....to do a sickie tomorrow because my house is an absolute tip, I'm beyond exhausted & I need to pluck my eyebrows?

[Daisychainsandleather]

Evening all!
Help me make a decision if you will....
Single mum with very little support (none actually) ....
House is a tip! Can't find anything, have paperwork to sort out, really tired, loads of washing to do, the list is endless and I spent all day today on the verge of tears because I'm a bit stressed... (A lot stressed...)
I reckon I can get on top of everything in a day while kids at nursery/school.
Non eventful admin day tomorrow. No impact on colleagues....
AIBU to do a sickie? Haven't done one all year.... Oh yeah, eyebrows looking hideous!

This may come as a surprise to some MNers (but luckily not all, which restores some of my faith in the world) but actually you are supposed to EARN it.

Oh get over yourself and go polish your halo.

OP is earning her salary. She is stressed and her MH is important. If a day off will help her from spiralling downwards then it's worth it.

One sickie in a year really isn't a big deal. OP's mental health is more important and if you read her posts you will see that taking a day off could prevent her from having to take more time off in the future.

OP I hope you are at home relaxing

If you're unfit to work and want to call in sick, perhaps you should raise your mental health and wellbeing at your return to work interview. If you're too ill to work you're too ill to work. If you're not, you should be there.

So..... how did it go OP??!

All I'm saying is....
If you're stressed to the max and as a result, under-performing at work & at home (too tired & distracted to play with DC and feeling like you're on the edge constantly) I don't see the harm in having a day to get shit done (if it doesn't impact negatively on anyone else) ...
Not saying whether I took the day off today or not.

Glad you got shit done and are feeling better OP! Hope you're taking tomorrow off too!!

This may come as a shock to you Katy07 but an employer has a duty of care to employees.... so if an employee needs a day off because they are feeling under the weather, then isn't that one of the reasons sick pay is there?! Your health is actually more important than any job, believe it or not.

Phone in sick. I hate all this self-rightous pious stuff. Employers won't give a flying stuff if you've never rung in sick and given them blood if for some reason you are surplus to requirements. Had it happen to me, DH and other family members. Take a sickie. In australia that'd qualify as a mental health day anyway. And life runs pretty nicely here even with malingering being tolerated (same in Germany as well).

Completely agree Smellslike!

Do it for me if not for yourself. My paranoia about phoning in sick comes from my mum and dad drilling into me the world will end if I ever phone in sick. Sometimes
These days are desperately needed so take it and get on top of what you need to

And having come across my fair share of lazy sods who use the phrase 'I'm stressed' just because it gets them a day off I disagree. Duty of care my arse. Besides, I doubt the OP is getting SSP for that day - she'll be on full pay. It's people who take days off for no good reason that make it so damn difficult for people who genuinely need time off for mental health reasons. And I'm fairly sure needing a day off to do your eyebrows isn't usually a sign of mental illness (well not the sort that merits compassion).

Your arse is also entitled to a duty of care... I'm a senior HR manager, and I would prefer to see one of my staff have one day off on sick leave than struggle on and need a longer spell of absence. It isn't rocket science,. My mum and dad were the same Nuggy, I never missed a single day from school in 7 years. I dragged myself in (or was sent) to maintain my full attendance. And, for what?!

Lazy sods are a totally different issue. Deal with them as they need to be dealt with, not a hard worker who is struggling a bit!

I don't think this is really about the eyebrows!!

Single mum with very little support (none actually) ....
House is a tip! Can't find anything, have paperwork to sort out, really tired, loads of washing to do, the list is endless and I spent all day today on the verge of tears because I'm a bit stressed... (A lot stressed...)
I reckon I can get on top of everything in a day while kids at nursery/school.
Tell me where the OP is struggling because of work. She hasn't kept her house tidy and now it needs cleaning. She's got private paperwork that she's not kept on top of. She's tired. She hasn't done all the washing. And she knows that she could get all those household jobs done if she skived off work. FFS. It's not work that's stressing her out it's the fact that she's too busy on mumsnet to manage her normal everyday household responsibilities. She could do the cleaning & washing & paperwork at the weekend. Yes it might take longer with the kids around but that's what normal people do. She's tired - well get off mumsnet and go to bed. But no, it's easier to take a paid day off work and claimed you're 'stressed'. There are some people who would love to have a decent job but sadly they've already been taken by those who think they're entitled to do whatever they fancy. Welcome to Generation Snowflake.

God mumsnet can be sanctimonious sometimes! "Stealing from the firm" my arse.
As if "the firm" gives a monkeys about you! As long as you generally turn up and work hard, the occasional (as in once a year) day off is fine.
In fact, in other countries I have lived, the ability to take a last minute "duvet day" is something many employers offer. It's usually 1 or 2 a year.
Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in awhile you could miss it.

Can't believe some of these replies!

We are talking about ONE DAY! And because the OP feels exhausted and needs time to get her head cleared. Not go on holiday or spend the day gallavanting!

I knew a woman who took six months off on full pay as she claimed she was depressed and yet she was regularly seen out and about brazenly shopping near where I worked looking anything but! She later admitted to me that she wasn't as much depressed but more burnt out with working full time and having young kids and needed the break. She went to the doctor who asked her if she wanted a bit of time off and before you know it she had a sick note for six months. I thought that was taking the piss to be honest but understood where she was coming from.

Where my DH works, people make sure they take off their sick leave entitlement whether they are sick or not.

OP, I hope you took the day off and didn't feel any guilt as you did nothing wrong!

" Where my DH works, people make sure they take off their sick leave entitlement whether they are sick or not."
You're not suggesting that's a good thing are you?

Wow, I feel guilty being off sick today and I'm actually ill am truly stunned at the number of posters who think this is okay.

*Stealthpolarbear
*
Absolutely not at all, I was using that as an example to point out that doing what she was contemplating (taking one day off sick to de stress and get her head straight) is really not a big deal. The OP said that she hasn't taken any time off sick for a year.

Ok phew :)

Where my DH works, people make sure they take off their sick leave entitlement whether they are sick or not.

what on earth is a sick leave entitlement?

Suspect it's the amount they can take before theyre sanctioned.

What's a sick leave entitlement? . If you're sick, you're sick, if you're not, you're not.

At the beginning I would have said that the OP was being unreasonable and she should have taken a couple of days annual leave instead, especially as she didn't have any meetings etc on the day, but she says she can't take ad hoc days off like that.

I wonder if there is a difference in sick leave stats between companies that do and don't allow ad hoc days off? I would have no problem getting a day or two AL at short notice as long as my work is fairly up to date and I don't have meetings or other appointments on those days so no temptation to throw a sickie.

Maybe the OP should see if her employer could allow annual leave to used a bit more flexibly, arguing that people may perform better if they are allowed to take occasional short breaks from work?

Sick leave entitlement is the amount of full paid days per year you are entitled to take when you are sick.

After that it is SSP.

Just to chime in with regards to a previous post... I know I have to give three weeks notice to take annual leave so maybe her employer had a similar ruling hence it wasn't a possibility for her?

The crucial point being when you are sick
Therefore the people mentioned earlier aren't using an entitlement if they're not sick.

Being stressed is being sick!

What you need to do though is put stress on your self cert form and ask for some help.

I wouldn't even necessarily just take a day off, take a few if that's what you need to get yourself in a good place.

I went on a course about stress at work - that said most stress in your life comes from your home life but still affects your work - so work need to make adjustments and recognise that. .....

The key thing about pulling a sickie is you should tell noone. So now its blasted all over mumsnet perhaps you'd better not

Err, what? So out of the thousands of people using Mumsnet, with loads fitting the description of the OP, she will be caught out from this post?

Hmm.