Calling in "sick"...

[princessmom29]

Well, our sick policy includes asick child or immedate family member that needs care as a valid use for a sick day. Other than that I would not call in if I wasn't truly sick.

 

[Pakey]

Maybe because I'm old school and my first real job was in the military where a sick day was not an option, I have called in sick less than a half dozen times in the last 35 years. Even when I was incredibly sick going through chemotherapy, I worked. I never stayed home with a sick child.

My staff, on the other hand, use their sick leave as fast as they earn it. The most popular day for use is Monday.

 

[tvguy]

leave is leave. who cares why you take it if you have the days to take?

I have several co-workers who feel this way. These are the same folks that are always out of sick time when cold and flu season hits in October and November and are furious that they won't get paid because they have used all their time up. In one case, a co-worker had used all her sick time by the end of March . Rumor is she did this in her last job, which is why she got fired.
I voted other. I have used 2 half days of sick time in the last 5 years, one half day when my wife had survery, one half day when my mom had surgery.
Somehow I have managed to only get sick on my days off the last 5 years!

 

[Planogirl]

I never did before but I don't hesitate to do so at my present company. They fight tooth and nail to keep people from taking off and deny requests constantly. If I have something I have to do I will call in sick. They don't seem to care.

Funny but I was always very conscientious about not doing this before. I plan to be this way again once I go somewhere else.

 

[SDFgirl]

No I don't. I'm not morally opposed to it, but I am a teacher and getting substitute plans together is such a PITA that I don't take a day off unless I really need to.

 

[soccerchick]

I have several co-workers who feel this way. These are the same folks that are always out of sick time when cold and flu season hits in October and November and are furious that they won't get paid because they have used all their time up. In one case, a co-worker had used all her sick time by the end of March . Rumor is she did this in her last job, which is why she got fired.
I voted other. I have used 2 half days of sick time in the last 5 years, one half day when my wife had survery, one half day when my mom had surgery.
Somehow I have managed to only get sick on my days off the last 5 years!

My quote that you quoted and your example here are SOOO not the same thing. Responsible use of leave and irresponsible use of leave are two separate things. I have months of "sick" leave available because I am rarely out. Last year was high b/c both of my kids got swine flu and I took a total of 4 days. If I am an employee and have leave to take, I do not see what difference putting a label on it makes. Leave is leave. Not everything in the world can be done outside of business hours.

I too do not get the people who burn leave as soon as they get it.

 

[AKL_Megs]

I've never worked at a place that offered personal time. I've never had that luxury. If something came up, I'd call in sick. I wouldn't feel bad, as personal time wasn't an option. Sometimes things happen, and if your employer doesn't offer unpaid days off or personal time, you have no choice but to use sick time.

 

[cm8]

I read that article and was blown away by the one with the young lady at US florida, that was too funny!!.

I voted other. I am "always" sick, I'm still on my chemo and go to work when I can. This past week I was sick on vacation and I am still sick. We get paid time off, so I use that when I am out

 

[Fintastic]

If I called into work and said "I'm taking a mental health day," I'd probably be without a job the next day! It's easier to call in sick. But since the economy is in the toilet, salaried employees at my company don't get paid sick days. You have to cover your sick day with your own vacation or you just take it unpaid. So it's been a while since I had a mental health day even though I could use it.

ETA: If I'm taking a mental health day, it's because I don't want to go anywhere - so I don't! I stay home and catch up on my DVRed shows or read or whatever. So spying on me wouldn't do any good.

 

[Genie 410]

leave is leave. who cares why you take it if you have the days to take?

I agree! I once worked at a place where the manager awlays said we were too busy to take time off - but then at the end of the year we'd lose our vacation days and sick days didn't carry over from year to year either, so we were getting our leave time basically stolen from us! So now I make suere I take every single one of my alloted vacation days, sick days and personal time off whether I need to or not.

 

[tvguy]

My quote that you quoted and your example here are SOOO not the same thing. Responsible use of leave and irresponsible use of leave are two separate things. I have months of "sick" leave available because I am rarely out. Last year was high b/c both of my kids got swine flu and I took a total of 4 days. If I am an employee and have leave to take, I do not see what difference putting a label on it makes. Leave is leave. Not everything in the world can be done outside of business hours.

I too do not get the people who burn leave as soon as they get it.

We are use it or lose it, so you can never have more than 7 days. I don't know of many private sector employers that allow carrying over sick time around here.

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

No I don't. I'm not morally opposed to it, but I am a teacher and getting substitute plans together is such a PITA that I don't take a day off unless I really need to.

I know! Plus, there's always an IEP meeting, or a new student. I have a very tough class (self contained, MR kids with behavior issues). I get so stressed worrying about how they will treat the sub. It's hard enough when I know I'm going to be gone. Plus, most subs aren't trained in the specific interventions we use. My personal rule is that if I don't have a fever, I will go in. And since I never seem to get a fever when sick...

One of my colleagues once said she felt like we had the only job where it was harder to miss than be there.

 

[disneychrista]

I have never called in sick when I wasn't truely sick. But I have been known to go to work when I am sick

I had a co-worker who used to call in "well"

 

[youngb]

I have called in when not sick. At a former job, as a full time person you got 2 sick days a month. The full time person use to help the relief staff out if there hadn't been any shifts for awhile, we would take turns calling in so they could pick up some hours. Also if we dont use them we lose them as well. We could only bank a max of 120 days after that we would lose them or not get them. I left that job and got a severance and had all kinds of sick time left.

 

[Dolce27]

We have a PTO bank that is used for whatever we want: sickness, vacation, mental health day, whatever. I don't have to call in "sick" in order to have the day off. However, I'm currently in a situation I've never been in before: I haven't taken a lot of time off this year. We're only allowed to roll x amount of PTO hours into the next year. Currently I'm over the x hours of PTO time left in my bank so now I'm having to take off a few unplanned days this month in order to use those hours or else I lose it.

 

[FireDancer]

We have a PTO bank that is used for whatever we want: sickness, vacation, mental health day, whatever. I don't have to call in "sick" in order to have the day off. However, I'm currently in a situation I've never been in before: I haven't taken a lot of time off this year. We're only allowed to roll x amount of PTO hours into the next year. Currently I'm over the x hours of PTO time left in my bank so now I'm having to take off a few unplanned days this month in order to use those hours or else I lose it.

I was in that situation too but my company lets us cash unused PTO out which is nice. Of all the places I've worked my current job is the most liberal with PTO and with their time off policies and by far it's the place where people abuse it the least. Being less restrictive with time off is a win-win for the employee and employer IMO.

 

[brockash]

Inspired by an article. I read:
http://finance.yahoo.com/career-wor...ay-bounty-hunters?mod=career-worklife_balance

Seems that some places are hiring private investigators to check up on "sick" employees and catch them in the act of playing hookie.

What do you think, and do you sometimes call in sick when you're really just not in the mood to go to work?

I would think that companies that were willing to waste that much money on finding out if an employee is playing "hookie," must only be doing it in certain extreme cases, when they're looking for a reason to fire an employee. I can't imagine it would generally benefit them.

 

[kellyg403]

I can think of a handful of times I called in when one of the kids was sick. As a single mom to 6, sometimes it just had to work that way. Thank goodness it was rare and far between as they were pretty darn healthy!

Nowadays, I am more prone to go to work not feeling great and leaving early or letting someone know that I may not come in on time in the morning. Like others I am the boss and make my own schedule so really, if I start to feel burnt out I just try to schedule a week in there with 2 consecutive days off...one to lay around and the other to catch up!


Kelly

 

[superme80]

I used to when I worked outside the home. I was normally at my home on the couch though.

 

[pearlieq]

When I worked I definitely did. I wasn't about to leave those days on the table.

My company's policy was pretty liberal--a "sick" day could cover a medical appointment as well as actual illness, so most of mine got used there, but I definitely took a mental health day or two in there as well!