm contagious.

It's just not cool.

 

[Shrink]

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...]

Thank you, Daffodil, for your informative reply.

I, too, apologize to all for sliding off-topic.

 

[Thomas Veil]

Luckily, I work in a small office where showing up sick is not appreciated by the other members of our little crew. I'm sick, I stay home. Pain in the ass to people who have to cover for me, but by the same token, I've had to come in to cover for them. That's fair.

I have have never actually heard it called "calling out sick."

"Calling out" sick is what you do when you criticize Jerry Sandusky.

 

[Heilage]

I won't call in sick if I just have a small cold or something like that, but if I actually get properly sick, like the flu or other minors where you can't operate at full capacity, I believe it's better to just stay at home for two or three days, then be in full form back at work, than stay at work sick for a full week with low productivity and the possibility of spreading germs.

Sometimes, you're sick. That's life. I think some corporate culture needs to deal with that fact.

 

[soco]

I work a gov't job, so not only is it 10x more appreciated when I'm not walking around the office coughing at people, spreading my ickiness, but I get tons of "Sick Leave" that I get paid for anyway.

This past week I only went in Monday, to try to be a trooper, but wound up calling out Tuesday through Friday with the flu. All I had to do was email the secretary and say "Sick Leave - 11/15" - It's nice not having to explain myself to people.

I remember working retail jobs where you had to go through what amounted to a court case with your supervisor just to get a friggin' day to yourself to recover from being sick.

Still, with all that said, I still make a great effort to not call in sick. It's just a psychological thing. I don't like leaving more work for co-workers just because I was unfortunate enough to catch something.

<3 salary jobs.

 

[Doctor Q]

FYI, depending on where you live there are laws that let you take unpaid time off to help sick family members.

In the U.K. employees you can take http://findlaw.co.uk/law/small_busi...l_leave_and_time_off_for_dependants/1597.html to help a dependent who is sick or injured.

In the U.S. the Family and Medical Leave Act gives employees the right for time off to take care of their spouse, child, or parent who has a serious health condition.

State laws vary. In Massachusetts the Small Necessities Leave Act Basics lets you take time off for your child's or parent's medical appointments (or even for parent-teacher conferences). In California, Labor Code Section 233 says that you can use your paid sick time for either yourself or your sick spouse or child or parent, but I don't think it covers injured dependents.

In addition to sick days and vacation days, some employers provide paid maternity and paternity leave, paid days off for jury duty, and/or paid "personal" days, sometimes by law and other times by policy. It's worth finding out the laws in your country and state and the policies of your employer.

 

[miles01110]

My immune system is too good for me to get sick. I haven't been sick in years (seriously).

 

[Huntn]

Years ago, I used to work sick thinking that equated to an "attiboy" for supporting the team. But then I realized that if I screwed up and it was partially because I was sick, I could not use that as an excuse and the powers that be would be saying, "why did you fly sick, dummy?"

I'm happy to take sick leave for a sniffle, an ache (severe enough), etc.