To wonder about this person calling in sick at peak time

[bestfakesmile]

Had a crazy busy week at work with a major project on. One of our team who has been very involved in all the planning for this project and was supposed to be supervising the completion of it has been off sick for the entire week with a cold. This has put massive pressure on our team, we would have been stretched even with that person, so without them it’s been very difficult. It has meant that everyone on our small team has had to put in loads of extra hours to cover her work between them. She could have helped out a bit by doing some work from home even if she couldn’t make it in but no.
The irony is, I know she is still going to expect the credit and the sales bonus in her pay packet this month. Even though the sales would not have been fulfilled without everyone else stepping in to do her work while she’s been off.
If the rest of us hadn’t done that work there’s no doubt we would have lost a number of important clients and that would have had a devestating impact on the business. Quite literally she would have put herself out of a job. She must be mightily naive if she hasn’t worked that one out.
Obviously it’s a time of year when coughs and colds are running riot, almost everyone I know has had something in the last month or so but most people know they can’t just drop out of life when they have a cold. But this person is the type to refuse to have a lemsip because they don’t like the taste, and won’t take a tablet either cos she can’t swallow it. It’s as if she actually enjoys being ill and wallows in it.
Personally, it would have taken hospitalisation for me not to come in to work this week. Firstly, I would feel absolutely awful if I let my colleagues and boss down at a crucial time. I don’t think I could face them afterwards knowing I’d left them in the lurch. Secondly, I’d hate to miss out on the satisfaction of completing this project that we have all worked so hard for, I could not bear to let it all go down the drain and see these clients walk away.
It feels a lot like she couldn’t be bothered or possibly couldn’t cope with the higher than usual workload this week so just bailed out and left everyone else to pick up the pieces. I’m going to find it hard to work with her when/if she manages to drag herself back in next week.

Why didn’t you just post

“A colleague has been off sick for a whole week at one of our busiest times. I think she’s lying . “

Good post, OP. I admire anyone who can take a beating on hear and take on board what's been said.

arrrgh "here" not "hear". I'm a moron!

We all know malingerers. And theres lot of people with a 'work to live not live to work' attitude but generally happy to take the lower salary. It when people want the money but not the responsibility.

Its a shame you cant recommend to your boss that everyone who pulled their weight this week be given a bonus. As for this woman the boss already has her number if she does this a lot. Id stop covering for her if i were you. You will feel better about it. Unless you are senior to her or hoping for promotion.

What kind of role are you in? Could you use examples of where youve stepped up to keep things going as a reason to ask for a payrise. Men ask for payrises they deserve. You shoukd too.

I have had "Just a cold" for over a week. Monday I should have taken the day off, instead, I worked from home and achieved little.

Part of the reason I gave a cold, is because we had a big inspection the week before (and another 2 weeks before that) and I was working silly hours to clear things for the inspection, which has hammered my immune system. It happens every time. But I did what needed to be done.
Le quality, yesterday my mum was rushed into hospital, I dropped everything and ran, as I would tell any member of my team to do.

I suppose my issue is that I don’t believe she really was that ill.

Are you a doctor?

She could have underlying health conditions which you know nothing about.

All these people saying you can't be unwell for an entire week with a cold .

I was laid up a few weeks ago - went in on Monday morning, felt well enough, by Monday afternoon I felt like I'd been run over by a train so had to go home. As it was "just a cold" I dragged myself in on Thursday, but I was just too unwell to stay and thankfully Friday is my non working/non paid day.

I work on projects and unfortunately I tend to take things really seriously and find it hard to sleep or switch off when I'm in the thick of things, which I think has an effect on my bodies immunity system.

Thankfully it doesn't happen often and I'm very rarely unwell enough to take time off work - I also used to suffer from awful debilitating periods where the frequency increased to every 15 days, turns out I had severe endometriosis.

Working from home is also a bit of a mixed blessing. Great when you're a little bit under the weather - on Monday I felt nauseous and couldn't have managed going into work, but got a pretty good full days work done from home - but if you're genuinely unwell you need time to fully switch off and let your body recover.

OP - I think you're right, sounds like your colleague is in the wrong job. I'd make lots of positive noises next week to her and to managers about how everyone stepped up to the plate in a crunch time situation and how it would be nice to acknowledge that some way. Perhaps there's a nomination scheme for saying thanks to co-workers - we have one and as a project person I use it a lot as I think it's really important to thank people even if you can't make it monetary.

Thing is a cold could be anything from a slight annoying running nose to what I’ve had this week which is being boiling hot whilst simultaneously freezing, aching all over, chesty cough, banging head ache, ear ache, sore dry eyes, etc. I was so bad that after putting a pizza in the oven for the kids I had to sit down on the kitchen floor to recover from the exhertion of doing it!

Well I hate shirkers and they're easy to spot.

I have a colleague who has had a lot of time off work this year - she was hospitalised with something pretty serious and then she has had several very heavy bugs/colds that floored her. She's a very hard worker and I don't resent picking up the slack at all. She's had a bad year.

I have another colleague who has a lot of sick days. Often after the weekend or when there's a tough meeting or when she's generally being held to account. She called in sick when she was asked the night before to do a job that would have involved her getting up at 6am, clearly couldn't be arsed. I have no respect for her, she's not a team player.

Every other member of the team could have underlying health conditions, stress, problems at home and so on. Same old excuses trotted out every time by skivers who want the money but are not prepared to put in the hours. I'm glad a lot of companies have tightened up on sick leave.

You have my sympathy... I managed someone like this once. She freely admitted she had a low pain threshold - 2 or 3 days off with a headache a week off for a cold.
It is so frustrating and it was always at peak times because she was a lazy madam who had been allowed to get away with doing a half assed job time and time again. She'd also manage to come back off holiday with some illness extending her leave and making life harder for others who had to pick up her slack.

I was glad to see the back of her (and her me) .... Strange how early retirement beckoned when discussions turned to a performance improvement plan and no bonus/pay award.

Brieandchilli - chances are you had flu, with the fever and achiness you've described.

I have a feeling she isn't ill, and The real reason for her absense is
You've got her an absolute bag of nerves.

I'm starting to feel guilty reading this thread! I've very recently had nearly a month off sick and am now back but on reduced hours. The reason? A cold which became an evil unshiftable chest infection which made my asthma completely uncontrollable. It's dragged on for weeks and weeks and my GP has signed me off repeatedly to give my body a chance to recover. Finally I'm on the mend but still taking things easy.

I don't have a reputation for buggering off as soon as there's a heavy workload (I hope I don't, anyway!) and fortunately I have fabulous colleagues who've been caring and sympathetic throughout. I still feel guilty though!

Why are you wasting so much time and energy musing over this colleague when you could just get over it? You're getting your bonus anyway... move on.

In the space of one thread you've gone from accusing her of being workshy, deciding that she is in fact entirely in the wrong job/industry and finally feeling sorry for her?

You sound a bit over invested.

Disciplinary for having a week off for a cold in the NHS, staff come in with a cold wearing a mask! What do infection control think about that?

teaandcakeat8 - I've been there myself. In my case it was the guy who was meant to be overseeing who was flakier than a Greggs pastry, and had the most interesting reasons for missing just about every important meeting he was meant to be at.

I worked myself up into a state of righteous anger about it and blurted out to a senior boss, who then berated me for not picking up the slack better.

It's hard not to get overinvolved when you're the one working the extra hours to cover for someone else. I'll happily do that ( well probably not that happily) if it's someone that I know works hard that's off sick or whatever, but when someone that you think is a bit workshy anyway appears to be milking the system, it's fairly natural I would have thought to be a bit outraged about it.

You sound like a nightmare to work with...

Alonsosleftpinky, I think I am unlikely to be a narcissist because I came on here fully expecting to have my point of view challenged. A narcissist doesn’t see any value in anyone else’s opinion. The usual reaction of a narcissist when faced with criticism is to fight back or just disappear. I have been interested in what pp have had to say, no matter how critical, and it has certainly changed my way of looking at the situation. I have vented my frustrations safely to a bunch of strangers on the internet and I will go in on Monday with a different and more positive attitude to that which I would have had if I hadn’t posted on here. That was my intention in starting the thread in the first place.

I had a cold three weeks ago. I had a delirious fever for 2 days. Could barely move for 2 more. Felt horrifically I'll for a further 2. I still feel dizzy if I'm walking for more than half an hour. The cough has only just gone. No way I'd have been in work that week if I worked.

Your drip feeding about your colleage just makes you look spiteful and bitter. It's not a good look, in all honesty.

I agree that it is hard not to get over-involved when working with a skiver who is always off sick. The shirkers are the nightmares to work with not the poor mugs picking up the slack.

Op - dont you think it is slightly odd that your colleague who had already done loads of work on this project, and had already put in the extra hours etc suddenly decided to say 'Feck it i dont want to do this anymore' in the last week of it ?

I'd be thinking that she must be really ill to have not been able to do the last week, knowing how much she had already invested in this project.

is there a back story to this ? is she always unwilling to be a team player etc ? if not i'd be worried she was really seriously unwell and didnt want to worry you all...so said it was a cold , as it seems a very odd thing to do.

She should have called it flu like most people would. Colds can be awful.

Its easy to feel angry and let down but it may well be you going off sick one day.