Re 'if you're well enough to be out you're well enough to be in work'

[Misscromwellrocks]

My sister is getting over a really bad chest infection and is at the stage of being able to potter down to the village for a bit of fresh air every morning before going back home to rest.

She's due back in to work after Christmas tomorrow but really could do with another couple of days recuperating. She's a bit worried though as a colleague of hers was coming out of Tesco yesterday and stopped and exchanged a bit of small talk. My sister is now worried that she'll be seen as a shirker on the grounds that she's well enough to be out etc.

Aibu to think there's a huge difference between
getting up at 6.30, facing a long coomute, a full day at work, another long commute home and
having a lie on, going for a short stroll to the shops or to a local cafe, then going back home to rest.

Being able to do the latter in no way implies your up to the former in my opinion.

No one ever doubted you'd happily discipline someone for going to Tesco to get painkillers/lozenges/night nurse and food whilst signed off sick, but there we go.

You clearly think you have more medical knowledge than the doctors signing people off.

akittencalledjesus

I have recently kept someone on full pay for 6 months, and half pay for a further 6 (with a base rate way above the minimum wage) when I could have just put them on statutory sick pay. Because it was genuine.

But yes, of course, when someone abuses the system, I end up getting rid of them - or pushing very strongly for HR to do it if I can't do it myself.

Interesting that you put popping to the chemist (or picking up kids from school I imagine?) in the same bag as someone going to panto or on a trip to Paris though.

What's even more amusing is that posters like you would be the first to complain if the ones on a cruise was their kid's teacher or someone they think they "need". Works both ways doesn't it

I went out up to London for a day when my back was very bad; I spent the next few days barely able to move, even going to and from the toilet was agony. Would that make me fit to work as I'd managed one whole day out & about? The place I went to was a much easier trip than my usual commute at the time and that wiped me out for near enough a week, so there would be no way I could have gone to work every day in that state.

I only did the trip because I was offered an MRI scan there within a week, rather than wait out the local 5 month waiting list.

Many employers won't allow you to come back to work early if you still have a current doctor's note, I was told once it was something to do with insurance. And going back part time just isn't feasible with some jobs!

how much of that overtime is covering extra shifts for people off sick I wonder? Because that's the only reason we ever have to work overtime.

None of the extra unpaid hours I do at work are to cover other people's sickness. Not for DH either.

We are talking about people well enough to travel, to go to shows, and clearly infect everybody else there...

I don't know about your job, but my daily work requires way more effort and energy than it does to sit in a car or at a theatre show for a couple of hours. At work I am on my feet for 8 hours, moving around, constantly stood, walking, up and down stairs, bending, etc. as well as being 'centre of attention' for lots of needy individuals all day. It must be lovely to have the type of job where you only use the same amount of effort/energy as it takes to watch a show or have a meal!

And, as already said, not all illnesses which require a sick note, are contagious infections!

I once went to work and had to drive home about an hour later as I was starting to get really dizzy. I didn't dare leave it any longer, as I had a 50 minute commute and risked being stuck at work ill.

I got home, went to bed and managed to phone for a doctor's apoitnment next day (really lucky, that). I went into town next day, seriously dizzy and feeling sick by this time, and hoping to doctor could give me something to stop it. If you'd seen me out, you might not have realised how bad I was, and I wasn't out for fun. I recall cliinging onto the bus seat tightly with both hands, it was awful.

I didn't get anything from the doc as I was pregnant and not actually vomiting, so was off for the rest of the week as I couldn't move without everything spinning.

She should go back to work when she feels fit enough to do so and not before. I have a colleague who was off work for months - with depression apparently - and constantly posted photos on Facebook of nights out etc, dressed to the nines, getting drunk etc. I have suffered from depression myself and I'm certainly not saying you shouldn't go out if you're off work but I thought at the time that it was a bit foolish doing that. Your sister sounds conscientious and should just rest until she feels fit enough to go back to work.

@MrsMillerbecameababy really, your job is being ruined by management who think it's OK to extort you into working 24 hours straight, because they're too lazy and cheapskate to hire/contract sufficient staff.

But those self absorbed individuals never see the problems and difficulties they cause for others, and probably come up with all kinds of excuses for their selfish behaviour.

Thankfully I have never been confronted with having to deal with a serious serial piss-taker -:that must be very conflicting. I do differentiate between the people I know are conscientious, always on time and otherwise show they are bothered about their job. They would always get the benefit of the doubt and my support.

You can tell the difference between a piss-taker and someone who is genuinely having health difficulties - i.e. when things go beyond the few additional days off to prevent contagion spreading, and having to take multiple periods of sickness for an ongoing health challenge, or a disability. They need support, not being driven into the ground, targeted for going to the shops, and fearing they'll lose their job.

The Facebook/Social media twats may think they'll get away with it and that they're oh-so clever, but it does eventually come back to haunt them one way or another.

Sometimes I go to work when I am ill, I get barely anything done but showing up is sometimes more important than productivity. If your sister works somewhere with a similar culture I can see why she wants to drag herself back too early. Its crap but also part of life.