Pulling sickies at work..

minerva_windsong

I've never pulled a sickie from work, for similar reasons to others - ie feeling guilty. I was brought up in a family where the rule was 'if you're well enough to get out of bed then you're well enough to go to school' and that's stuck with me since.

I think the worst case for me was when I got suspected food poisoning but went into work the next day. My reason for doing this was that said day was Christmas Eve and I worked in a supermarket at the time (and as anyone who has worked/been in a supermarket on Christmas Eve will know it is an absolute madhouse), and I knew that work would think I was faking sick just so I didn't have to work on Christmas Eve. In my defence I was 17 and it was my first proper job, so I was a bit green, but now I know better I would have taken the day off in case of infecting any customers (although as far as I know that didn't happen).

TediousPhoenix

I've never taken a day off work without being sick. And the times I'm genuinely ill I try to make an effort to go into work, which is the worst thing to do, as is going back too soon. There's a managerial culture of 'I feel rubbish and I'm still here (and passing it on to you) so you should be here too'.

What annoyed me though was when we were really busy a lad had been diagnosed with skin cancer and had to have an operation. He had a deep scar and it was about 8" long. They were calling him up the day of his operation to ask when he was to come back. He was back in a few days, but he shouldn't have been - should have been AT LEAST a week. That annoyed me so much. I certainly would have done more hours just so he could recuperate.

jeffy22

I'm a temp so if I call in sick (geniune or not) I don't get paid

Empty_pockets

I think it's completely wrong though have done it once in the past.

Got offered a job but then was asked to start very next day, which I did. On first day I went to manager and told him I had a pre booked training course with the police that Friday (4 days notice) and any chance of having 1 day off as I hadn't expected to start work so soon.

He said no. I went back and cancelled the course, got a right telling off but they kindly allowed me to reschedule for next one in a months time. Went back to work next day and asked for that day off with 1 months notice. Still said no as I wouldn't have accrued enough holiday (I didn't want paying just needed day off!)

In the end i pulled a sicky. Got to do my course and got full pay. His loss imo.

poppy_f1

only done it once in 10 years of full time work

thistledome

pocketrocket wrote: »

Also companies who have no sick pay scheme seem to have the lowest staff sick days not right to have no sick pay but companies that do have staff taking the biscuit!

I found this worked the other way round for me. When I was young I worked in a factory (no sick pay) and pulled sickies quite frequently. I hated working there and the bosses were @rseholes and I didn't feel guilty. I even used to feign illness after a few hours at work so I could go home.

A few years later when I worked in an office (paid sick leave), I didn't pull sickies partly because I'd have felt guilty about getting paid for it. Plus it was a pleasant place to work and I didn't feel the need to get away.

Most recently I worked in a call centre and was amazed to find that they actually make you attend a special interview if you're off sick (unpaid!). You're interrogated about every detail of your illness and if they think you're pulling a sickie, they'll tell you in no uncertain terms that your job is at risk. Also, the worst conditions I've ever worked in, I think the interrogations and threats were the only reason they had so many workers turn up in the morning.

If employers tried to make the workplace pleasant they wouldn't get so many sickies.

SandC

I had one employer where staff would not be paid for the first 3 days of sickness. You might have thought the incidence of one off days sick was low in those circumstances. Not the case. A few employees would see that as their right to have a day off when they felt like it and because they were not being paid they figured that they had no responsibility to the employer and that their absence would not therefore matter. They failed to realise that it's not just paying someone who isn't there that causes problems but the work still having to be done with a reduced workforce.

Loadsabob

I'm so impressed by how few people here take sickies!!

I don't. I don't think of them as something I'm entitled to, at all. I get full pay if I'm off sick, and that's something I appreciate, as not everyone is so lucky. I would feel not guilty exactly, just wrong. I think I have a lot of integrity, and that would really go against it.

I'm lucky though, I am rarely genuinely ill, either. And I agree with the people who get annoyed at people who clearly should be at home ill, struggling in like martyrs. I leave a shop if a member of staff is spluttering and sneezing (Holland and Barrett AND Tesco in one day! Both lost my custom - I don't need their germs!). Sick pay is important in taking away that "I can't afford to stay home ill" argument that makes the bugs spread around.

I have to confess though, when I had to leave work one morning last month with a migraine (I can't see or trust my responses or reactions, or talk properly when they happen), the usual panic I get at the onset of the attack was momentarily replaced with "ooh, I get to be at home the rest of the day"! That made me laugh - I really wouldn't rather have a migraine than be at work! But I rarely get those one a work day; 8 times out of ten I reckon they hit me on a weekend.

Abbafan1972

I can remember pulling a couple of sickies when I worked full time. But haven't worked full time now for about 8 years.

I only work 2 days a week, so would feel guilty being off sick even if it was genuine. I don't think I get sick pay anyway.

I had to have a day off from my current company about 4 years ago, because at the time my Mom used to look after my daughters while I worked and she (my Mom) wasn't well, so I had to go home. I took that day out of my holidays entitlement, so I didn't lose any pay.

I had to cover up the once for someone at work who I knew was doing a sickie on a Monday and it was hard!

londoner1998

Loadsabob wrote: »

I'm so impressed by how few people here take sickies!!

I don't. I don't think of them as something I'm entitled to, at all. I get full pay if I'm off sick, and that's something I appreciate, as not everyone is so lucky. I would feel not guilty exactly, just wrong. I think I have a lot of integrity, and that would really go against it.

I'm lucky though, I am rarely genuinely ill, either. And I agree with the people who get annoyed at people who clearly should be at home ill, struggling in like martyrs. I leave a shop if a member of staff is spluttering and sneezing (Holland and Barrett AND Tesco in one day! Both lost my custom - I don't need their germs!). Sick pay is important in taking away that "I can't afford to stay home ill" argument that makes the bugs spread around.

I have to confess though, when I had to leave work one morning last month with a migraine (I can't see or trust my responses or reactions, or talk properly when they happen), the usual panic I get at the onset of the attack was momentarily replaced with "ooh, I get to be at home the rest of the day"! That made me laugh - I really wouldn't rather have a migraine than be at work! But I rarely get those one a work day; 8 times out of ten I reckon they hit me on a weekend.

How interesting, I get exaclty the same, migranes normally setting off on a Saturday morning, full on by the afternoon...MIgraines are prettymuch the only thing that makes me beoff sick at home, espcially if I am sick during an attack.
I am rarely ill, and I don't chuck sickies, can' see they point of it. Based on my experience, it is much better to have a day at home and recover fully than sruggle on for a week and then sucumb anyway after making colleagues life miserable. IT is a question of common sense and honesty .

I am quite lucky in that by employer is quite good in that sense. But I also must say, I think it is stupid to expect that people will come to work when they are sick and clearly functioning below their average. May be is because I am a dedicated yogi and don't believe in mistreating your body, but it is also true that I am serious about my job (which can be quite stressful) and go the extra mile. As it happens, I have an awful cold and I am running out of tissues and feel quite rubbish- I shouldn't be here today, but my collegue is on annual leave and the office would be without main emergency contact. I thought long and hard about coming, as I really need to be in tomorrow- I think is due to management generally- if you have a good manager, they will make sure you are fit and healthy to carry out that job and will also make sure you don't get overloaded. If there is repeated sickness, they will look into it and dare I say it, sort out pretty quickly which ones are genuine and which ones not.

People being interrogated atfer a sick day is just plain stupid and it shows how much they really care about well, pretty much anything.