…to ask whether it looks really bad on me if I take a few days off work?

[GeneralistNotASpecialist]

Hi MNers,

So, the situation is I’ve been in my new job for a month and have had the misfortune of catching what seems to be a horrible cold which has manifested itself since Saturday evening. I’ve gargled salt water, drank plenty of fluids, rested the past day and a half etc. but my throat is still excruciating, nose is blocked and I feel shattered.

A few days into my new job I had to take 2 days off as there was a sloped ceiling above my desk which I wasn’t yet accustomed to and I hit my head pretty hard, my fault obviously but I have had a few concussions in the past so to be on the safe side I took 2 days off to rest as my headache was pretty awful and I had some brain fog.

I’m aware I probably sound like a huge snowflake, I promise I’m not, in past jobs I’ve only had 3 days off in the space of a few years of being with an employer but have clearly been unlucky with my health starting this new role.

Please don’t hold back, I need advice, AIBU to take a day or two off, particularly in the eyes of my new employer whilst in my probation period? Thanks in advance, I just feel awful at the moment but am dreading having to make another sick call but equally I don’t know if I can power through and it’s very obvious in my voice that I’m ill and there’s a big team meeting I was going to shadow and I guess people wouldn’t appreciate me attending and spreading my germs everywhere as I loathe when people do that in my presence.

You've got a cold. You work in an office. Therefore, you go to work. I have never had time off for a cold in 30+ years of working - I'd be embarrassed to phone in sick about it, tbh.

Uhh no, please at a minimum work from home if you can. Why spread sickness if you don’t have to?

Seems like I'm in the minority but if you're so ill you can't chop vegetables I wouldn't want you in my team meeting spreading flu around. I hate it when people come in ill and spread things around. Is it possible for you to work from home?

I also think you need to pursue the incident where you of hit your head at work as a health and safety issue when you're better. An accident sustained at work shouldn't count against you, nor should one occasion of sickness in your probationary period.

2 days off for a banged head is ridiculous. You weren't concussed, you didn't seek medical attention. I'd judge you for that. A bad cold is completely different.

You are unwell. You should call your line manager and say you are very unwell and getting an appt in a GP.

Because you are on probation, offer to WFH. Hopefully you will sound so bad that your manager tells you to take the day off. I know my permanent staff will take sick leave with no compunction but because it is probation and your second absence, that it is the only reason to offer.

Hope you get some rest and feel better soon.

Don't go in. If you can't cut vegetables you won't be able to work

Honestly I think calling in for a cold is a bit snowflakey especially after taking a few days off already 'just to be safe'
In my organisation, someone withtwo absences within their probation period would at the very least have their probation extended

It’s unfortunate you took two days off already (and as a manager I would have found that questionable- seems you had no actual symptoms, more a just in case scenario). I think colds are the pits, you feel awful but get zero sympathy. So I totally understand you want to rest. But yes, I think you risk failing probation if you take more time off. If you do go sick, definitely phone your manager- don’t text! And get back in asap. Feel better soon.

If you're ill then you're ill. But have to say I agree with the majority, that 2 instances of sickness in a month while on probation doesn't look great

I wouldn't go in and spread your germs around the office - no-one will thank you for that! Ring in the morning and ask if you can WFH for a day or two? Or if you are really unable to do that, you will have to take sick leave. Be prepared to really show willing and put in extra hours when you go back!

OP, you've hit a rich seam of weird on here this evening. Don't go in with a stinking virus. You'll take out your whole team. If you showed up with a manky cold I'd send you home and keep an eye out for other examples of poor judgment during your probation.

If you feel OK to do bits and bobs from bed tomorrow, do so.

I'm usually on the side of 'if you're ill you're ill' and hate being passed other colleagues' illnesses. However, I think the reality is that they'll see it as two days for a bumped head (unless you had doctor's note) and another two for a cold.

I'd have to take a pretty hard knock to have two days off, but I used to do Thai boxing and have been hit hard a fair few times. Did you go to hospital after the bump or go home? Or did you just finish the day then have two days off?

Yay! You don’t have bad colds.

I am so sick of these idiotic posts - is it so hard to understand that some people are more affected than others?

I have had cold which I’ve barely noticed, colds which have knocked me sideways and some in between.

Tbf expecting someone to work at a desk under a sloping ceiling you can bang your head off is ridiculous in the first place!

Can't you wfh?

I had to go on a site visit with an ill colleague recently. I was fuming about having them coughing and blowing their nose two feet away from me tbh. Luckily I never seem badly affected.

Have you tried painkillers/lemsip etc.? It always amazes me when people take time off for something which can be helped by medication, but they don't take any.

Would you rather they come in and infect the rest of the team?

Nobody wants that but losing your job (through failing probation) is a hell of a price to pay for doing the right thing.

Not unreasonable to take some off if a cold is bad enough to warrant it, but I'd offer to WFH if you can.

Very unreasonable to take two days off for banging your head on a ceiling especially as it wasn't bad enough for any medical advice or treatment! Could you really not function at all?

They will think you’re flaky. Two sickness absences in one month of a new job. It looks really bad.

If you can possibly manage it, I’d dose myself up to the eyeballs and power through, but if you can’t, you can’t and you’ll just have to try and rectify the initial poor impression long-term.

If possible, dose up and push through. If truly you can’t, then you are certainly ill enough to stay home and do so. (If you do have to stay off, don’t say you “have a cold” - “a cold” is normal language for something most people in serious jobs have to push through).

I no way would have taken 2 days off for a banged head that didn’t require medical attention.

I also would be dosing myself up tomorrow and taking myself into work .

This is probation. People who say they would hate someone in work with a stinking cold would also be talking about her for taking 2 sicknesses in a month.

You shouldn’t have stayed off for the bump on the head, especially 2 days! Go in tomorrow in full dying duck in a thunderstorm, spread it a bit so more people know how shit it is and hope some manager hurries you out of the door.

Covid is rampant at the moment, and the latest variant is spreading like crazy, and the vaccs protection has waned so lots feeling proper poorly. My whole family had it a month ago (tested as I am CV) and it was bloody horrible, awful fevers, sore throat and cough. I haven’t shifted the cough yet.

um usually I would say don't go in but given you've already had 2 days off with what is going to sound (to your manager) like a pretty weird reason, I think it's not going to look great if you call in sick again, particularly if you've got an important meeting etc.

Can you book annual leave for the end of the week so you're not phoning in sick again? You might feel more equipped to power through the next day or two if you know you can have a long weekend to recover.

I know it's not an option for OP but this is why I don't get the WFH haters - this is a scenario when being able to WFH is ideal - still get to do some work but can do shorter hours and make them up later, or at the most it's only 8hours and not the extra 2/3 getting up ready and travelling to/from work. Plus you don't pass on your cold to everyone else in the office. Seriously before covid I used to get four or five colds every year, some of them really horrible ones that I called in sick for. Since WFH I've had maybe 3 in total over 4 years and haven't had to take any time off.