Do you ever call in sick when you are not?

[DriedFig]

Just a thought really. I'm sometimes tempted to call in sick, but would feel too guilty. Is an occasional sickie acceptable?

No, I’m a teacher and it’s more hassle than it’s worth. I’d still have to set the work and my room would be a bomb site when I back in the next day. It’s bad enough when I’m genuinely ill. I have to be very poorly to stay off - it’s not worth the hassle otherwise.

No as I'm a teacher and someone would have to cover me.

@NeedaLittleNap

Once. I'd been working crazy hours with a big commute. I woke up one morning and found I could barely move and was sobbing uncontrollably. I think my brain and body had gone on strike. I rang in and claimed I had a stomach bug.

Funny how diarrhoea is less embarrassing than admitting you are struggling.

I think it's a pretty damning indictment of society's attitudes towards mental health if that is viewed as 'pulling a sickie'

Yes and I can’t believe the amount of people saying that they haven’t. (And I run a business before anyone bangs on about theft).

I have never had a fake sickie. Ever.

Is it fake if you can't face getting out of bed and are just crying?

Nope but I work in a profession where if you're not on top form, you cam make errors that can serious. So my threshold for calling in sick is lower than most.

Have poor mental health and diagnosed mental illness. I have phoned in sick saying I had some physical illness when I’ve just not been able to get out of bed. Maybe one day a year?

Yeah. My friend calls them mental health days. Sometimes you need them and as long as you don't take the piss I don't see the harm in it really.

No, I'm too busy. If I skip a day the work wouldn't disappear, I would just have to try to catch it up. Real sick days are hassle enough without extra ones.

I suffer from chronic migraines so I avoid pulling sickies as I know for sure that I will always have to take sick days throughout the year. I do work through mild ones though and just go straight to bed after work.

I did in my early 20s when I got a better offer than going to work. Wouldn’t do it now though.

No, but the charity i work for offer us 3x paid duvet days a year so they replace the need to.

I have, I took a couple of duvet days a couple of weeks after an ectopic pregnancy... My then line manager was totally onboard with it as they day after I had been out of the hospital I had done a massive fund-generating presentation.

I don't feel guilty, no one covered my work and it possibly saved my sanity. I discovered Orange is the New Black on Netflix and add my weight in chocolate and takeaway.

Oh yes loads in my late teens and 20s. Not now because I worry more about losing my job, nobody covers my work so I'd just end up stressed trying to catch up (it's bad enough after I've taken annual leave) and I have to get up and get DS to school so I might as well go once I'm dressed.

Had the perfect opportunity to skive yesterday as I had my Covid jab on Sunday and my boss had said "Just text if you're feeling rough the next day". But I didn't.

Pre kids, pre working for an agency, pre working in a school where I’m the poor bugger doing the cover. Yep. These days I drag myself in.

No I haven't. I don't even take a day off sick when I'm actually sick (WFH before anyone accuses me of spreading it atound).

There is a difference between planned time off that’s in your T&C that you request and lying pretending to be ill and faking a sickie

The so called duvet day is an agreed day off that you request from a manager and get confirmed or declined on basis there’s no service interruption

No never. Wouldn’t be fair on my colleagues for a start.
I work full time but still get two days off a week for a duvet day should I feel the need.Not always Saturday and Sunday but it’s the same difference.
Also we have to have a ‘return to work’ interview each time we are off sick and there are further interventions of over 3 incidents. It’s just not worth it.

I'm off sick atm. I can do desk stuff but as I slipped over on a shift at my part time retail job and wrenched my knee (the one I'm currently waiting for a knee op for), I am currently off.

The shop I work for don't give a shiny shit about staff so although I possibly 'could' struggle in, and be in a great deal of pain I'm not going to, because it's not worth the aggravation to my already ruined joints.

The so called duvet day is an agreed day off that you request from a manager and get confirmed or declined on basis there’s no service interruption

Uh, no it's not... it's a day you spend in bed, under a duvet, agreement or not does not come into it.

no, not for work, but pulled many for high school :)

I think just the expression ‘Duvet Day’ is 🙄

I used to all the time when I was younger- made up funerals to go to, anything to get a day off work.

Now never. Work in a hospital and it’s so shit for everyone when we are short staffed, I want my appraisal to be good and I care about my team. That’s the difference between having jobs and having a career.

No. When I was a full time teacher it wouldn't have been worth the hassle. And now that I'm a part-time self-employed teacher I wouldn't get paid.