I've called in sick

[Photoclock]

I haven't been well all week. A heavy cold, but I've been in and done my best. I was in meetings with my boss all day yesterday. She never once asked if I was OK or made the kind of "should you be here?" enquiries other did, and believe me it was obvious I wasn't well. A bit anti social to be there tbh, but you don't call sick with a cold if you're well enough to work...?

I got up and showered, dressed, got as far as putting my shoes on and finding my keys then as I was about to open the door, broke out in a horrible sweat and felt the need to sit down. So I decided sod this and came back to bed.

But if my boss had shown a bit more interest yesterday I might have pushed through...

Surely that depends on the job? We're hourly paid, no pay for the first three days of any sickness - so you go in unless you can't physically stand or are vomiting yourself inside out.

Spreading a cold is selfish.

It may just be a cold to you but some people are living with others who are more vulnerable or immuno suppressed and for whom a cold can be serious.

What kind of terrible company is that?
It sounds grim.

I don't understand why you'd push through if you're obviously sick and contagious. Even before covid people like this would make me furious, they martyr themselves like they're so important when they really need to stay at home

.

Retail. There is no sympathy and very little pay.

When your colleagues are asking "should you be here ", they actually mean "go home and stop spreading your germs".

You're an adult, surely your manager would trust that you can make a decision about whether you are well enough to work or not. It's not hard.

She never once asked if I was OK or made the kind of "should you be here?" enquiries other did, and believe me it was obvious I wasn't well.

🙄

It very much sounds as if you’ve called in sick mainly to punish your manager for not sending you home sick, which is a childish and odd way of looking at things.

Nothing worse than the ones who come in to work and make a huge deal out of how poorly they are so that everyone asks if they're ok and tells them they shouldn't be at work.

Just stay off if you're ill and go in if you're not.

This. Your bosses reaction should not influence whether you call in sick or not. It's all just a bit petty

Your boss is not your mum. If you aren’t well call in sick, if you’re ok then go in. Staying off because she didn’t take your temperature and send you to bed with a lemsip is ridiculous.

@Photoclock id rather you stayed away and I picked up the work.

your cold or flu leaves my weakened immune system very ill. I’ll end up in bed and ill for twice as long as you have your cold. I’ll get shingles again as I’m run down, throw in some spinal and facial neuralgia into it off. I might end up with pneumonia again.

So sod your boss because going into work ill and being a martyr to the job isn’t the flex you think it is.

I absolutely do appreciate my colleagues staying at home when they are unwell. Nobody wants your stinking cold thanks!

LOL at everyone saying 'don't come in with a cold'. If everyone called in sick with a COLD, you'd all be sacked for being off work too much.

Retired NHS manager/clinician. We were given HR guidance that its not up to us to send someone home ill unless we believed there was a health and safety or contagion risk. They have to decide what to do so that we can't be said to have skewed their sickness absence record. Similarly under no circumstances were we allowed to ask/encourage/imply that a person should stay at work or come into work if they felt unwell as if an incident did occur, that would make us potentially culpable.

My team are adults and I trust that they know whether they should be at work or not. You sound like you’re hurt from lack of attention tbh.

This! ⬆️ You're an adult & only you know how crap you feel. You make the decision if you can work or not. Simple.

Your original post comes across like you've thrown your toys out of your pram because no-one made a big fuss of your heroic efforts yesterday!!

I disagree with those who say your boss didn't need to care.
I'm a people manager. If someone is in office and clearly unwell with a cold I'll check on them, make sure they're OK and offer to bring them tea or do a pharmacy run for them. I'll also discuss the next day and suggest they work from home if they're fit to work to give them a break from having to commute. If they're clearly sicker than a cold or minor ailment it will be a different conversation as to whether they should be here at all.

So now you have presented your employer with the worst of both worlds. You are not there AND you have infected everyone else!

Either you are too ill to work or not. Your bosses caring abilities are irrelevant.

Can’t stand snot soldiers who seem to think that the workplace cannot function if they take a sick day.

I'm surprised at the number of people who would ring in sick for a cold.
NHS nurse, and our sickness policy is no more than 2 periods of sickness in calendar year. I certainly wouldn't ring in for a cold and I don't think anyone else would either.
A cold is unpleasant but it is certainly not life threatening to anyone. Hope you are feeling better soon though OP, if you don't feel well enough its always fine to ring in.

If you engage brain can you see how ridiculous that policy is?

As a nurse you surely know that a viral infection can be very serious to the elderly and infirm (the very people who are in hospital.) It doesn't just stop at a cold- some can become a chest infection and life threatening.

Many of the elderly people I knew caught Covid IN hospital FROM THE STAFF and some became very ill.

As a nurse it doesn't say much for your knowledge.