What's a good sick excuse to use for sickie day from work?

[SummersBreeze]

I'm looking for a sick day from work.

What's a good excuse/made up illness for a sickie?

Thanks

Sorry it was supposed to be

The OP is NOT trying to put a sickie to have a day off

I'm entitled to sick days and I am far too honest by never taking them

Well, if you go into work when you are actually sick, that's entirely your decision.

You need to address this situation with your manager. Or HR.

The OP refers to 'her employer', so I fear she's working for some sort of small business without a manager as such let alone HR.

🤣🤣 stop being so dramatic.

I would bet, like millions of others, OP doesn't get paid a penny for being off sick, so pulling a sickie is probably doing nothing but saving them a days' wages.

I'm not one for taking sickies, but I must say I don't understand why people go for D&V. Everyone is different and some are prone to D&V, but many people only have this a few times in their whole life. When I was a manager the phone was constantly going from staff saying they were sick with D&V. It's the most unimaginative excuse ever!

Toothache can keep you awake all night and is totally debilitating.

@WhatsInAMolatovMocktail This is interesting. As a manager, I get the migraine sickie a lot.

What are good questions to ask a migraine sufferer to figure out if they truly suffer from migraine. I may not make sense of the answer but at least I will get a sense from their quizzical or panicked look whether they are bullshitting.

When I get a migraine I struggle to see the phone screen to dial a number let alone have a lengthy Q&A with my manager about it.

I suspect it's popular because it gets you a few days off - guaranteed. No decent manager is going to pressure you to come in if you're vomiting your guts up.

Though I do remember working on the hot food department of a supermarket and calling in with genuine D&V. I was on the evening shift but called first thing so they had time to find cover.

The duty managers response was "you need to call back later as the vomiting might stop soon so you'll be able to come in"

I know it varies from place to place but at my work it has to be the employee that phones in sick so you can't ask anyone else to do it for you (unless you're in A&E or something) and also you have to ring in on each day that you are not coming in and talk to your manager.

So it's bad enough doing it when you are genuinely sick so wouldn't consider pulling a sickie for that reason and not wanting to drop my colleagues in it too.

But this is MN where a lot of posters think duvet days are a right. So...

Oh give over @PAFMO she's not faking cancer, it's a migraine!

As a genuine migraine sufferer, ask them if they take any prescription meds, or what meds work, what are their triggers, do they get an aura - that said all sufferers are different. I absolutely hate that people are trivialising migraine by using it as a sickie excuse. I can often be at work, full focussed and well, suddenly get the flashing lights in my eye meaning I have about an hour to get home before I start slurring my words and vomiting so it can be met with odd expressions that I am ill so suddenly and need to go home.

I never believe d&v. It's such an obvious lie.

I think the occasional 'sick' day is fine, most people I know work longer than their contracted hours anyway, even if it's just by 10 mins a day so it all balances out 🤷‍♀️

This..

But as an aside, i found the quickest way to make them believe i had very real migraines, was one day, when i started getting the pre-warning Aura that one was coming.. instead of doing what i normally do, which is taking my painkillers and going home immediately before it landed.. was to stay at work.. and let them see first hand how fucking god awful mine are.

I get the ones that like to mimic a TIA.. word slurring, brain fog, then aphasia, complete right sided blindness/sightloss, severe pins and needles down my right side, loss of balance, take about 2 hours before i get it all back, then i go into full on post-drome hangover... i frightened the life out of my team and the First Aider.

They stopped taking the piss after that, if i called in with a migraine, or said i had the signs of one coming, they sent me straight home.

I know not everyone can do that.. but its worth it if you can tolerate experiencing one at work.

Agreed. I had norovirus last year. A miserable experience compounded by the fact I worried my manager would think I was lying because it's the go-to excuse.

At 38 I have had proper D&V three times in my life. Some people apparently have it every other week.

I'm entitled to sick days and I am far too honest by never taking them.

How can you be entitled to sick days? Is it in your contract? I am genuinely curious as I have never heard of this.

@blueshoes It's not that simple. Migraine is a broad spectrum disease. I have complicated types - hemiplegic, which mimics a stroke with paralysis of the face, slurred speech, slow mental processing, aphasia, and the pain is almost always horrific with that attack.

I also get vestibular attacks where I have vertigo and moving my head makes me vomit. I vomit uncontrollably for days with these attacks. It's always the most exhausting type for me.

I also get classic migraine with and without aura. Sometimes I go blind in my right eye, I frequently feel like I'm wearing horse blinkers. The head pain is actually not my worst symptom - it's usually the nausea, light sensitivity and burning up from the inside out with my head on fire and shaking with the pain.....

So no - there isn't a line of enquiry that will work for you to suss the wankers from the actual sufferers. What you can do is have a discussion about ensuring they see their GP for a diagnosis if they don't have one.

This might help you though:

migrainetrust.org/live-with-migraine/reducingtheimpact/managing-migraine-at-work/

MN makes me laugh. Write any old bullshit about your employers and everyone pips up about how unreasonable they are etc but plan to take the piss by faking a sick day and you're all chipping up with excuses to defraud the system.
Hypocrites. It's hard being an employer these days. especially with the entitlement people seem to issue themselves.

I knew someone who filled in a self cert and stated she was off sick with a sore trout

I wonder if the op has disappeared because she has gone to work?

As long as you are not career minded and don't intend to have decent pay increases or salary progression, and don't care about being a good colleague to your team members who may have to take up the slack, lie away. People will know who you are sooner or later anyway, but no-one can make you care if you don't.

I am WFH today because of having a migraine yesterday. I felt sick this morning.

I'm entitled to sick days and I am far too honest by never taking them. you're entitled to them contractually IF you're sick. Not if you can't be bothered to deal with work issues properly. Not using one because you've not been ill doesn't make you virtuous

must admit past bad behaviour - a close relative was visiting from overseas who I had not seen for along time & I wanted a week off - couldn't get holiday so I am afraid I got dh to ring in telling them I had strained my back - no one ever queried it
Evil - not really

Just say a family issue has come up and ask to take a days holiday or unpaid leave.