As a woman, I personally love telling arsey managers I can’t come in due to period problems, but I usually word it almost aggressively ‘my lining of my uterus is forcibly ejecting itself so I won’t be able to come in’
Depending on your manager but "boss I feel like I've been f***gered by king kong usually does the trick for me
Sad part is it's usually how I feel with endometriosis
I worked with a lot of men who appreciated the direct approach and I think it got them to understand more!
My deeper sympathy to you if you also have endo, it sucks.
My sympathies and prayers to you as well. I actually got in trouble for my comment I wrote to you. Reddit decided that I threatened physical violence with that comment! 😳 I disagreed, and answered back. I cannot see how anyone could misconstrue what I wrote, and call it "inflammatory hate speech inciting violence"
(?!) 😲
They re-read it, and still decided that I broke their rules, threatening violence on other people.
This is our world today. 🙄 AI is already doing their best to control us.
I know of someone who rang their boss with the intention of using this excuse, but was still worse for wear and said they had syphilis instead. 😂
Lucky the boss saw the funny side!
Yeah I get that for some it would be better. I lose out on pay for sick days but don't want to lose one of my precious holiday days to a day I felt like sh*t - and without being asked if that was okay for him to do either. 🤷
10 points if you land it in the receptionist's hair. 20 if you hit the manager.
50 if you hit the boss.
Ownership of the company if you hit the boss in the face.
Most women are able to elaborate because I think many women have experienced a really gnarly period at least once.
I think I have smooth sailing compared to a lot of women, but even I've been lying on the floor in crippling pain before(once I went to hospital...) / I have experienced clots/bleeding through...
It's not the actual period pains, it's the idea of "loving" telling your male managers about it. It just downplays the whole seriousness in their eyes.
I know I'm gonna get nuked in the downvotes but you must know what I'm talking about.
It doesn't. But the simple fact is that there are arses out there in every demographic who believe in the superiority of their group, and the inferiority of others.
These arses tend to be made manager as the managers who decide who becomes managers are also arses.
And it doesn't take much for these arses to reinforce their world views.
I love it when you do actually go into work and they ask you what's wrong when you look and feel like shit. I often reply "it feels like im beeding to death"
I saw this tip years ago, tell ‘em you have the shits, they never want details, I offer them anyway, they can’t wait to get off the phone. Especially since now I work from home, my wife hates getting the calls.
I had to once after my HR didn't believe I was sick, I actually had been unwell with the shits so I sent them a photo of the most disgusting bowel movement I've ever seen. It was like that scene from Trainspotting
I had a female manager once who would’ve probably wanted photo evidence! She didn’t believe women have heavy periods or that period pain could be so bad it makes you ill.
I had a boss that made the other girl I work with come in even though she had food poisoning. She was sick down the side of a horse and THEN my boss was like ok you can go home now
My daughter saw a female GP due to very severe period pain... she just brushed her off! She's 21 and had problems since she was 15. She almost faints and can't move!! Really frustrating for her!
I completely empathise. I’ve had both male and female doctors tell me I should have a baby to sort my periods out! Even when I was as young as 18 they’d say that. Or think that going on the pill at 15 will sort it all out 🤦🏻♀️
What a joke! My daughter wants a career first... she doesn't want kids for at least a minimum of 10 years. I had my first and only child at 27 because I chose to. But no one should be forced to have kids simply due to severe period problems/endometriosis!!!\\
Once I was pretty ill and threw up in the staff toilets, and a manager said he didn't believe me. I told him I knew he wouldn't, so I left it for him to verify. He simultaneously tried to insist it both wasn't there and that he didn't want to see what supposedly wasn't there.
Lmfao. He was so conflicted. I got to go home.
A guy did that once where I used to work because the manager didn't believe him (he called in sick nearly every shift). The manager wasn't impressed at all by the picture and just left it every time after that.
Period issues are even better for this (assuming you have the biology for it). A female boss will sympathise and a male boss will actively avoid detail.
My work knows I can't stomach mushrooms. I just phone in and say it's the mushrooms again. They know not to question because I go into as much graphic detail as I can. Last time, we had a new manager who was gagging and asking me to stop. I may or may not have farted down the phone at him
This has been mentioned a few times. Last time, it was because I was eating popcorn chicken they'd decided to put in the frier with breaded mushrooms and they'd mixed one up. I noticed the moment I bit into it. The time before, it was in a Tikka Masala, not a dish you'd expect to find mushrooms. Besides, doctors have even said it's not an allergy, but more a severe intolerance. I don't break out in hives or a rash, I just get a horrendous gut for the next day or so. Either way, I do avoid them but you can't help unknowingly eating them sometimes
Do you get it with quorn/mycoproteins too? I used to be able to eat quorn, then suddenly developed an intolerance (similar reaction to yours). I hated mushrooms as a kid so I’m not sure if I would’ve been ok with them, but seem to have a problem with them too now (although not always, trying to work out if that’s down to the variety, amount, or some other factor)
With them, I don't get anywhere near as bad as I get with the mushrooms. Shortly after, I need to urgently evacuate and then it's over. Mushrooms continue for a day or two
Hi Boss, can I have Monday off?
No, okay.
Yes waitress, I’ll have the mushroom soup as a starter, followed by a stake that’s topped with a mushroom.
Just for reference, where is the bathroom?
Shits or sick, most cases they have rule about not coming in with either of those so you don't pass them along or assume you've got food poisoning. Latter was often my favourite, "Ohh went out for a meal with friends and we're all poorly, must be food poisoning... Oooh gotta go, think I'm gonna \*fake sick sounds\* \*hang up\*"
I find sitting next to a toilet really helps both with the right acoustics and to get in the right mindset. My usual description is "coming out of both ends like a fire hose"
We had a young chef who did this at a restaurant, he was very put out when we told him he couldn't come back in for 3 days. He just wanted Friday night off.
One of the best I heard was a guy my dad worked with years ago back in the 80’s. He apparently phoned in to say he wouldn’t be at work because he was going to the hairdressers to get a perm! The boss apparently was having none of it and expected him to show up to work (probably with straight hair still 😂).
It's a cult. Absolutely wild viewing. I can't look away. The one who delayed hip surgery for a year just so they could have 5 years as a veteran under their belt, and their surgeon was like: "was it worth it?" Madness.
I know what you mean! It's like, this is mad! But I can't look away! Especially the kick lines 😂 I watch a lot of trash tv (hayu subscription!), and if nowt else to watch, I carry on with the dallas cheerleader series (I'm quite far through it now 🙈) my bone joints seem to ache just watching the routines!
I was once genuinely late for work because my cat did a diarrhoea poo in one cup of my bra (discarded on the floordrobe) and then 'buried' it by flipping the other cup on top... I was knuckle deep with my thumb when I realised 🤢
That was a fun phone call...
I think it's radishes but radish sounds like it should work. Like sheep.
Now I'm never going to be satisfied with the correct way so I'm not even going to check.
I always used I have to take my pet iguana to the dermatologist for not working late…
Years ago I had to notify my boss if I couldn’t work late for that day, came up with some elaborate excuses.
I’ve lied about everything. Gallstones, son being sick, lost my mom. Am telling you. There’s nothing I haven’t lied about 😂 sometimes am just too tired on a Monday. I don’t make it. Not always. Maybe twice a month or so. Or more. There was a time I had a friend call and say I’m in a coma won’t be in for a week or so. Returned to work with a fake bandage 🤕 on my head. They fall for everything at my work too bad I’ve put in my notice😂😂😂 ima miss working there
Yes, but not because I wasn't sick, but I needed a mental health day. I've done it a few times. Sometimes we just need a day or two, and we need it RIGHT NOW and can't wait for PTO. I've become a lot better at recognising the signs now and started actually using my PTO before I get to that stage!
Yep, recently I had a day off because my car wasnt working (true) and I told my manager I just needed a mental health day anyway (more true). They don’t pay me sick days anyway, I’ve used my holiday on medical appointments, so I see it as buying myself a day of rest
Once at sixth form my friendship group decided to bunk off Thursday and Friday to spend a long weekend camping in north Wales. We were in rodent forms so not immediately a suspicious pattern.
We drove those 3 hours and selected Friday for our wander up snowdon - where it turned out the art department had taken a bunch of students for a day trip. We caught up to them/recognised them at the halfway cafe bit and were able to get up no bother while they refueled. On the way down we realise we were doing a face on approach on a narrow path and looked shady as hell on a hot day with caps and hoods pulled low and zips fully done up over our chins.
I'm a boss but not the big boss. When someone had had annual leave requests rejected for an event they want to attend (not my decision) and they coincidentally end up sick on that day, I think good for them. The repeated or big sacrifices for the job lead to faster burnout and poor staff retention. It's in the team's interests that people go forth as individuals and refill their cups. We run chronically understaffed and the lack of buffer in the roster is a departmental issue, not something that is an individual's problem to compensate for.
I spent 20 years hiding mental illness, this was in the days saying you had anxiety or depression wasn't normal or easily accepted. So I've called in sick for every reason under the sun, lying every time....the shits, migraines, flu, pleurisy, kidney infections, kidney stones, burst ovarian cysts, concussion, falling down the stairs, falls in the garden, a car crash once too (has to limp around work for a couple of weeks after that one).
Always felt guilty but always remember, they don't know you've lied, even if they think you have, they can rarely prove it. Live the lie, even if you were legitimately sick they'd probably think you lied, they always do. So fuck em!
Good news for me, finally got a job about 8 years ago in a work place that supported mental health, came clean to my boss on the second occasion of needing to be off with depression. Got support, got help, and now rarely call in sick ever. Amazingly when I do I'm actually sick!!
Just don't worry though, it'll all be forgotten within a week anyway x
15 years without a single sick day. Has it put me above my peers, no. Do I get paid more, no. Have I had less time with my family, yes.
I wish I had it in me to call sick when im not ill, I just can't bring myself to do it.
Only once when I just couldn't.
Nowadays it wouldn't work as our company doesn't do sick pay so you'd have to take a day's holiday anyway, or take the hit to your pay.
I worked for thirty years and I never called in sick when I wasn’t really sick. In fact I probably only took a handful of real sick days in the whole 30 years. Work is a transaction - you work and the employer pays you. To call in sick when you are not and expect to be paid is fraud. This sort of behaviour should not be tolerated.
This is why I never do it, I get too anxious about it. I did it once when I had started a new job in a factory which was absolutely exhausting and I was depressed and extremely anxious anyway and my horrible bf said he was going to dump me and so he stopped talking to me for a week, and the emotional stress on top of the exhaustion was too much. I was very honest with them and they were really nice about it. I did it with another job in my twenties which had awful management and I couldn’t face the same shift with the same people again where I knew we’d finish late so I lied and said I had a stomach bug. The next day I really wanted to ride in this competition so I ended up coming clean and saying it was actually cos of my mental health and they got really pissy with me about it. They were like so and so had to work without you and I was like what abojt all the times when it’s just me and so and so and you don’t care that’s there’s only two people on that shift?
All the time. I did it to make up for the times they made me work out of hours or unsociable hours without being paid for it. Also for the amount of unnecessary stress they regularly put me through. Fuck ‘em.
Yep, a few times when my mental health has been particularly bad. On said occasions I haven’t wanted to say that it’s my mental health. I felt guilty even though I shouldn’t have, as it really wasn’t in my best interests or theirs that I came into work.
Exactly this.
The way I see it, is that I'm a fucking adult and if I'm sick and I tell you that I'm not coming in, you'll have to accept that I choose not to come in because I'm sick.
The reason why you're sick doesn't matter because they're not a doctor.
I just tell my employer that I won't be coming in because I'm sick and if they ask what's the matter, I tell them to mind their own business.
My manager pushes for details. I took Thursday off for nausea and dizziness, still don't know how I'll say that in a way that doesn't sound like I'm taking the piss
I thought I'd had a brain injury when I had labyrinthitis. I was sat at my desk wondering why the room was rocking and tilting and I was struggling to tell which way was up. Then I had to drive home in the snow!
I didn't end up taking time off work for it (I just worked from home for a week or so, as I couldn't drive), but even when I did go back to work I was unsteady on my feet for ten days or so. I got so sick of it, it was awful!
That's the word I was looking for, thank you. I had it once too - I actually got sent home on arrival at work. I was feeling so unwell and weird, stepped out of the lift (I do not recommend going in a lift if you have labyrinthitis!) and fell straight forward. Fortunately someone caught me, and that someone was the matron on my ward!
It lasted a few days for me and it was horrible.
This, I had to have 2 weeks off once because of dizziness & nausea. It also came with Headaches, irritatibility, and light sensitivity. It was a horrid experience
Well, that'll work if you're not a grown up and don't want to work there any more.
Anywhere with an HR or a manager with a brain will want to know so they can figure out if you'll be off for a day or more.
Forward planning is essential to any business. There's also some who will offer support for being off.
Being a petulant child and giving no details other than being ill, you're on a fast track to a firing
Oh I see. You like an argument for the sake of it.
Yes, you can refuse to say. But an employer can refuse to pay you if they're not satisfied with your reasons. Because you refuse to give any.
They can also refuse to continue your employment for the exact same reasons by following contractual disciplinary processes.
>But an employer can refuse to pay you if they're not satisfied with your reasons. Because you refuse to give any.
They cannot refuse SSP. Even if you're lucky enough to get company sick pay, your manager cannot just withdraw that from you just because he threw a hissy fit at you being too ill to show up.
No, they can't refuse statutory.
They can however stop you getting SSP in future by not employing you any more. It's not about the workplace throwing a hissy fit, it's the employee refusing to communicate in this situation.
Firing you over refusal disclose your medical history without going through additional channels (HR, occupational health etc.) is one way for your employer to end up at an Employment Tribunal.
Which is also highly unlikely to happen, if not outright impossible. At least for the reason mentioned above. Even if you don't have the statutory protections, there's still processes that must be followed before you're fired.
Unless you're an agency worker. In that case, you're not losing much either way.
I’ve never initially pulled a sickie, but my first 3 days are unpaid and then after that I can self certify and it’s paid. So if I’ve been ill for 3 or more days, I’m taking off the rest of the week as a reward for getting through it and to make sure I’m fully recovered.
Yep. I’d arranged a shift swap that my line manager approved as I had no holidays left and wanted to go to Wembley to watch my team, he left before the game and I was honest with my new line manager who refused the swap, so I phoned in sick and went anyway as I’d already bought the tickets
Just for balance, in 30 years of work I've never done this.
Sometimes felt like I was calling in sick, or going home early, for something minor, but afterwards I would realise that I had been justified.
Manager here: don’t call in sick with “stress” unless you actually have stress. I’m talking “doc has signed me off for 3 months so I can get on happy pills and avoid a toaster bath”, not “I feel a bit down today because it’s Monday”.
There is *nothing* more obvious than an “i’M sTrEsSeD” call, it saps team morale, it leads to a fucking wave of identical sickies *and* it sets back people who genuinely need support with their mental health because the default position becomes that a stress call is bullshit.
Always call in with D and/or V. Bonus points for entertaining explanations or designations. Ol’ Reliable is “bum wee” but “committing war crimes” and “pebble-dashing the bathroom” are guaranteed hits as well.
I'm sorry but you don't get to decide if I'm "stressed enough" to say I'm stressed. That's wild from someone who's supposed to be a manager, and actually leads to longer periods of absence because people feel like they've to be off all week to be believed. Do better.
Actually wild that you read this in a sickie thread and decided I was talking about *genuine* stress calls, not the “I’m stressed” bank holiday sickies. They are clearly not the same, and people taking advantage of absence management to have a little hangover break at the expense of (as I’m sure I said) people who *need* time off for stress cause significantly more stress, guilt and low self esteem amongst the actually depressed.
So fuck you, *you* do better.
Listen very fucking carefully.
You do not need to be suicidal or want a "toaster bath" (how fucking crass, and you pretending to be concerned about the "genuinely ill") to be stressed.
You do not need to be medicated, again, happy pills, how crass and ableist, to be stressed.
You don't need to need 3 months off and a psychiatrist to be stressed.
You do not need a Dr to confirm you are stressed.
Your definition and my definition (of stress) don't have to be identical to both be valid.
The thing that caused me stress today, may not always cause me stress.
Colleagues off sick doesn't zap team morale - shit managers who can't manage the team workflow and think they get to decide if I'm ill enough to call in cause poor morale.
Now fuck up.
People calling in sick when they aren't doesn't bother me. People dragging themselves into work when THEY ARE sick PMO - keep your germs at home please.
I've done it dozens of times, despite being very nearly caught once.
It was a lovely summer's day so I called in and told the boss I had 'an upset stomach'. Then my dog and me went hiking for the day.
We stopped at a pub for a quick pint on the way home in the early evening.
Little did I realise, that this pub was in the same village in which the managing director lived.
Cue me and my dog, sitting on a bench at the front of the pub, me supping a pint, when the MD cruises past in his car. I saw him, he saw me and I turned a very pale colour. I necked my pint and we beat a hasty path back home.
The next day, I expected to get pulled into the office to explain myself...but nothing happened. I figured he'd either thought I'd got the day off or it hadn't registered who I was.
After that, falsified sick days were not spent in an outdoors environment.
Rookie mistake, dude. You need to go much further afield on these days - like 30+ miles away 😂. I made it a point to slowly find out where everyone on my team lives so I can avoid those areas/shops/parks when I'm "sick".
I used to call in weekly and turn up late because i was the only one that knew how to run the factory well.
Just think about critical infrastructure and how it needs very competent people at the helm at all times problem solving...... that doesnt happen with minimum wage or complacent fuckwits like me.
Also a manager: agree entirely, plus there's various people in this thread saying they've taken time off when they weren't really ill, because they were stressed or overwhelmed. But mental health is all part of health, and stress and being overwhelmed are valid reasons to take time off sick. You may not feel comfortable sharing that as the reason, but don't tell yourself you're not really sick or that you're cheating on some way.
This applies even if it's stress caused by events at home (you need space and can take time off work, you can't take time off life).
I've taken days like this myself, and encourage my team to when I can see there's an issue. You don't need to be bad enough to be signed off for weeks by your doctor to do it. Think of it as a pressure valve: sometimes a few days to release some stress, get distance from work and relax is all you need, and is a sensible preventative measure to ensure longer term health.
I’ve taken a few days parental leave when I simply did not have to “sorry mate my wife’s sick and I’ve got to take care of the kids” rinse and repeat. Remember lad boss makes a dollar, I make a dime that’s why I shit post on company time!
But do you get paid for parental leave? I don't think I would.
Sure, sick leave, annual leave, maternity/paternity leave I would, but I don't think parental leave would be.
I've not taken a sick day from work in around 7 years.
Crazy to some perhaps. I'm lucky to have not gotten seriously ill. When I'm ill, I work from home anyway, so I'll just get on with it.
Also I'm self employed, so if I don't work I don't get paid.
I hope I can keep it up for a few years more tbh.
Don't be a dick to each other, or other subreddits, places, or people.
Don't be a dick to each other, or other subreddits, places, or people. AskUK contains a variety of ages, experiences, and backgrounds - consider not everyone is operating on the same level or background as you. Listen to others before you respond, and be courteous when doing so.
I have taken multiple days off thinking I was sick, laying in bed in abdominal agony, thinking "is this it?", "Will I have to go to hospital today?", "do I have bowel cancer or some serious stomach ulcer?"............................ Farted, felt fine and enjoyed the rest of the day as a "me" day.
You live and you learn.
I've had 2 sick days and I turn 40 this September.
One day was food poisoning and the other was norovirus.
On the flip side almost all of my work has been on hourly/day rate, so no work = no pay. I do get holiday pay, which I accumulate and cash in at the end of a contract and treat that as a bonus/holiday money when I'm not working anyway.
If you give a vague reason, a decent manager will ask you lots of questions because they’ll be concerned it’s a stress or work related reason. Other managers might suspect you’re going for a job interview
Yeah, more so when I was younger than now.
Between 16-21 I would often take days off because I was hungover, or woken up in somebody else's bed and not knowing where I was.
Or if it was middle of the summer & hot and I fancied going out for the day instead of being stuck inside all day at work.
I have also taken sick days the Friday before a week off holiday, that extra day makes the week feel so much better.
Then I got with my Mrs, then COVID hit and it wasn't worth taking a day off to sit at home so I got out of the habit of it, and started pushing myself at work for more money etc... I'll still have the occasional one when I have used all my holiday allowance and there's something I want to do though.
The company don't *really* care about me, so why would I care about them?
I used to work for one of the big four... I hated every day of it. For nine years I treated my sick days as annual leave, and took the 20 of them without fail.
I called out saying I was sick with the flu but really I had a terrible migraine from hell and was vomiting my life out because of it.
I still felt so guilty despite the fact I was actually sick.
People who don’t experience migraines have a tendency to not understand the severity of them.
I’m a terrible liar and feel so guilty lying about even the smallest of things. Maybe one lie a year I tell and it eats me away every time.
That day off was worth it though, spent in bed..quiet and peaceful, completely blacked out room, and my dog kept me company- he was a champ that day and didn’t demand too much. 😭
he knew I wasn’t feeling well enough to give attention or play. He made potty runs quick and just curled up by my feet all day.
I have, it was mainly because I had a raging hangover, which is obviously self-inflicted, but to shut down questions, I texted my manager and said I had vomiting and diarrhoea.
I've definitely called in when I couldn't be bothered or it was a sunny day, and I didn't want to waste it in work.
I do not feel guilty because it's just a job. If I died, they'd replace me in a heartbeat, plus life is too short anyway.
Haha I tried to call in sick to work three years ago because I missed a flight to my work city but I was expected to get a health certificate. It was the pandemic time and the only thing I had was throat congestion. So I gave cpr and was diagnosed with covid lol so I didn't need lying anymore. - extended my holiday one week more.
Yeah, took 2 days off for “the flu” when I was under stress from a colleague who worked at a different site and would leave the shared work to me despite reporting it. I used the time to rest, read, go for coffee and just generally relax a bit. Didn’t give it a second thought
The 'flu' is my go to reason. No one has ever asked me a follow up question.
I usually do it when the pressure get too overwhelming, I've a lot going on at home, my partners shifts are at the perfect angle I'm doing all the childcare and housework, so I'm 'on' to some degree 6am to 9pm 7 days a week.
I'll call in, take a day to sit around, come back and my work output is back to normal levels. There's a lot of forms and paperwork to fill out, but when I put in flu, despite the fact it's only one day, it never gets followed up. I all ways just assumed my supervisor knew what was going on and that it was needed.
I've even sometimes do this, and proceed to work as usual. I work software, the 'daily standup' where we gather around at 10am, talk about what we did yesterday and what were doing today. It's an industry standard, but I hate it so much. It causes me so much dread and anxiety if I feel I don't have enough to say, or what I'm saying isn't good enough.
So I'll call in sick, skip the standup, and proceed to work as usual. I do this to get out of awful meetings, too, or if I just want to work without emails or messages.
One of my colleagues is taking the piss with her sick days. She’s had a few personal issues over the years and cites anxiety for being sick (which I do believe to an extent) and now they’ve lightened her workload, provided access to proper face to face therapy and have to let her take the day off when she requests it. Nobody is able to have a constructive conversation with her (even if it’s carefully framed) without her taking the following day off due to anxiety and stress.
She’s basically a part time worker now and we’re having to pick up her work which is stressing the rest of us massively. She’s useless at her job, and I think she knows it but has found a way to get the system to work for her. I don’t know how much longer this can go on.
It’s highly sensitive as so many people worry about not respecting mental health but she’s really riding this one hard. Especially when other people around her have their own issues and have had equally if not even more tragic things happen to them, but are having to pick up the slack from her.
It's becoming endemic in British workplaces. I have a colleague, probably late twenties who went off with some kind of mental breakdown and he's still in the team, booking holidays but on long term sick for over 5 years?! I have no clue how it works but some people definitely do.
People now wonder why businesses are becoming tyrannical about sick leave, well it's because a small minority game the fuck out of it. This whole thread is a testament to it too.
According to my training you are allowed to go on holiday while you are long term sick. Or any kind of sick really. Of course if you have back issues and suddenly you are abseiling on your social media they might not take that too kindly.
When I started to be involved in management we had someone who had abused the sick policy over the years with a very laissez-faire former manager. It took me and my manager a lot of hard work to turf him out.
This is a failure on management's part.
They need to hire another part time person to cover the extra work that is being piled onto existing employees. And if she's truly not performing well in her role, then they need to spend some extra time training her and evaluating with her if this a role she can competently perform with accommodations.
It really sucks for you and her other coworkers, but this a problem with management moreso than with her.
We're massively understaffed at work (about 100 staff short with a current workforce of less than 200) which is simultaneously stressing us all out and making it really hard to bunk off work because you're leaving your colleagues in the shit.
(In case you care: we're being taken over, the current staff are being TUPE'd so there's been a hiring freeze, and a lot of staff don't want to work for the new company so they've left. The process started March 2024)
The rest of you need to start taking sick days due to stress - it's not really your colleague's fault - if management were willing to provide this, they should also provide an extra staff member to pick up the slack.
But if it's making you or others unwell you shouldn't just power through - instead take off the time that you need, speak to your GP if necessary. And hopefully those above you will twig that they need additional staffing!
I always thought I'd had the flu, until I actually caught it and it turns out what I'd experienced previously was a very heavy cold and actually a walk in the park compared to real influenza.
The real flu makes you worry for the first few days that you're dying and then for the days following that, almost wishing you would.
I had Aussie flu when that was going around. I was waking up unable to open my eyes at first because they were gunked shut, lost my hearing, couldn't speak and could barely swallow. Not to mention the violent stomach issues. I was hallucinating clowns due to fever and dehydration and didn't have the energy to get away from them. I get my flu vaccine every year as soon as I can get it now. A cold I can deal with but I'm not having flu again if I can help it.
The first time I had flu I went downstairs for water. I got trapped in the living room... I could push the door handle down, or I could pull. But I didn't have the energy to do both.
I laid on the sofa and cried.
I’d been lying in bed and was desperately thirsty. There was a glass of water on the bedside table but I didn’t have the energy or strength to reach out for it so I just stayed thirsty as that was the least of my worries anyway!
The first time I had it I was a student and living in a three-storey house with my bedroom on the top floor. I was genuinely worried that I wasn't going to make it down the stairs without my legs giving out and just falling all the way. Fun times.
I was also a student! I'd been away for the weekend with a uni society but started feeling really shit the Sunday afternoon.
Unfortunately my pub shift as a solo worker started at 7pm. This was pre mobile phones so I had no way to ring in sick. I opened the pub and then sat down on a stool. Luckily Sundays were quiet, just regulars. They'd come in and I'd say, I'm sick. I'm only serving beer from the pumps nearest to me and I can't guarantee I can walk to the till to make change, but I'll keep a tab. They were lovely - I clearly looked like shit! I allowed them behind the bar to get crisps or bottled beer, keeping a tab.
My boss walked in at 9pm and immediately called a taxi to take me home 😂
He later said that he appreciated my initiative, and the till balanced, but in future he'd prefer the pub to remain closed till he got there rather than having the bar staffed by a visibly ill member of staff... This was in the 1990s.
I've had it once in my early teens. Fever, hallucinations, not enough energy to move, muscles in agony. My parents got the GP to come and visit me at home and they seriously considered hospitalising me if they couldn't get my fever under control. I was like that for a week then 2 weeks recovering.
I always call out people who say they have the flu now when what they're describing is a sniffle.
Many decades ago a GP told me the test for 'flu is, if it's raining £50 notes & you can get off the sofa to go outside, you don't have 'flu. I now use this as a measure of whether my children are well enough for school.
Absolutely. Whatever they say to you, that is in line with their wellbeing policies and all nice, they are absolutely shittalking you behind your back, suggesting that you're taking the piss or that you're doing it because you're either rubbish at your job and hiding from the consequences, or using it to retaliate for a decision where you didn't like the outcome.
Am just about to return to work after being off for a month and a half owing to stress and burnout.
Under those circumstances, all I can do is work hard and not take the piss when I get back to it, and beyond that, everyone’s opinions and perceptions of my commitment to my job should not be my fucking problem. I’d recommend a similar mindset to anyone else going through similar.
Me being so anxious about their opinions was what got me in the shit in the first place.
Believe me, having been off for work-related stress for 2 months last year, I understand how hard it is to go back, so you have a great way of looking at it.
I made it clear that it was their fault that I'd been off as they hadn't listened the first 20 times that I'd told them that I couldn't do this thing that was meant to be done by someone 2 grades above me, and with no support at all. So what did they do? They gave it straight back to me when I returned and were then surprised when I struggled with it again. Knobs. But, ultimately, still their fault.
You can only do your best with what you're given.
Good luck with your return.
That will go straight onto your HR file which will severly limit your chances of decent promotions to challenging positions. It's wrong but large corps still see this as a weakness
Stress is a genuine reason to take time off work. Not saying you should tell your employer that that's the reason, because they probably won't agree, but it is completely fair.
And if they do agree it's likely to trigger various internal processes to manage it, and if it's caused by an individual that means more internal processes.
Nah. A bit like flu, proper Norovirus renders you completely useless and wrung out for a week or more.
Even once the worst of the projectile from both ends has finished, the recovery is slow and delicate 😬
If someone calls in with the flu, I’ll call it out.
I saw my brother with proper flu once - literally hallucinating and off the deep end ill.
You’ve got a cold, or there’s nothing wrong with you, and I’ll expect you in work.
No. But whenever I've had to phone in sick, I've always worried I might not sound sick... but then worry that if I try to sound sick, I might overdo it.
So actually trying to fake it would probably cause a psychological collapse.
Yeah fairly often. The place stresses me out, I work with idiots. I need a break from said idiots before I lose the job. So suddenly my celiac will really play up that night and by the next it’s calmed down. Don’t feel guilty, they’d replace you in a heartbeat if you died so take those sick days… look after yourself
Freelancer here.
Don't get paid if I don't work, so no chance. Apart from a couple of covid absences, I've only taken one day off sick from work in my life, I had some kind of stomach bug and a fever and it just really wouldn't have been possible. I spent the whole day asleep or on the toilet.
It means the opposite, just as bad situation where I go to work even if I really should stay at home.
I don't even use it as an excuse I'm the rare occasions that I double book myself. I've heard too many freaky stories of people getting caught out by those lies.
I'm gonna give you a few reasons why you shouldn't give a shit about doing this:
1. Companies don't give a shit about you. You're an asset to exploit for value.
2. The company won't bankrupt over night just because you're off one day
3. If you left or something happened to you, you'd be replaced in a heartbeat
4. If my company is anything to go by, you could probably spend the entire day doing fuck all and no one would even notice you didn't do anything
There are probably more I can think of but those are the first that came to my cynical mind
I don't feel for the company. I do feel a bit guilty though that my colleagues now have to pick up the slack. And usually, because I'm a manager a lot of my work doesn't magically go away and I'm playing catch up when I come back in.
I used to feel bad for colleagues if I called in sick. But then I was heavily scrutinised for taking a couple of days off when my grandma died by someone who I worked out had taken one in four days off in a six month period. So fuck them 😂
Not being monitored is great, but doing a job where you can fly under the radar easily means you also don't get noticed for the good things.
Double edged sword
Ha, I haven't been given a pay rise in 3 years despite inflation slowly eroding my earnings.
My manager told me that I need to stay enthusiastic and motivated despite the fact there is little incentive to do so.
I'm sure my experience heavily influences my initial response and not everyone has it that bad though
Well, aside from the fact that people working taxpayer jobs are also taxpayers, I would argue their jobs carry much more significance than mine.
Society would crumble in a day if police officers or healthcare professionals stopped existing.
Insurance brokers are slightly less crucial
I can tell you from experience that many of these jobs are very bureaucratic in nature. They are necessary to keep the country moving but ultimately they are looking at information on a computer screen and using it to produce documents. Yes, people need the documents but no employee is going to be elated to issue a residents' parking permit or to email a company to let them know that they are in breach of some regulation.
I have no doubt this is reality for many.
But it doesn't have to be like this.
I have a small team of high performing individuals and we all work and sort each other.
We do a good job with few resources and rely on each other. We get paid well and, largely in our forties, have an eye on riding this train to retirement (10 years for me).
If we all pull our weight and back each other there is no reason we can't cruise in.
I'd actually say the senior leadership team does give a shit about us too. Teams that moan about workload get new resources. Culture is at the forefront of their mind with a load of initiatives constantly running.
It's just a nice place to work.
It's kinda sad if that's unusual. I've worked for a half dozen City firms and they've all been good to me to be fair.
Do you work in a smaller company? I can understand your sentiment if so.
My company is a huge multinational and it's easy to get lost as a cog in that machine
I don't get this reasoning that "if you left or died they'd replace you in a heartbeat", to make out that a company doesn't "care" about you or value you. Obviously they would replace you to fill your role - it's standard practice. *Genuinely what is the alternative?* Do they wait a month or two out of respect? Do they hold a minutes silence every day for a couple of weeks before instructing HR to advertise for the role? Imagine yourself as a CEO and tell me how you would handle an employee leaving for one reason or another differently that's actually feasible.
I'm not disagreeing with you at all, you're completely right.
That doesn't change the fact that what I said is true, and that a person shouldn't devote their entire life to their company.
It's all about accepting the reality of the situation
Plumbers are paid a lot better than most of the people in this thread, and are largely in control of their hours and schedules provided they don't have customers who can only be available at certain times.
There's a bit of a difference between an office worker having to book holiday/pull a sicky to get time off and a plumber deciding they want to spend the next week in the pub by not taking any bookings that week.
This is the correct answer.
I almost never get sick enough not to work, so I take one or two sick days a year when I have some kind of unworkable clash or whatever. Other people can't take on my work so it doesn't affect my colleagues, but I'd still do it if that weren't the case because it's NBD and everyone should do the same if they need to. Half my team are going on mat/pat leave this year and I'll definitely have to pick up some slack there, but that's just part of living in a society.
I actually got proper flu a couple of years ago and had several genuine sick days, which felt like a really annoying waste. 😂
There's a gulf of a difference between being a shelf stacker for a large supermarket chain or a customer service phone monkey for a household name service provider, and being say... a project lead for an SME.
“Companies don’t give a shit about you”
I see this kind of opinion quite a lot on here, and I find it really bleak and not necessarily true. 60% of the private sector workforce are employed by Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). I run one of these and I care about my employees.
A business is just a bunch of people collaborating to earn a living, there is no reason why this should mean those people don’t give a shit about each other. I understand that - once it gets over a certain number of employees - the personal connection can get lost, but that’s a different issue.
The problem with this sort of thinking is that assuming all companies don’t give a shit about their employees gives the bad ones an excuse to get away with doing just that.
Absolutely. The NHS is not for the weak. I was going insane, and physically and mentally could not manage going into work, called in sick for the flu knowing this would 'escalate my absences' I was off for over a week. But it was the most important thing I did for myself. I went down to part-time shortly after.
Not gonna say I have.
But when I found out my company were treating 'single day absence' as an issue, anytime I had a bout of the shits for a day, I'd take the next day off too.
I probably shouldn't say this but saying you have got Diarrhoea and/or Vomiting is often a safe bet because it means you are meant to stay isolated for 48 hours incase you have something you can pass onto others. Your work would be breaking either the law or work time regulations by demanding you in with something that could make others unwell also. They would also be negligent.
Only when I've had relationship issues, or if I've had to attend a job interview and didn't want the employer I was working with at the time to know I intended to leave.
Legally all you're obliged to say is that you're feeling sick and won't be coming in. I don't think they are allowed to ask what's wrong, but most people offer a light explanation by way of courtesy.
I once accidentally ate a super strong edible late at night and couldn't get up for love nor money the next day. Rang my boss about 9.30am and said I saw someone breaking into my house as I was halfway down the road, got into an altercation and had to wait for the police etc.
This is why when I'm working from home but actually abroad I take my router with UK VPN on it and then connect my spare phone with aeroplane mode on to it via wi-fi. The phone thinks it's never left the UK because I don't connect to a foreign mobile network and I get Wi-Fi Calling and a normal UK dialling tone.
I worked a couple of summers at Disney World in Florida and called in sick for a shift at Magic Kingdom from Hollywood Studios. Also from a service station on the way to Miami.
My sister in law called herself and her kids in sick from the plane that was taking them on holiday. She'd forgotten to do it until fairly close to takeoff
Yes. It’s rare but yes.
My current situation is that I’m actually the boss so if I want a day off…I’m the boss. Took a day off this week and an irrationally angry customer called. My colleague panicked and told him I was in hospital.
So now I have to not only call the guy back and massage his ego, I have to come up with a creative one-day-in-hospital illness 😂
Sooooooo many times.....but then again we have child labour laws so I couldn't work as a child, however I'd have done it at any age and will again I'm sure.
Yes! My boyfriend who worked in radio had free tickets to a U2 show in London. It was an amazing gig and we were in the inner heart thing right by the stage. The record company put us up at a fancy old fashioned hotel in central London and paid for train tickets both ways.
We had a fantastic time but there was no way I would have got back to work on time the next day. So I rang in with a sore throat.
The only downside was I COULD NOT TELL ANYONE AT WORK what an amazing time I had.
Watch out for the Bradford Score. This applies some maths to the days you take off - it’s deemed worse to take several smaller sets of sickness than one longer one.
stupid policies like this is why I now take a week of work and not a day. if 3 single day absences are treated the same as 3 1 week absences by my job and trigger the same HR procedures, you bet im taking the whole week of instead of 1 day
The lost derided Bradford Factor is days multiplied by the number of occurrences squared. Anything above 50 is considered needing a reason to explain it.
4 single days is 4 x (4 ^ 2) = 64 (needs investigation)
6 weeks off is 42 x (1 ^ 2) = 42 (perfectly fine, obviously)
Even 2 full weeks off split up (depending how on they count the weekends) can be fine. 5 x (2 ^ 2) = 40. (fine again)
We would be glad of even that.
All sick days are unpaid except for basic SSP, but that only applies after you have had 3 sick days in a row, so those first 3 are unpaid.
I had to claim once for about 7 weeks for a back injury (not the same job) and had to go to the DWP and council office to claim Universal credit for rent and council tax benefit. It seems silly that someone who is employed should have to.
But management are salary unlike us on hourly so they can do as they wish ,"rules for thee but not for me".
Most people can't afford to be off sick and do often come in even if they don't feel up to it unless they literally can't move.
Yes although it’s based on periods of absence instead of individual days. It’s 3 periods of absence in 12 months (it’s changed recently) but each period of sickness can be as long as you need. Although anything over 7 days needs to be backed up by a GP/specialist.
If I ever spend my weekend ill I always call in Monday/Tuesday. There's nothing worse than losing a weekend to illness, chores back up etc., whole week maybe even fortnight gets dragged out. F that.
It sounds like your guilt is over thinking it. Take the time off. You’re a number to the company. Enjoy the day off and don’t give it a second thought.
Some real ball bags in this thread.
Why lie? Genuinely? It’s better to tell the truth and receive the correct support than to lie and have it unravel gloriously later!
Imagine some of these things genuinely happening to you. God forbid! There’s some real shady idiots on here.
I opened up about my mental heath issues and have had the best support from my employer. Before doing so they were just processing me from warning to warning.
Be honest and have the right working relationship. Some of you have really got it coming to you!
Yep! Work dont give a crap about you, youre labour and a number. Take a me day, most people arent curing cancer or saving lives, so ultimately it just isnt important and some middle manager can get their undies in a twist over stuff, im not stressing over shit that doesnt matter.
Yes, elder scrolls oblivion remastered, sons of the forest, baldurs gate 3 releases were my last 3 'sicknesses'. Also got a day off planned to go watch 28 years later. Going to have some mild food poisoning and won't be able to stay off the toilet, but luckily it'll be the weekend just after so I'll recover in time for work on Monday
Hard to do when you work in a Pharmacy and your boss is a Pharmacist 🤣
The only time I was able to go home sick was when I had the runs...it was so bad it was *heard* when someone passed...
Absolutely! I used to get serious burn out at previous jobs and would wake up in the morning knowing I just couldn’t face going in to work. (Having a god job now and better mental health has alleviated those issues). Remember, you can self certify for 7 consecutive days before requiring a fit note from your doctor so take a week off if you need it.
Sort of, yes, but only when I needed it mentally, e.g., after a particularly harsh week at work. It's cheaper for my employer to unofficially tolerate a couple of mental health days per year than to cover for my burnout.
Yes, I was working as a draftsman for facades in the construction sector, and had a really rough night's sleep thanks to very noisy neighbours. I knew I had a day of conplex calculations ahead of me that I would almost certainly mess up without being properly rested, so I called in sick with food poisoning and slept for the day, then did a bit of preliminary work at home in the evening to speed up the maths-heavy day the following workday
Years and years ago I made up that my flat had a carbon monoxide leak. It was the stupidest over dramatic thing! My boss was hella suspicious, NATURALLY, and I had to make up all this elaborate bollocks.
Keep it simple - everyone gets a stomach bug now and then!
At least 3 times a year. I get 6 paid sick days but im rarely ill so use them as bonus Annual Leave days. I am also fully remote and have a 4 day work week with 24 normal days of Annual Leave + bank holidays and 2 weeks off over Christmas. Sometimes it feels like I rarely ever work.
I’ve never called in sick when I’m genuinely completely well - but I’ve definitely had a mental health day which feels like calling in sick when you weren’t even though it’s not (and so still feels guilt inducing).
I have, but it was more towards the end of my career with them. It was a toxic workplace with just complete negativity. In the end I just had to tell them I’m done.
Used to every now and then. That luxury has now gone having young kids. Constantly off dealing with a vomiting baby or raging temperature in a toddler. Work is a lovely reprieve, I would t dream of calling in anymore!
You get an amount of sick days every year before they notice and put you on review. You should plan your sick days just like you plan your holidays. Fuck em.
I don’t think I ever have, but I’ve called in sick when I was ill but probably not ill enough to take a day off. Sometimes just couldn’t be arsed with the commute, the people, etc, and wanted to watch homes under the hammer.
Most people don’t realise that you don’t have to disclose any actual medical information at all.
“I am messaging to let you know I am unwell and will possibly be off for the rest of the week. Will keep you updated each day.”
Day 2
“I am still unwell, remaining home on advice from doctor.”
Day 3
“Still unwell, probably won’t be back to work until Monday. Have a nice weekend.”
You work to live. You do not live to work!
If you need a few days take them. That company would replace you in a heartbeat if you were suddenly unable to do your job anymore.
Always use the good excuses.
Diarrhoea
Vomiting
Broke down vehicle /no transport (careful if you can work from home this one won’t work)
Some kind of stomach bug/food poisoning
Flu - this one will give you at least a week off minimum so don’t use it unless you’re wanting that much time off.
There's been times when I've woken up, felt iffy and made a judgement call not to risk it only for it not to turn out as bad as I had anticipated (the reverse has also happened more than once). I've never outright lied about being sick though.
I did for a while until the time I decided to risk it and it backfired. I literally walked into work and straight into the bogs for 45 minutes. I barely got anything done that day because of my excessive need to use the toilet which lasted pretty much until the early evening.
Mate, I broke off some plaster from my ceiling, smashed it on the floor and poured water over it to simulate a "leak" in the ceiling in order to get a day off work.
I recently got a real job after working in retail/customer service type roles for the past 9 years.
I figured this is probably the last time that I will be in a job where I don’t care about losing it, and so thought I should try skiving at least once.
So I did. Straight up called in sick on a Friday evening when I really didn’t want to work lol
Yes I have, and no I don’t feel guilty. Where I work treats us like shit, so every now and then if I fancy a chilled out day I’ll call in. I stay within the limits of avoiding getting into trouble though.
The management used to be great and they were good to us, so I rarely called in unless I was at deaths door, but in recent years after management changes and changing how we work, it’s became toxic as hell.
At a previous place (my first full-time job) I had works there for nearly 15 years, was in a managerial position, and - aside from turning up early, regularly working through my lunch hour, and leaving late - I had taken a total of 3 and a half days off in those 15 years and was (I thought) a trusted employee. Never caused issues, was reliable etc.
When I handed in my notice I respectfully requested that they overlook my contractual obligation to give 3 months’ notice, to allow me to leave one month later instead (I had a new job lined up). The supervisor I had trained had worked there for around 3 years and could pretty much just step into my role with just a few minor handover details. They refused.
Over the following 3 months of my notice I found myself inexplicably *unwell* on four separate occasions. Once was ‘migraine’, another ‘stomach issues’ etc.
Fuck ‘em.
If you haven’t made a habit of it then the odd day here and there could be seen as beneficial (mental health). Also I’ve realised that employers usually do not give a shit about employees, and life is short.
I have never called in sick when I wasn’t. Hell, I struggle to call in sick when I’m actually sick. I work in healthcare so you will make the day more stressful for your colleagues if you’re not there as well. And I’m still not that well paid either. Wish I could just call in sick some days tbh it bloody sucks sometimes!
If he asks further just say you dont feel comfortable talking about it or if you really want to come clean just say you were extremely burnt out and needed the day to recover. Sometimes we need it to not tip us over the edge
I’ve just extended sickness, why take a day or two off and have it counted as one short term absence when a week is classed as the same (I work a 4 day shift pattern - longer shifts though)
>contingency plan
It's exactly this. The business needs enough extra resources to deal with dips in supply. People need to not work too hard otherwise that contingency will be eroded.
I phoned in sick with a 'funny tummy' and went camping for two days. Tripped over a guy rope and had to come back to work with a twisted ankle. I said that I fell over running to the toilet.
Reminds me of the opposite sort of happening to me. Not related to work but I had a bad burn on my hand, had to go to hospital and get it dressed etc. I was supposed to go to the nurse at the GP to get the dressing checked a week or so later but by that point I had some sort of food poisoning and was shitting and vomiting everywhere. Had to just rip the dressing off myself.
A couple of weeks later a whole hand shaped layer of skin peeled off my hand like a vinyl glove 🤣
My flatmate once fell through the ceiling in our flat. She sent us a picture of the hole and the debris. I have used that picture at every single job I’ve ever worked at. It’s gold. No questions asked and I can usually get around 4 days off with the excuse of a soar back.
Yes. Although in my work managers don't really ask too much about why you're ill anyway, and are pretty good about it if you're just too stressed.
I've also been the line supervisor taking sick calls and doctor's lines and, uh, some GPs are definitely guilty of putting too much information on those.
Kind of. I have done when slightly sick, not getting recognition and thinking to myself why bother pushing myself today (as I do most days) when others don't.
This. I used to feel I had to be on my deathbed to call in sick, but now I realise you're just a number and there's no prizes for good attendance. So if I feel even a bit crap, or slept really badly, I call in. Only ever so often, though.
Only once. Met up with some friends in London for an evening and had six pints, which is a lot for me. Felt like shit the next morning and threw up. I suppose I was sick strictly speaking but it was my own fault and I felt guilty. It was nearly 30 years ago and I haven't done it since.
When I was 19 I was working for a bank - went out with a mate and got proper sh\*tted one Thursday night. Went to work the next day - I was sat in the car park at 8.30am suited and booted and couldn't remember driving there. I thought nope... not doing that again!
I went out, got bladdered and it was so late thought I would just sleep on the office floor. When I woke up about 7am my completely crumpled white shirt was covered in Indian food, problem with that was I hadn't eaten any the night before so fuck knows how it got there and the room was still spinning slightly. Sent someone out to get me a new one with perfect packed in a packet creases! That was a very very long day
> felt guilty
I recently learned they had to nationalise the pubs in areas with munitions factories because so many hungover workers were taking sickies it was affecting the war effort. Puts it in perspective!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyijHCkW3xc
>I suppose I was sick strictly speaking but it was my own fault and I felt guilty
If a smoker gets lung cancer they'll get sick leave, why can't alcohol consumers have the same privilege?
At least the consequences of our actions only last a day
I know a girl who phoned in sick as she wanted to go on a week long skiing holiday, but it was in sunny Italy and she developed panda eyes due to her ski goggles, she had to take another 2 weeks off when she got back to let the rest of her face catch up with her eyes!
Yes, said i had the shits when my kid was sick- i get 1 day off if my kids sick - after 34 hours im supposed to have arranged something else but im a single parent - nearest family is over an hour away and they work and no one really wants a contagious kid around that's not their own. I can self cert for full pay for 7days.
I usually work when I am actually sick 🤦♀️
Quite a few times when I went clubbing on a Sunday night and got home on a Monday morning at 7am.
I had to think what excusesd I had.made previously when calling in sick
In uk up to 5 or 7 days you can call sick with no proof ! They can't ask for proof they might try and ask and mask it as they care for your wellbeing, but say you're coming down with a flu or something even summer, you can still get the flu... enjoy some days off as you deserve them!
Had to pretend I had food poisoning to get a couple of days off when a loved one died at my old job. Manager was strict on no time off if it wasn’t immediate family. Safe to say he was an awful manager in other aspects, and I left not long after.
Just because they weren’t blood related doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt.
Yep. I was having a nightmare at work and needed to just cut off and get some sleep. I felt a bit bad about my colleagues having to cover the work, but I'm not jeopardising my mental health for a job ever again.
I did it once in my late 20s because it was the day that Half Life 2 came out and I wanted to stay at home and play it. Great game, but I spent the day wracked with guilt and worrying that I'd done something terrible so couldnt enjoy it. I returned to work the next day and no one batted an eyelid
Why the obscure reason? Just put on a sick voice, say you're feeling like shit and it's kept you up all the night before.
Go back 2 days later and the only question is, "feeling better?" to which you say, "still a little bit sniffly, but much better than I was, thanks."
A few years into my current job I read the sick leave policy and noticed it said that sick time can be used for “employee illness, illness of a family member, transportation issue, or any other personal reason” and boy oh boy have I leaned into that last one.
I took two days off to attend an appointment I didn't want to disclose with them. I made up a whole backstory in case they asked and I was trying to explain why I was sick and they were just "it's okay, I don't need to know, just tell me when you will be back". I could have called to say I was dying and they just wouldn't care. I hated that job.
My former manager told me I couldn't have the night off the day my Father-in-law died because "You're not married yet, so he isn't your family, so you're not entitled to any time off."
My response: "I'm not asking your permission, I'm ringing out of courtesy to let you know I won't be in tonight". I wasn't going to leave my then-fiancee alone in our flat the day her dad died.
After that I had no problem taking a day off and claiming I was sick.
Yeah absolutely. Sometimes im having a bad in my own head, some days i feel exhausted, those excuses just dont fly with my work so i have to make something up. Some companies are a bit more forward thinking with this but mine aren't
I took time off as sick when I was too stressed or overwhelmed. I didn't say it was stress, I made up other excuse. I never took a sick day for the hell of it
I remember once calling in sick because I had met this lass the night before. Anyway after spending the night with little sleep she said she had to meet her dad for some money.
I didn't have a problem with that .......until I met her dad.
Let's just say the next day at work was very awkward
My mum died the weekend before last. Last Wednesday I was expected to drive two and a half hours to attend a completely pointless meeting. It could have been conducted on Teams.
Anyway, I kept quiet about my mums death until Tuesday night, when I told everyone about my loss, therefore I couldn’t attend the meeting. I didn’t specify what day she’d pass away, so I didn’t lie.
Every cloud…
I could be lying on my death bed and still feel guilty about calling out. Then have the fear at going back. Probably because I don't trust anyone else who pulls a sickie.
If you have sick days, you use them.
Lad i work with has 10 left for the year and booked a 7 day holiday. Why wouldn't you. Do you think you'll get any thanks for not using them?
I prefer to take my sick days off one a time here and there, as I hate working 5 day weeks. So I use them between bank holidays to get down to a 4 day week more often.
Yeah a couple of times, those days where I'm not actually sick but so worn down / exhausted / fatigued by shit I just need a day to recharge.
Just say you've got a stomach bug, which is code for "shitting myself to death" and no-one asks any questions. Its also entirely reasonable for it to be about a one day issue, as anyone whose had bad fish will tell you.
I tend to justify it to myself that that day to rest / nap / decompress more than pays for itself in me being more productive afterwards.
I said I wasn't feeling well when actually I was up north for a football match. As long as you only do it once or twice a year it's fine, just say vague stuff like 'feeling under the weather' 'run down' etc.
Yeah, during Covid a couple friends decided to take a spontaneous road trip from London to Amsterdam for a few days. Woke up everyday that week calling in sick to my manager. Zero guilt and I just said I had a bad cold and a headache.
I called in sick to sit an exam because they refused to let me have time off as I could be needed, but they couldn’t confirm.
My exams were only available every 6 months on one day and you had to book 2 months in advance. It was half a day and was work related.
I called in sick and looked for a new job
You have sick days, use them.
Weather it be a physical sickness (shits etc), or a mental sickness - taking time off will often benefit you and the company long term.
I worked with someone once who phoned in sick when a celebrity died. I've also worked with people who come in looking like death and next thing everyone is off sick.
But everyone uses them, sick or not (obvs just don't take the piss...odd day here and there is fine)
The former, but the latter has to override it as I have bills to pay. I guess that’s what I get for working for a shit company that does the bare minimum 😒
Of course. Who hasn't? - let's be honest most people did it during COVID times.
Last year I needed a couple of days off for IVF implementation, but there was no more holiday availability. So I called in sick with a "migraine" when I was literally at the hospital. 😅. I've now got a beautiful bundle of joy, definitely worth it!
If you look into your company's parental leave scheme, some offer days off for IVF appointments. I only know as I manage a guy who was using his holidays for the appointments and found it in the employment contract.
Thank you both. 😊.
I work for a very small IT company in the UK. Unfortunately it's not something that they offered... 😖. I literally just got basic maternity leave as well.
But if people are going through IVF it's definitely something to look into.
Ah, I'm feeling lucky now my employer had specific leave available for IVF. I kind of had thought that was a legal requirement, but I guess it's just a nice perk that I should be more grateful for!
Nope, not once. Not out of any loyalty to the company but because I actually like the people on my team. My works needs to be, if I'm there or if I'm not and if I'm not there that means each of my team needs to pick up the slack.
Everyone has to work right? No one wants to work though. I can genuinely bet that your manager does not care that much, they’re just doing their job and any manager that does care clearly leads a boring life. I guarantee they have called in sick before. Honestly don’t stress . You obviously have a reason to call in sick, even if you’re not actually “sick” your well-being is still important.
I'm 52 in September and I've come to realise that employers just take the piss.
Never off work with illness then, go in for a hernia operation and, instead of anyone saying that it's good to get it fixed, the first thing was, how long will you be off for?
From here on in, I'm going to take lots of sick time, valid or not.
So to answer your question, yes I have when I was younger and I'm going to do it again now in my later years.
My company announced voluntary redundancy when I had already requested a 10 day holiday that same month.
My manager told me to cancel the holiday request and then request sick days every night I was gone so I'd get the max redundancy settlement, since they pay-out unused PTO.
So I ended up not working half of my final days of employment and it paid for a whole month of rent while I was looking for a new job.
I will always request sick days guilt free.
Used to do this when I worked my part -time job whilst at uni. Couldn’t be arsed going in so I would phone in sick and then take a week to make it seem real. You don’t need a doctors note - unless you go beyond a week.
I’ve done it a few times. I don’t get sick much and when I do it’s normally very mild. So I allow myself a couple days a year where I’m ‘sick’ but normally just need a boost.
Of course! Why wouldn't you? the vast majority of people are underpaid, and underappreciated at their jobs, and 99% of companies, or more, damn sure don't give a shit about their employee's and will replace you in a heartbeat, so you don't owe them anything.
Yeah. I know people will say "mental is health is a valid reason" but I just really didn't want to go into work one day. There was another day I went drinking in Cardiff and there was no way I was gonna make it back in time to mid Wales the next day for my shift. Fuck it
I never explained what was wrong. ‘I’m unfortunately not well enough to come in. I should be back tomorrow but if not I’ll let you know’. If you don’t take the piss and you do your job they don’t care.
When giving reasons, I've found less is more.
With less info, there is less to poke holes into, less for you to stick to etc. At the end of the day, you tell them you can't make it in. Most [decent] employers won't ask for details if this is unusual for you
Also, you tell them. Not ask. No 'if that's alright' at the end. It's non-negotiatial. You are simply stating a fact, with an apology if suitable.
I find this hard myself and while I've not taken a day off when not ill, I still feel guilty to do it when I am ill.
1 or 2 days. Migraine and you need pain killers a dark room and rest. Or tummy issue as many mentioned the shits or norovirus - no one wants you near them !!!
Owning up to being off with stress can land you in territory you don't want with companies needing to offer a duty of care that could end up with HR and worse OH.
Been there and sweated it out with an asshole manager who called every 2h to check if i was feeling up.to coming in. Now I take pleasure going into detail on the shape and consistency of "the last shit I took" when they decide to press further.
More than anything know they don't have the right to question you if it's not over 5 days / a week. Even then all they can ask for is some evidence of you going to the docs about it.
Fuck man, being hungover is now a legit reason for a sick day. Don't stress too much. I take "sick days" because I feel burned out every few months.
No but I’m lucky that I can basically take time off whenever I want as long as I get my work done, so I haven’t needed to
Life is more important than work so you can bet that I would call in sick if there was no other option
When I was a trainee teacher I used to wake up crying at the prospect of going in. So sometimes I did phone in sick. I only ever did it on days when I wasn't teaching, so I wouldn't be missed.
I've never pulled a sickie in my actual job.
I didn't, but have you ever thought that maybe your need for that day off comes from a need your mind and body has, just like an illness?
Too often we don't listen to our bodies and we then end up sick for way more days than it would've been if we were actually taking that odd day off.
A fair few times. In my last job I tried to kill myself and after that all the 7s were treading on eggshells around me and never questioned a day off again 😂
Not really an adult but when I was 16 I once asked my friend to leave a message at my work, pretending to be my sister and telling then I’m really ill and lost my voice
She passed me the phone back without hanging up and so the message she left included me laughing and joking about it
Reminds me of a time I was around 16 . text my friends saying ‘can’t come out, mums being a dick’ sure enough I sent it to my mum and was promptly grounded 🫠
First shitty job i had at 16, working with some of my best mates from childhood was at a call centre, £3 an hour or something ridiculous. I had the day off and i was going to a party that night but my pal had an evening shift so he decided to phone up sick. He panicked straight away as he didn't have a plan in mind before ringing in and quite spectacularly gave the reason for not coming in that day was: "I won't be in today, ermmm, because I'm an alcoholic". Funniest thing I've heard. He never went back to that job and he put the phone down as they started to question wtf he was talking about. I still laugh everytime i think about it years later.
Yes. I have a great number of vacation days and still try to take three or four days per year as sick days. Manager doesn't ask for details and I never offer.
Just don't do anything stupid like showing up the next day it work with a full tan.
Every 4-5th period, I end up with raging diarrhoea and sickness. This has triggered HR to do back to work interviews.
In which they set targets for attendance
And I reply ‘I will not meet those, if I am sat on the loo, bleeding, pooping and throwing up into a bucket - whilst having cold sweats’.
If I need to throw a sickie, it’s usually because my wellness/mental health is suffering and we’re still not living on a world where this is a fully acceptable reason for taking sick leave by about of employers.
I always go with the migraine option as my excuse as it’s a day in a darkened room and a day feeling groggy.
I phoned my boss to say I was sick because I just didn't want to go. He asked me what was wrong and dim me had forgotten to come up with a reason before phoning, possibly the lamest call in he would ever have heard but he didn't give me grief over it.
I called in sick on my last day at my old job cus my new job paid more for overtime. i made more than triple what I would have made going to the job I called in sick for
Yeah I have done, but I always keep it vague. If I'm not physically sick then it's gonna be for mental health, so I just say I'm feeling bad. You can self-cert for the first 5 days anyway.
They build employee absence due to sickness into the firm’s operating model and should have it factored into the overall costs and capital of the business.
You are not doing anything unusual by taking a sick day, it is expected and if the manager is being weird about it then have the confidence not to let it worry you.
I haven't, ive only called off sick once and that was the day after having a bad migraine, felt so ill.
Also went home at lunch to finish the last half of my shift one day as I had another migraine that morning and the headache was getting worse.
Both were approximately 1 year apart
Could be to do with weather changes or something environmental (do you start lighting candles in the evening, buy a Christmas tree, put up lights….). Or it could be emotional, did something really stressful/ traumatic happen to you in December a few years ago?
Migraines can be triggered by all kinds of things.
I had 1 month left on my work contract when I realised they were paying a new hire more than me even though he worked 1 day less/week at a (normally) lower payed position, I had a week of payed holiday booked, during that week I went to my doctor, explained the situation, she gave me medical leave until the end of my contract for burnout, texted my employer and ghosted
I worked in a bakers/patisserie and programmed it so I'd ghost right before the Christmas rush so they'd be short staffed and my boss would have the shortest time possible, worked like a charm and I have 0 regrets.
Many times. But that was when I worked for employers I didn't like. I've been at my current job for 6 years and have never been off sick. Not some sort of martyr thing, I've just been lucky that I've not been ill enough to take a day off work in the last 6 years.
I was on the brink of being signed off with work related stress and didn't fancy giving them the heads up 😂 so the day of my appointment I said I'm dizzy, I'm tired, didn't sleep well, shaking, stomach pains, basically all symptoms of the anxiety attacks I was having, the depression I was experiencing and the stress I was feeling, without directly saying that that's what I was going through. For context I'd been to the doctor in mid December, and my doctor advised me to work to the end of the week as I'd be breaking up for Christmas in about 3 days, and to go back to him as soon as I was due to return to work after Christmas, so I did that, put on a brave face for that last week, did my best to enjoy Christmas, then went back to the doctor the day I was going back to work. Technically I was sick, so it's not really the same as being perfectly fine, even if I felt like a massive fraud at the time, and the way I explained my sudden illness made it sound like I had suddenly become ill overnight and experienced all of this over the previous 12 hours instead of the months before. I had my appointment, got signed off, and went out for lunch and shopping with my mum that afternoon 😅
You do realise that everyone has 4 grandparents, right? By no fault of your own they might just start dropping like flies. Happened to me, 4 dead grandparents in 2 years.
My boyfriend recently had to take 3 different bereavement leaves in the space of a year, all for different relatives though
He said at least one coworker made a snarky comment about it, but it might've been in his head idk
People do have four grandparents, a third or fourth grandparent isn’t beyond belief, particularly if the person is a working adult and their grandparents are probably elderly. It’s five and beyond that becomes suspicious.
Same here, been in plenty of times when I should have stayed at home. I see other employees clearly deciding to just not come in because they don't want to and it annoys me.
I did have two weeks off a couple of years ago but that started with a hospital visit!
People who come in when they're sick either risk making everyone else sick, or are bringing impaired function into work which is a liability.
You're not being mature, or a better employee. Overworking isn't a virtue.
I don't usually have severe reactions to being ill, but I've been bedridden by someone else's mild sniffles before. I've also seen people work themselves to burnout or self harm, looking completely fine on the outside, and I wish on days when they just "don't want to" they'd taken the time off without guilt; it would have been fine and possibly saved some of them from mental breakdowns that no one at work had any inkling of.
And I'll say it, people don't owe companies all the happiest days of their life. If someone just doesn't want to come in, sometimes that's okay!
You don't know what other people are dealing with. Least we can do to help each other survive capitalism is not judge, and normalise that it's okay for those of us who need to take time out of work (for burnout, disability, mental health, illness) can without any worries or questions.
Same here! Its almost embarrassing, I work in a small team fitting windscreens, I know the amount of Agro it would cause the customers and my manager to have to rebook 7/8 jobs for that day and how upset customers would be who have been waiting 2 weeks for a replacement, my stress is through the roof currently with external and work pressures yet I still can’t bring myself to have a “sick” day.
Also can’t really book holiday for a month due to work load, they even tried denying me a day off next week to move house 🤣
Stomach problems. If they push, which they shouldn’t, then just say you didn’t want to say diarrhea. When i was a supervisor I really didn’t care for the reason just appreciated a timely heads up to prep.
I One time did it when I missed the bus and there were no available taxis to take me in, so I didn't know how I'd get there
I Justified it because not long before I'd gone in dispute suffering the worst morning sickness of my life, and stayed the whole shift even though I shoulda gone home early. So I felt I was just taking the day off I was owed
Yes once. It was when fallout 4 came out. I had it pre ordered. I phoned in sick saying that I have been up all night being very sick. My boss said ahhh ok there must be a bug or something going around as half the staff have phoned in sick 😂😂😂😂
Everyone had the fallout virus 🦠🦠 😆
I have a stoma, I sometimes ring and say I have to spend the day taking laxatives as I have a bowel blockage and that it will be too risky to take my super strength laxatives at work.
Sadly no. However in my old job, they would often ring me up asking if I could come in last minute to cover. Sadly I was always very conveniently busy or I wasn't able to find my phone at the time they called. I don't feel guilty though. I put in a lot of effort into that job and was always overlooked or shot down because I didn't go out drinking with them every weekend.
All the time. I used to work at a pretty popular pub chain and every so often I'd tell them I had a migraine if I needed the day off for mh reasons or stress etc. I had a friend who worked there too who used to lie all the time. They were a manager and they used to do shit like that all the time. Like once they called in sick so we could drive up to Edinburgh (about 3 hours from where we lived) for the night lmao.
That same person also called in sick to go to a festival. Even posted pics of the festival. No one said a word
Lol dude, EVERYONE has pulled a sickie at one point or another. Usually due to hangovers tbh, but sometimes people need a mental health day. I’ve done it a few times. As long as you’re not doing it every Friday or taking the piss with the frequency, don’t beat yourself up. Sometimes you just feel like you ‘can’t’ that day. And that’s fine.
Bro calling in fake sick to work is a certified UK classic. It's not a coincidence that when the sun finally comes out after weeks of rain/gray sky, a big chunk of the population magically gets "the flu" 🤣
Called in saying I had a funeral to attend. Forgot I’d already killed off the same relative six months earlier. I said it was “the anniversary” and made it sound like a cult thing. No one questioned it. They were scared.
I almost never take sick days. I don't go into work sick to infect everyone, I just don't really get sick. Apart from a genuine unexpected hospital visit, in the past 10 years I've taken two sick days which weren't really sick days:
1. The day after my partner of 12 years broke up with me
2. The day after my cat died unexpectedly
On both occasions, going into work would have been detrimental to me and not great for others. Because I'm never sick, people didn't question it when I just said "I'm not feeling well enough to be in work today." I guess there's an element of "it must be bad if THEY'RE off".
Not a complete sicky but I’ve exaggerated how ill I’ve been. Like I probably could work but I feel a bit rubbish so I don’t want to. I have had a lot of fake doctors appointments for various things though. The only time I have to get my nails done is during the working day, so I say I’ve got ‘an appointment’ - if anyone were to ever question it (which they don’t) I’m not technically lying.
My favourite type of fake appointment is therapy because no one asks follow-up questions about therapy and no one questions doing it in person, remotely, in the middle of the day, or any other arrangement. It can be long or short.
I once called in sick when the DayZ standalone game dropped unexpectedly ahead of schedule. I hit download and spent all night playing and then just before bed at 8/9am, rang in sick.
Yeah, three times, over about thirty years.
Twice for job interviews where I could not admit to my current job that I was making serious plans to escape. (Different job each time, different reasons.)
Third time, well - I was feeling hugely stressed by my then-current job, overworked and burnt out, and I had almost run out of paid time off.
So I called in sick and went to the Zoo. About ten-plus years ago. It was delightful and I did not feel guilty at all. I really, really needed that time off. A good manager would have let me have a day as sick leave "mental health break" - but I did not have a good manager.
No because I hate calling in sick anyway and always feel like I'm letting people down. I'm genuinely ill plenty of times anyway so if I added on times when I'm not really ill then I'd never be at work!
No. I've taken a few extra days at the end of an illness to feel human again, as I've come back to work too soon and had to go off again, which messed up my sickness record. But never an outright sicky.
There have also been times when I have made an attempt on my life, was discharged from the hospital and came back the next day. This was not good as I was trying to pretend everything was fine. We need a culture of work where people aren't pushed to come in when ill. This improved during covid but seems to have returned.
Now, when I'm not feeling great I'll work from home, have a nap during lunch, and work from my laptop on the sofa under a blanket. Makes a big difference what you can manage when you don't have to travel anywhere. Appreciate not everyone has the privilege or desire to wfh.
Was mysteriously ill for a day to watch the Europa League Final a few years ago. If anything, I wish I could do it more. Years of not missing a shift, dealing with unrealistic workloads and even working through COVID without as much as a thanks. Essentially treated no better than others who clearly just called in every other week because of no reason.
Probably only once in the last decade.
Wife was ill and felt she needed to go to the hospital to be checked out.
I had a bit of a sore ankle but I exaggerated it to get the day off.
As it was a Thursday it made no sense to not have Friday off as well consoder driving and physical work is the majority of my job
I haven't pulled a sicky in my current job. Though I have slacked off and done virtually nothing somedays.
But absolutely, I've pulled a few sickies in previous jobs. Not even for a good reason sometimes. I recall one day it was pissing it down with rain and I just couldn't bring myself to go in, so called in sick.
Kinda.
I told my manager that I wasn't well. When I went back into the office, I explained that I had stuff going on in my life and that I just felt drained. She was understanding and pointed out that that the company pays for x amount of hours counselling.
Unless you're taking the piss, I'm of the view that if you if you think about it, you're taking time off for your mental health.
I think this is very different and absolutely fine. I've never phoned in sick when I'm not, but I've had days like this. Most workplaces are going to be understanding.
yeah, but I work as a teacher. So i have to make cover and usually other members of staff might have to cover you. so i always feel guilty and usually only call sick when I am…
Yes, it's out of character for me, but last year work got particularly stressful with bad management and team leader bullies. I called out sick and said to myself I'm having a mental health day.
I call in sick for mental health a fair bit.
Though I have autism and I really try my hardest and tend to burn out every so often and just can't do anything but Stim to deal with the stress.
Needed the day off to sit an exam for uni, but knew the chances of me being allowed it off were slim so I didn’t try to book it because being denied leave and then calling in sick would be too suspicious.
Called in sick, said I had a fever or something. Came in for my next shift a day or two later and didn’t wear any make up. Got told I still looked ill and asked if I needed to go home.
My manager is like "If you can't come in, no problem. You're all adults. I don't want the details. Please. Do not give me the details".
TBF I absolutely love my job so no, wouldn't call in without a reason, but in previous jobs, yes. Because I was just plainly fucking miserable and hated my life back then.
Now that I work from home I hardly get any migraines - when I had to go to the office I got about 2 a year. I've also worked on plenty of days where I wouldn't have made it to the office.
So no, I don't feel bad about calling in occasionally cos I need a day in bed reading a book
We get an 18 day break every 9 weeks so never feel the need to but in previous jobs I would take advantage of sick days been wiped every 6 months a week off with “the flu” or a “virus”.
Personally I find the guilt never goes away, that’s just the type of person you are and that’s fine. But don’t feel like you’ve let anyone down, like everyone has said these companies don’t care about you.
"Hello mate, funny story, I have a bit of a bad stomach today and thought I'd be ok, but just as I was leaving the house, I shat my pants."
free day off, any time, no questions.
I've used 6 sick days this year. In 5 cases they were actually mental health related, but I'd reported as a bad cold. Three of those mental health days were work (with the other two being our shite government harming me and my friends but that's another rant). I probably *could* have worked them all fine, but I'm glad I took the time to recharge
Most recent is probably my only genuine sick day and I actually got sent home 2 hours in
I rang in sick with the shits once so I could go to a job interview - purely because I was on a zero hour contract and didn't want to suffer for it.
Just so happened I worked in the home care sector, word got around and one of my clients posted a picture of a toilet roll on Facebook and tagged me in it ☺️
Nope. If I need last minute off, then I'd ask for annual leave.
As a manager, I've had people take fake sick days and I knew it, but since I was hoping he was going for a job interview I let it slide.
It was a job interview- ended up being with a friend of the office. Alas he didn't get the job.
I used to work for a huge (shit) car insurance company.
Every time you'd take time off, they gave you 'points' that accumulated in your file.
If it went above a certain amount of points per year, you would get called in for a meeting.
They called me. Apparently the average figure for a person working there was around 200 points for the year. They said I had around 4000, lmao. Didn't tell them I'd improve because that would imply I had a choice...
I continued to call in sick on nice days etc, I just didn't care. I had been there over a year and they couldn't fire me (presumably, because they never did)
No fucks given. They don't care about us; fuck them.
I do the opposite. I have a chronic illness (that is static) and don't want to disclose it. I have a flare up every few months and usually make up a non sickness reason to be off work. Last time it was a dog related emergency.
As a manager I’ve had people call in sick for all sorts of reasons, and don’t particularly care if they’re truthful or not, but don’t go flaunting it in front of the venue.
Normally I'd have around 20days off in a year. If I don't add +10 to that then I'd never forgive myself.
Calling sick (3-4 days)
Dentist appointment (2 days)
Waiting for a package (1 day)
Someone in family needs caring (1-2 days)
Taking my cat to vet (1 day)
About 6 years ago there was absolutely nothing for me to do for a few weeks - assembly job - and anything that came in was given to the temps so the manager could justify keeping them. I asked for unpaid leave, and the manager said no - he was a 'if I'm coming in, so are you' kind of guy. So I phoned in with a 'sprained wrist' and went surfing for a week. That was the only time I've ever blagged it, and I think I've had 10 days genuine illness in 23 years, so it's not like they aren't getting good value from me. My conscience is clear.
It’s all about integrity.
I enjoy where I work and because I don’t take the piss, my boss trusts me and gives me leeway when I need it.
I’ve not had a day off sick in 4 years, but of course I’ve been sick. I’ve turned up to work feeling like death warmed up in the past and just locked myself in my office.
But then when life happens - I’ve got childcare issues, I need a morning to go watch sports day or whatever - my boss is fine with it and will give me the time.
I’ve had the shits before and told him I probably wouldn’t make the drive, and he said not to worry, work from home. I went in later that day.
Just painting a picture that we’re all grown ups and if we behave like it, there’s support there.
I treat my managers in the same way, and they don’t take the piss because if it.
Ultimately this is important to me because I loathe sporadic absence and the effect it has on a business.
Yes just recently..
Had a big work event abroad which I planned in April then a company off site in Central America a few weeks after with no rest in between. Since getting back from the off site work was non stop with lots of deadlines for me which never seemed to end and another event I needed to plan which takes place this month. I caved earlier this week and called in sick Monday & Tuesday. To be fair I felt really weak and slumped but was by no means actually ill. Mentally though I felt I was gonna crash out so I think it was warranted and saved everyone from dealing with a burnt out and unhappy colleague.
Course I have. Got to use that annual leave overtime wisely. Gig on a work day, interview for another job, can’t be bothered that day.
My worst bout of it was when I got my current job. Got the contract and a start date, with the start date 3 months away. My notice period was 4 weeks, so I had two months where I knew I was leaving but my boss didn’t. So I went from a pretty impeccable sick record (was still lowest in the department), to strategically using up every available paid sick day until I handed my notice in
That discomfort is the reality that your manager might be friendly but it is all for show until they have to actually manage you. They hate it, and they got all the power. Lie, lie, lie, and start loving to lie, it's liberating.
I’ve never done it but I’ve had an employee who drained her sick time prior to quitting. She was on her final warning, so it was either she quit or be terminated. We don’t pay out sick time. In my company the employee doesn’t have to disclose the details of the sickness unless the employee has been out for more than 3 days straight. Then we require a doctors note. So even if I were to pry and ask, the outcome would be the same. It’s their time to take. I learned with this employee that even though I don’t agree with how they used the time, my energy and curiosity is better spent on other stuff.
I do this a couple times a year when I need a day or two off for mental rest to avoid or help my burn out. My boss has definitely questioned it but I don’t care, I work hard and have 3-5 month gaps between sick days and you have to accept we’re humans not robots, sometimes you just need a day. I used to use obscure excuses but now I just keep it simple and if questions are asked I go into more detail. The guilt however is always insane, that’s the hardest bit. Just try and relax and forget about the guilt, you won’t get caught and nobody actually cares if you take a day off. I always use the “nobody’s going to die and nothings going to burn down in a day or two” mantra (unless you work in the emergency services of course!).
Rarely, but yes.
You don't actually have to tell your manager what your symptoms are by the way. It's rare I take a day off sick but when I do I just say "Sorry but I'll be taking today off sick, I'm not feeling well. Will keep you posted about when I'll be back".
If you're a woman and your boss is male it's easy to just say " women's problems." no man is gonna ask you about that. They'll just accept it. Most men don't even wanna go buy sanitary pads for their spouse so a work colleague is definetly not gonna ask about your symptoms
Even when I'm genuinely sick and need a sick day, I've worked through it. I had a small surgery, was put under general anaesthetic and was fine to work in the afternoon. My job is too hectic to take a day off
If the reason you gave was "obscure" and you can't back it up articulately, then if challenged apologise and say that actually, cough, ahem, I really had the worst...omg it's so difficult to say this, and I'm sorry for lying but I was so embarrassed....the worst diarrhoea humankind has seen. Honestly, it was all over the toilet bowl, running down my legs. The carpet is a mess. I just couldn't hold it in and didn't want to come to work and spray all over the nice chairs. He'll quickly bring the conversation to a stop and tell you he completely understands.
As someone who is a workaholic and misses a lot of dinners and bed time, I do not feel guilty about taking a few days off now.
Before I had children I didn't take a sick day for 4 years and was proud of it. I then realized that it didn't get me a pay rise or made any impact on how my boss treated me, compared to the other lad who has several sick days a year.
I now see it as a complimentary week off
I took a mental health day on Friday. I took my son to the library and did a 2hr walk.
I had a good reason and I told her it was a MH. She is a decent person so knows this is still a reason to take a sick day. Tbf it’s the only one I’ve ever taken in my career I used to just lie and say I was sick. But my new manager is a friend and I trust her a lot.
Yep, you have to take "me" days now and again.
If my staff don't volunteer the info as to why they're off I don't ask, they are fully aware I'm happy for them to take "me" days.
It's a shitty world out there and we need to look after one another best we can.
Everyone also gets their Birthday off.
Yep. Once told them I’d be off because my cat had sprained its ankle. I didn’t have cat. Another time I spoke to a supervisor and told him I just couldn’t be bothered and was going to the park to smoke weed with my friends (he shook my hand because of that when I eventually returned). Another time I rang in sick whilst I was still technically on duty. Football matches, gigs, sometimes even sex.
To be fair my employers at the time were (at the management level) absolute cunts (PFI company).
I’ve never done it if only because my job’s hours are pretty short 99% of the time. So id just tough it out and still leave by 1pm. And in my experience because I work outside, fresh air helps me feel better
If I were you I’d just turn around and say “look I actually just have the shits really bad but was too embarrassed to say” and get rid of the lies now.
I was in a civil service job I hated,and made full use of the fact there was an expectation for people to take sick days,and I took them.
I couldn't take the job any longer,so resigned,am now in a job I love, and haven't taken a sick day for 6 years.
I had nearly a whole month off work during covid because I lied and said I had covid so I could stay home and play all day minecraft with my boyfriend for a week. The week i was meant to go back to work i had an ovarian cyst get infected and rupture so that added week number 2. Then I got the karma for my actions and actually got covid badly so that added another week and a bit. Told everyone I had long covid, I don’t think they believed me at all but we made an absolutely incredible world and I had a lovely (very painful actually) break from the painstaking annoyance of hospitality.
In my current role I wouldn't I work in a role where finding a replacement last minute would be really hard and if someone wasn't there it would have a big impact on others ( home 2 school transport), if it was retail or a office job I would.
Look game plan. When you go in to work say it's an ongoing emergency "yeh she collapsed they released her but she is really unsteady" next week same thing. Look it's less money bit guaranteed 100% time off to an amicable boss.
Yep! I'm a teacher, so I can't get time off during term-time, but as others have said, it's just a job, and if I died I would be replaced ASAP.
There's been a few times but the best ones were when I called in sick to go to London to see Guns 'n' Roses on their first reunion tour. And recently, I went to sorrento from Friday - Monday! I called in sick both days.
We are all gonna die one day, and jobs should not be the thing that dictates your happiness. I regret not calling in sick to go and see Prince with my sister which would have been one his last concerts in the UK! I use that as a reminder of how a job is a job.
I have 0 regrets for doing these and will do them again if something comes up. Maybe it makes me a shitty person, but I'll get over it.
Don't feel guilty! Live your life.
Once a long time ago I took a sick day because the new Rush album (I think it was 'Hold Your Fire') was released that day. So I had to get into C London and Virgin Megastore to buy it. I can't remember what excusec I made up. It wasn't even a great Rush album as it turned out.
I worked with a lady and when she retired, she'd been with the company for 45 years and had never called in sick once. On her last day the company gave her a card and a box of Milk Tray. She said she wished she'd taken 100 sick days.
No.
It's more effort for me to have a day off sick than to just go into work.
I need to write cover work that I know won't be completed. I know I'll go back in with kids having learnt nothing. I know that it will throw off my plans for the rest of the week / the following week. I know my room will be a mess.
“Sorry guys. I’ve got the shits. You don’t want to know anymore than that. If possible I’ll be in tomorrow.”
“I’ve got Covid.” (plus photo of positive test taken when actually did have Covid)
“I’ve got a migraine and can’t look at the screen, will be in tomorrow.”
“Need to stay in for the plumber to come round.”
“I’ve got a doctors appointment so I’ll have to leave early.”
Etc, etc. This was at my old workplace. I used to work fucking hard and often worked late into the evenings for no recompense. I had no compunction whatsoever about spinning a line here and there.
I don't really think they care why you are sick, everyone calls in sick sometimes just for whatever reason. Just say sick today, see you tomorrow. That's enough.
I have but I have mild insomnia, depression and anxiety so while I haven't been physically ill on the very odd occasion I've known my mental health will have a severe negative impact on my work ethic and have called in making up a physical reason as it feels like taking a mental health day isn't a good enough reason (when it absolutely is). I've only ever done it 2 or 3 times but sometimes needs must.
Good old times without any instagram nor tik toks l phoned my boss from the airport and said l had headache so bad that it feels like an airplane taking off. Went off grid for a week. No problem.
Done this twice at my current job in 3 years. I just say I ate something that didn’t agree with me and I’ve been sick so I’m not able to come. Only actually been properly ill once but I had a sick note from my doctor for that so they couldn’t question it at all.
Yeh. I wanted to go out drinking. My friends posted pictures of me out drinking when I was supposed to be off sick. I was friends with my manager on Facebook so that was a fun conversation
I used to worry about doing that, now I don’t. I think working for large companies has made me realise that you’re just a number and at the end of the day, you should look out for yourself first. A few months ago I took a week off due to stress and I told my employer that was the reason. You shouldn’t feel bad for taking a day off.
Never - I'm a nurse and calling in sick when I'm genuinely sick is bad enough, knowing I'll be leaving my team short staffed and they will unlikely be able to find cover. I feel so guilty!
I kinda had the opposite problem. I never took sick days off I didn't need but my last week after I was made redundant, I did get properly ill. Horrible cold and conjunctivitis. Obviously that's not something you want to risk spreading about, even if nobody took colds at work seriously pre covid. So I phone up Monday morning and explain, repeat on Tuesday and Wednesday. I come back in for Thursday and Friday, shocking everyone because they don't expect to ever see me again, assuming I was taking the piss because I'd lost my job. As a result, I never even got a goodbye card because nobody arranged anything. Still slightly irked by that.
Oh gawd yeah, many times over the years. We need money to survive today but working is such a shit concept other than survival. You feel guilty and worry about skiving yeah? The worry and guilt comes because you know you've broken the rules. Humans, eh?! I just remind myself that Earth is a nothing planet in an ever-expanding universe that nobody even knows the point of and nobody knows what we're even doing here. We're in a tiny solar system in a tiny galaxy. There's billions of galaxies. Our existence means nothing. You not going to work because you're "ill" may only affect your pay, nothing else. If you can have a better day by skiving then enjoy it. People that enjoy their work are having a great day. Enjoy the day.
Not counting sixth form weekend jobs, only once many moons ago when I was so hungover they wouldn’t have wanted me to. I get genuinely ill quite a lot and have a high sickness record, i have absolutely no leeway to pull an occasional sickie and I have to defend every day I legitimately take
Took 6 weeks for mental health while looking for another job because the company put a total POS as team leader. Not completely true but I saw it as a proactive mental health leave.
There have been times I just couldn't face work, a lot of personal issues and I think my manager knew I wasn't really sick but I just couldn't face it.
Sure, occassionally. Maybe 2-3 times a year?
Company doesn't care as long as it's not egregious. Usually I do it because I'm just feeling a bit shit - either physically or mentally. I tend to just say i'm not feeling well and leave it at that.
Try and avoid doing it at times of peak pressure at work, because I genuinely don't want to fuck up something that I take pride in. But if it's a quiet time at work, and I wake up feeling a bit headachy and malaisey? Yeah, I'm calling out sick.
Absolutely - every other month or so as a treat. Just make sure you’ve got your story prepped beforehand, then call lying down with your head hanging off the end of the bed so you’re upside down (helps your voice sound strained)
Honestly as someone who is chronically ill I can honestly say I have never called in sick when I’ve not been, in fact, I often come in when I am ill so that my sickness isn’t as bad
I'm female and sometimes my periods get too much. Technically not sick, but I would usually take a sick day and I didn't want to say why, so I'll say it's a cold or stomach bug.
There have also been a couple of times where I wake up and I have 0 motivation to get out of bed and everything mentally felt awful. Not frequently enough to get in trouble over it, I'm talking maybe once every couple of years. But I've taken a sick day on days like that.
You're an adult. You're allowed to take a day to yourself.
The best thing to say is you're sick and leave it at that. Coming up with some obscure reason is only going to give you anxiety.
Unless your manager is a robot and doesn't believe anyone should take time off (they exist), they'll probably not actually be bothered.
As said, always, always say you've got the shits. No one wants you shitting at work.
But you didn't. You gave a reason and you stick by it. Don't elaborate. You're allowed to be sick.
Its fine. Please relax.
I did, back a few years ago I worked in lettings and I wasn't able book a Thursday and a Friday off for interviews I had for both days. I would have happily used my annual leave for these interviews, but my office had a strict no more than 3 people off at once policy in an office of over 40 people, you had to book well in advance. There was no chance I was going to be approved for those days so I called in sick, luckily as it was before 8am when I called it was left on an answer machine so I didn't have to talk to anyone. I didn't care, I got the job I interviewed on Friday and never regretted it. FYI the staff turnover was very high i was only there a year and I was the third longest serving person that wasn't a team leader or manager
Yeah, that's the problem if you're a decent person. The guilt of lying makes you feel ill. It's self-fulfilling prophecy.
The way round it is to make it a substantial enough lie that you're off for about a month. By week 3 you've gotten over the guilt and you've 2 fab weeks before you have to go back.
Often when I people do this they are actually sick just they don't think of it as that because people don't value their mental health. If we were able to have more days where we can give ourselves space when we're starting to feel overwhelmed or dread going in, it wouldn't build into a bigger problem. And in an ideal world could trigger a conversation to see how you could be supported.
I think you're error is giving a reason in the first place.
You just tell them you can't work today because you're ill. You can self certificate for seven days.
As long as you don't take the piss and are generally good at your job usually, then, you won't have any issues
It's none of their business really what's wrong (or not) with you.
Never called in sick without there being an actual reason.
I rung in sick with a genuine reason (in the hospital with pneumonia) a number of years ago, and as soon as I got back I learned that my manager and coworkers had assumed I’d pulled a sickie because I was hungover and gossiped about it. Showing them the box of antibiotics and inhaler in my backpack rather sharply shut them up.
Thinking about it, I don’t think I’ve ever actually been genuinely unwell when calling in sick. I took a lot of absence in my previous job just because I hated it and sometimes couldn’t bear to get out of bed in the morning if it meant going there, but that reasoning doesn’t go down half as smoothly as a bad migraine or dicky stomach.
I don’t tend to get ill or injured very often and when I have done I’ve either just powered through anyway or it’s not been on a working day — for example I had norovirus earlier this year which absolutely ruined about 30 hours of my weekend but was over by Monday morning.
I was never ill in one job for years and years. Never had a sick day. Got commended for it and everything.
So in the end I allowed myself a couple of sickies a year as a treat.
Mostly used when massively hungover.
A handful of times, as like somebody else mentioned, you'll never know when you need actual sick days.
The few times I've done it over the years were odd days where I've woken up, had a bad night and just thought "no, I'd rather not" and decided to phone in, and then decided to take off another 1-2 days afterwards as the company doesn't take into consideration where you have 1 day or 1 week off at any time, its still counted as "one" absence.
Yeah. I was overworked and exhausted, I was head chef. And tbh just needed a break. Don't worry my Kitchen Manager picked up the slack.
Phoned I with the shits. Automatic 48 hours off, and then 24 hours clear from last time. Felt great.
When I was leaving I told my actual boss, and she said I know. And sent don't worry, I don't blame you it's cool.
yes.i had comitted to work OT on a saturday but we had unexpected guests arrive and i ended up partying a bit too much so i rung up at 2:00am and said i was puking/shitting and would not be in.....carried on drinking and having fun! was a shit place to work anyway, fuck them!
When I was 18-21 or 22, not since then. Depends where you work, but if you've a small team then it can really shaft them and make their shift shit. Your employer won't really suffer because the work will probably just about get done but with fewer hands. And if you're hourly paid, chances are if you're sick for a couple of days then you're not getting paid.
If you're salaried and will return to your own workload then the ethics aren't as bad.
Last time I was ill was over a weekend and the Monday-Tuesday the week after. I was OK on Wednesday but I figured they owed me a day because I lost a weekend.
We don’t get mental health days where you’ve got so much going on in your life at home , you can’t focus and give your attention at work 100% so not wasting an Annual leave day for that.
Take a couple or a few to help you manage the things going at home , it’s been days where I’ve had a leak in the downstairs sink , car had issues and we were in the process of buying a house.
I went sick for 3 days after the move in date because it got too much , don’t feel guilty about it because remember at the end of the day,
Your just a pay roll number , if you died tommorow your replacement will be trained within weeks.
Unless you’re a doctor saving lives or something and you’re irreplaceable forget about it. We don’t get enough time off and a business will survive. Say something vague and don’t take the piss doing it too often and you’ll be fine.
Kids these days worried about pulling sickies 😅
Actually, no. I've called in a few times back in the days when you have to make the decision as soon as you wake up without knowing if you're actually too sick or not. But i've never just outright lied.
There were a couple of times I woke up on a Monday and realised I was too hungover to go into work and made an excuse why I need to WFH.
I've only done it once for an emergency, and I would do it again if necessary. My last workplace, most people pulled a sickie because it was such a toxic place to work, no one could face going in.
I have 8 rolling days (I get a sick day back after a year) and whilst I initially took them honestly, after a change of management and me feeling as though I wasn’t being recognised and compensated accordingly, I now consider my sick days as additional to my annual leave.
Not that I can remember. I always feel so anxious phoning in when I’m *actually* sick that I’d rather just go in than have to deal with that.
What did you say was wrong with you? Maybe take a second day off to make it seem more realistic though as usually if you’re sick it’s for more than one day unless it’s the shits or something.
I personally haven't because I'm too scared to, but I know people who have. Don't stress to much it will be fine. Just say ypur feeling a lot better and happy to be back. Maybe don't admit to lying though haha
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