To call in sick to work when you’re sick

[Linzdashluna]

Last week, I called in sick on Tuesday and Wednesday as I couldn’t get out of bed. I tried on the Wednesday, got up, had a shower with the intention of at least trying and seeing if I perked up, but had to keep getting into bed after each thing I did, I felt dreadful so called in again.

My colleague has Thursday and Fridays off so I didn’t see her again until yesterday and she was making digs at me for being off. Saying things like “I was so poorly last week, but I came in because you just have to get on with it” and “I never have time off because I don’t think it’s fair to the team” I said if she was so ill she should have also called in. She said “no, my mum always said if you can walk, you can work” I ignored her but this morning she’s saying stuff again. She won’t stop complaining about how ill she feels but I don’t know what to say because she won’t call in sick so if you’re deciding to get on with it, do that then and stop moaning about it. She said “last week was awful when you were off because I was so unwell and had to do your work as well. I just think there’s people out there who have it worse” what kind of a take is this??? Are there other people out there who actually think like this? We have sick days and sick pay for a reason. If you’re not well enough to work, use them. I don’t understand the problem

Just say to her “I couldn’t walk so I couldn’t come into work. If you have a problem with my sickness record please raise it to HR”.

I've had more than that off this year. And since then I have had a big promotion . I am a hard working and highly regarded member of the team. I just unfortunately have a body that gets very ill with things other people might shake off.

Immune suppression/underlying conditions can mean people need regular time off for something others can shake off. My health condition is between me, my line manager and HR. It's noone elses business.

What point are you making in saying this? There’s nothing laudable about never having taken sick leave. It simply means that either you’ve been lucky with your health, or you’ve gone to work sick and infected other people

I would respond to another barbed comment in the lines of

"Gladys you and I have different views on this and we won't agree so going forward please dont comment to me about sickness ans sick leave and I won't comment to you. That way we can get along without any issues." If she goes " we'll I just think etc" A firm "As I said please do not bring your view to me and I won't to you" then big smile and move the subject on.

She won't like it but right now she has an audience.

Just tell her to shut up and get on with her work or you will be going of sick again with bad headaches and she will end up having to cover your work again 😂
If that fails ignore, do not respond at all walk away each time she starts.

Ok Superwoman… well done, aren’t you amazing! Now why don’t you just FO… No one likes a self-righteous bragger.

Some people think that suffering earns them some kind of badge of honour. It's weird. If you're ill, don't go in to work. Nobody wants your germs.

You find it odd that humans get poorly? Have you ever heard of doctors? Hospitals? Nurses? Medicine? Germs? Infection? These are all pretty well known terms. Perhaps a dictionary might help?

Ask her "Are you a doctor?" because if not, she has no right to comment on whether someone should stay home sick or come in.

Covering work for a sick colleague is something she should take up with the manager if she is unhappy. Not you. Tell her the topic is closed and you don't want to hear another word of her carping.

You sound insufferable.

No, but I find it odd to be off an average of 20 days a year. Apparently I'm lying about never being ill and spend all my time 'coughing and spluttering' all over everybody.

Or that I don't call in sick when I fancy a week off.

Well let's hope you never end up on any drugs that suppress your immune system.

For some of us with chronic illness our norm is to feel pretty unwell. I reckon on a good day I feel ill enough that many people would take a sick day if it wasn't their norm.

When you take immune suppression you catch every bug going and you get more ill. I used to breezily carry on with life if I had a mild cold. Now I almost inevitably get a chest infection that needs heavy antibiotics to treat it

My mother was like this. I only knew her be off work twice in her life.
I had horrendous periods pre menopause. I could barely move for risk of flooding and as a teacher couldn't go to the toilet any time I needed.
She dismissed this as "A piece of nonsense " and she would just have got on with it.

Who do you, personally, know who has done that? You seem to have a real chip on your shoulder about this for some reason.

And your point is...? 🤔

Lots of people, including my colleagues. They think it's strange that I don't do it.

That I don't just stay at home all day. So could catch stuff.

I think people have different tolerance levels. Some feel capable of soldiering on when ill whereas some just can't get themselves out of bed. This is evidenced at my work where some people take between zero and 2 sick days a year and one or two who take at least 10 sick days a year, and it's always the same people.

But the fact that you don't isn't evidence that you're somehow doing life better. Given the context of your other posts, it's hard not to infer that you're implying all people have to do to avoid being ill is to 'have a healthy lifestyle', to quote one of your other posts.

Well, if they're phoning in sick when genuinely not ill, their work ethic sucks and that's not OK at all. But it's not evidence that this is a widespread practice, it's anecdotal.

What industry are you in?
How is this allowed to happen?

Financial services. Not in the UK so not much is allowed to be done to stop it.

Presumably your company has an attendance and sickness policy?
The next remark this colleague makes I would say:
" Xxxx has responsibility for monitoring sickness and attendance in our company, so whether I am in work or not has nothing to do with you. I find your remarks inappropriate and unprofessional and you need to stop"

She chose to work when she was sick. That's her choice.