Is it normal to feel paranoid about calling in sick?

[iwishiwasafish]

I have flu at the moment and I am so anxious about phoning in sick to work tomorrow.

I am very genuinely sick. Can barely make it from bedroom to bathroom. Sweaty, coughing, snotty, exhausted.

But I worry that they will either think I am faking it, or somehow realise that I am not really needed and not any use even when I am there. Or, things will fall apart when I’m not there and they’ll think I am a bad manager for not setting things up better. (I realise those worries all contradict each other).

I guess it it some kind of extension of imposter syndrome - worrying that I am not good enough and am going to be found out?

Does anyone else get this?

(And yes, I do realise that I am very lucky to have a job that pays sick pay, and where phoning in sick is an option.)

I get this every time 😂. I hurt myself last week and sent my boss a picture of the injury so they knew I wasn't lying lol x

Totally normal (for me, anyway). I hate it, I get anxious before calling in

The thing is, I’m relatively senior. If anyone who works for me is off sick, I don’t give it a second thought (other than genuinely hoping they are OK). In fact, the few times I have thought someone was chancing it I’ve though “good on them” so long as they didn’t take the mick.

OP, you know that you are genuinely ill and you know what you would say to an employee in this situation. If you're sick, you're sick.

If you're relatively senior, the chances are that nobody will really pick up the bulk of your work while you're off and in reality it will just pile up until you're back. This is sadly just the way things are when you're a manager. Nobody is going to be thinking about how it reflects on your performance, because in the nicest possible way, you're not that important. They will all be focused on their own stuff, as most of us are most of the time.

Hope you feel better soon.

I worked through HG and recently went in after vomiting all night and having one hour sleep (from pain before anyone tells me off for spreading a bug) rather than call in sick. Our boss speaks so horribly to us when we are ill that this isn't unusual.

I had my first day off sick yesterday in my job where I’ve been for nearly a year. Had really bad cystitis and was weeing blood at one point, I’m a carer and could barely look after myself so was in no fit state to look after anyone else! I called in sick on Friday night as I knew I was getting worse and the manager who answered the phone just said we’ve got no other carers. I said I was really sorry but I was so ill there was no way I could do my shift. I assume other carers had to do my calls, it happens all the time, so not sure what she wanted me to do. I was seriously unwell, and I felt bad about calling in, but there was no option, I could barely make it from bed to the loo!

I have bad dreams the night before if I know I have to phone in. Like not being able to find my phone, not being able to get through to a manager, oversleeping so I'm AWOL instead of sick, bosses not believing me. Awful when I'm ill & need bloody sleep.