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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To want to throw a sickie and spend it at leisure?

32 replies

MargotMoon · 07/09/2016 13:48

Just that, really. Work is stressful, home life is stressful. I never get the house to myself, and when I do I spend it cleaning only for it to be trashed again within minutes. I feel like clearing my work diary for a day some time next week, dropping the kids at school, phoning in sick and then going back to bed with my kindle and a multipack of crisps. Or maybe booking a spa day, so I don't end up just doing laundry or something.

I'd get caught, wouldn't I? :-(

OP posts:

Diddlydokey · 07/09/2016 13:52

Why don't you just book a days leave?

Florabella · 07/09/2016 13:56

As above - book a day holiday, don't throw a sickie

Scribblegirl · 07/09/2016 14:15

I get this, I also get why you wouldn't book holiday - I always feel like holiday is finite and I have to save it for Special Things and Jobs. I'd feel an insane amount of guilt using a whole day of holiday just to do all!

Unfortunately, if you're going to get the guilts about using holiday just for yourself, you'll be the sort of person who gets the MEGA guilts for pulling a sickie. So don't do it . I took a couple when I was much younger and working in dreadful jobs and the accompanying sense of awfulness is just not worth it!

Scribblegirl · 07/09/2016 14:16

^that should have said 'to do fuck all'. Not sure why I self censured!

Cocklodger · 07/09/2016 14:17

If for whatever reason you can't take holiday and you know you won't get caught out/treated like shite for it,
Do it.
Seriously just do it

TheTartOfAsgard · 07/09/2016 14:19

I'm off work sick with broken toes. The first few days alone in the house were amazing but the novelty soon wore off. I'm bored out of my brain and can't wait to get back to work in 3 weeks

Original poster

MargotMoon · 08/09/2016 12:49

That's just it, Scribble, the thought of using a day's leave to just do fuck all is unthinkable - besides, it's all earmarked for childcare during the school holidays or actually doing 'stuff'. But, yeah, will probably feel guilty and not be able to enjoy it if I did!

Hope you recover soon, Tart, being off because of actual injury/illness sucks. I shall send you these and count my blessings!

OP posts:

Gottagetmoving · 08/09/2016 12:55

If you don't get paid for a day off sick...do it.
If you do get paid...then don't do it.

ParadiseCity · 08/09/2016 12:59

How sad is it that I am a teeny bit jealous of Tart's broken toes?

Wonder if I could sprain a toe?

TheTartOfAsgard · 08/09/2016 13:08

Thanks for the flowers.

You could probably fake some sprained toes - My workplace didn't ask for any proof for the first week, I actually went in on the 8th day but they sent me home and made me get a fit note.

I would happily go back but my job is very manual and I'm on my feet all day so it's probably to do with their H&S policy.

It really is crap. I've resorted to playing minecraft as I've run out of things to eat do

RosieSW · 08/09/2016 13:16

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

runslikethewind · 08/09/2016 13:34

hubby and I run a small business, we have a few staff and if one of them threw a sickie and I found out they would get a warning. I would be so cross they had let us down for no reason, sickness can't be helped and I will support staff as much as possible, but since it does have huge impacts on small family run business where for instance I may then need to cover wit two young children in tow, I could manage in the short them knowing it cant be helped if they were really ill but for me to have to do that just because they didnt want to waste a day off. Sorry but the anger going throught my head is shouting I'm grafting hard, running my own business, creating jobs, paying taxes and youre just going to do that?
ARGGGHH.
Please dont, you dont know how this could affect others whose lives could be equally as stressful as yours, mine sounds very similar and this would or could just tip me.
Sorry if my post appears ott, its just busy family life, like yourself, stressed out work, like yourself, but I would be picking up the slack over something like this and like i said stress levels at the moment if this happened with one of my staff now they would go through the roof even more if it were to be a false sickness.

Thumbcat · 08/09/2016 13:38

If it's not going to impact on anyone else at work then why not? No reason to get caught if you're not leaving the house.

SandyY2K · 08/09/2016 13:41

YABU.

As a HR professional people, I find people pulling sickies is very annoying.

Too many piss takers these daysm

TulsaMcLean · 08/09/2016 13:43

I've always really hated working with people who take lots of sickies..... I wore it as a badge of pride that I actually had so few sick days on my record (genuine illness and I dragged myself back to work too early)

However, having now worked in a different country and seen a different mindset, I can see the value in a "mental health day". Those times when it's all getting on too much and you really need a day to recharge your batteries. I took one and I have to say, I honestly went back to work a bit more fresh and ready to take on the challenges. I did spend the first few hours of it feeling sick with guilt about it though

As long as your day off won't mean that other people have to pick up all your slack (for me, it just meant I had more emails that I had catch up on), I say go for it

Cornettoninja · 08/09/2016 14:32

Hugely unpopular here but I'd do it.

Like a previous poster mentioned 'mental health' or 'duvet' days can do you the world of good. Life is full throttle 24/7 for a lot of people and it's not a terrible thing to recognise when you need a bit of time to regroup and then plow on.

As long as your sickness record is otherwise good and you're not going to heap a load of crap on your colleagues, I say go for it.

eggyface · 08/09/2016 14:37

Depends entirely on the kind of job.

Cococrumble · 08/09/2016 14:42

I'm off work long term for pregnancy reasons and I am bored shitless! Would love to pop to the shops or for lunch or to the spa but would feel completely guilty and that's with a valid reason to be off!

If you're like me I would try and use leave instead so the crippling self induced guilt trip wouldn't kick in, but if not I don't see why you shouldn't. Surely taking one day that you really need is better than completely cracking later down the line.

ShotsFired · 08/09/2016 15:23

Having taken approximately 4 sick days in the past 15 years of employment, I am happy to say that 2 of them were days when I woke up and just felt mentally drained. So I took it sick.

I could have gone to work (desk job), I wasn't physically ill or infirm, just brain-tired.

The benefit of just having a day off where nothing was expected of me by anyone for anything, was invigorating and I returned to work refreshed and ready to go the next day.

(Admittedly I had to lie and claim a dicky tummy, but I felt the white lie was worth it and I feel no guilt)

TheyCallMeBell · 08/09/2016 15:30

Provided you being off won't negatively impact anyone else, do it. Do it without guilt and safe in the knowledge that you are looking after yourself.

We're all exhausted, we work too hard and too many hours. If you've got the opportunity to relieve that even just a little bit then grab it.

SugarMiceInTheRain · 08/09/2016 15:39

I pulled a sickie once when I could have gone into work, but I was so stressed by work and never getting a break from it, even evenings and weekends that I majorly exaggerated a slight headache in order to have a day off. That was when I realised I needed to quit teaching.

BalthazarImpresario · 08/09/2016 15:58

I think that employers should be just as accepting of mental health days as physical sick days. Some days mentally you just need to stop.
It would save so much in the long run (as a poster up thread has discovered in her department)

Original poster

MargotMoon · 08/09/2016 16:10

I never throw sickies, but I do feel mentally drained and stressed, which I know from experience can lead to physical symptoms. Going off would have minimal impact on colleagues as I work in a job where I manage my own diary and admin.

I don't work in a small business, runs. I do find it interesting though that self-employed people expect their employees to offer the same level of dedication to the company as you and your DH, who own the business! If you choose not to work for anyone else, and deal with the potential risk and reward that comes with that, that is your choice, but surely you can't expect your employees to disregard their own lives and needs in favour of your profit margin?

OP posts:

HellsBellsnBucketsofBlood · 08/09/2016 19:07

If you have reached the end of your stamina and tether, you should take a sick day. Mental health matters and frankly a duvet day can be what stands between a person and long term leave due to stress.

CrohnicallyAspie · 08/09/2016 19:37

rosie kudos to you for 'duvet days'!

There is a grey area I feel between pulling a sickie because you just don't feel like going in to work/because there's something you want to go and do (not acceptable IMO) and taking a day off sick just to do nothing and try and prevent you needing time off with stress...

I have just been through a very stressful time at work. I battled on because every day I could go to work so I didn't want to take time off unnecessarily. It ended in a big meltdown (I'm autistic) where I screamed and swore at colleagues... I took some time off, came back to work a bit more refreshed and able o carry on. I should have taken time off before it got to that point.

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