Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not go to work today?

52 replies

fairynick · 03/01/2020 07:55

To start with I don’t have an important job. I work in an outbound sales position in a call centre so won’t necessarily be missed.
Only came back yesterday from Christmas and have had a really shitty cold over the Christmas period. I’m in no way too ill to go to work but been up all night tossing and turning and blowing my nose.
Am I an awful person to pull a sickie? I just really can’t be bothered and feel rubbish? How often has anyone pulled a sickie? Last time I did was a couple of years ago when I was hungover Grin

OP posts:
FamilyOfAliens · 03/01/2020 08:36

And if she thinks she can do better than working in a call centre, the way to do that is to apply for and get another job. Not swing the lead at your current job because you think it’s beneath you.

PurpleDaisies · 03/01/2020 08:36

Go to work.

LuluJakey1 · 03/01/2020 08:38

Get a grip! You sound lazy and pathetic.

Get up, get ready and off you go with your lemsips in your bag. You'll feel better once you are there.

Areyoufree · 03/01/2020 08:40

Maybe the OP can't be bothered, because they are tired and run down due to being ill! I would call in sick, and take the day to recover. If it isn't directly impacting work colleagues, then I don't see the issue. If you're sick, then you're sick!

TSSDNCOP · 03/01/2020 08:40

What’s an outbound call centre?

Are you one of those that calls to tell me I was in a collision?

Zampa · 03/01/2020 08:41

OP Only came back yesterday from Christmas

Sounds like they were at work yesterday ...

OP - point of clarification, please!

Comefromaway · 03/01/2020 08:42

If it’s anything like this cold I’ve got and my mum has then yanbu. Take a day to recover.

greenlavender · 03/01/2020 08:42

Suggest you look for another job. You don't seem all that committed to the one you have.

Hahaha88 · 03/01/2020 08:43

I think the way to look at it is, if you weren't going to get paid for the day sick would you still take it off? If so call in sick, if not then you need to go in

FamilyOfAliens · 03/01/2020 08:45

Love how everyone is diagnosing the OP from one post, ignoring the fact that if an adult is genuinely sick, they wouldn’t have to ask strangers on the internet whether or not they should go into work.

OP, only you know whether you are too sick to work, and not just too lazy to go in because you don’t value your job and you can’t be bothered.

Theducksarenotmyfriends · 03/01/2020 08:50

Call in sick.

MrsJBaptiste · 03/01/2020 08:52

If you have to ask then you know you're well enough to be in work.

Drabarni · 03/01/2020 08:56

It's an awful job at the best of times but when you have a cold it can be near impossible, when you have to speak all day.

The only thing I will say is does your workplace have a policy of 3 times off in 6 months only.
If so, then you risk having to go in when you really are too sick.

pinkdressinggown · 03/01/2020 08:56

Don't go in! I hate it when I see people who are coughing and clearly spreading germs around... if people stayed at home and took the time to recover properly from colds then they'd infect fewer people and not as many sick days would be taken in general. Stay in and get better!

BrokenWing · 03/01/2020 09:13

I don't have an important job

I assume it is important enough that it pays the/some of the bills?

How often do I 'pull a sickie'? Never in 32 years of working.

You have a cold, you have said you are not too ill to go to work, of course YABU

adaline · 03/01/2020 09:32

I think just after Christmas, it's going to look really suspicious if you call in sick now.

If you're off the weekend, I would go in today and then spend the weekend recovering. If you're working this weekend, I would maybe do the other way around (sick today, but in over the weekend).

MrsMillerbecameababy · 03/01/2020 09:39

The OP is a cold caller

(with a cold... Blush sorry... Couldn't resist)

Stop encouraging her to go to work people!

I hate it when colleagues call in sick because they just can't be bothered because I do shift work in healthcare and one of the rest of us has to work an overtime shift at short notice. I used to hate it when I was teaching because we'd loose any precious non contact time (marking and preparation periods) to do cover lessons and it's rarely possible to get much done in a cover lesson.

However the OP is a cold caller and says she won't be missed... Not much point her sneezing over everyone is there?

GiveHerHellFromUs · 03/01/2020 09:41

@MrsMillerbecameababy good point actually.
If the OP stays home we're all slightly less likely to get a cold call today.

Take the week off OP Wink

NiceLegsShameAboutTheFace · 03/01/2020 09:44

I think that you should go in. Many of us have the post-Christmas blues but it just piles the pressure on your colleagues if you're a no show.

How often do I pull a sickie? Well .... I don't. If I'm well enough to work then I work. It's what they pay me for Blush

FenellaVelour · 03/01/2020 09:44

Bad idea posting here, you’ll get all the martyrs.

That said, you really don’t sound all that sick and have said yourself you’re not too ill to go to work, so I think you really just need to suck it up.

Emmelina · 03/01/2020 09:56

Go in, but let your manager know you’re feeling cruddy and your voice might not manage the whole shift. Then if you do have to give up and go home at least you’ve ‘tried’.

ilovesooty · 03/01/2020 10:07

If you call in sick perhaps you could spend some time looking for a job you can be arsed to turn up and do.

Original poster
fairynick · 03/01/2020 10:28

Knew I could count on AIBU to give me a kick up the arse! Grin I’ve ended up coming in, I feel like shit but I knew I wasn’t too sick to work I just couldn’t be bothered.
Some of the posts on this thread are a bit dramatic, I don’t hate my job, I am not paid peanuts. I am not an awful person, or at least I don’t think so!
Workload wouldn’t have been passed on to other colleagues so no one would’ve been affected in that sense. Also I do not receive sick pay.
It’s been a slow start to the day with no sales... can you all start answering your phones please? Wink

OP posts:
Wonderland18 · 03/01/2020 10:34

I work in a callcentre but as customer services and they do tend to have plenty heads to cover sick hours. My call centres like a place of death at the moment.. everyone’s walking around with the christmas flu and doing their hours.
Nice for the company, not nice for my DD who spent her first christmas ill and stuck to me for 2 weeks cause of their germs.

GoodbyeRosie · 03/01/2020 11:01

I could never do the job you are doing, especially if the sales calls you are doing are unsolicited.

Call centres in general are horrible environments, and I would do any other job going rather than work in one again.

Personally I would have phoned in sick based on :

    • You being off doesn't affect anyone else. That's the most important thing
    • Sales is all about positive attitudes and energy. Seems like you hadn't got that on this occasion.

  3. for whatever bizarre reason, you don't get sick pay ( working via an agency?) so you aren't ' stealing' from the company.

  4. You were not well. Working environments have changed. At my workplace ( Red brick university) you are not expected to come in with a heavy cold which means you are coughing and spluttering everywhere. You could pass it on to someone with a more serious existing illness ..you coming in might mean someone else catches your germs and is off for a week , or worse.

Swipe left for the next trending thread