Reasons We Call In Sick To Work

[jeffrey]

If you have a day or two when they don't feel like going into work, you're not alone. According to a new survey by CareerBuilder.com, 20% of workers say they called into work sick because they just didn’t feel like going into the office that day. More than one-third of U.S. workers say they played hooky from work sometime during the last twelve months. Ten percent said they did so three or more times.

While there are a wide variety of reason that people called in sick when they weren't, the top three reasons for faking sickness were to attend to personal errands and appointments, to catch up on sleep, and to relax. Twenty-five percent of workers say they feel sick days are the same as extra vacation days and thus use them as vacation days.

While most excuses for not attending work were straightforward, a number of unsual ones were also sited. Some of the more unusual excuses include:




* I was sprayed by a skunk.
* I tripped over my dog and was knocked unconscious.
* I was arrested as a result of mistaken identity.
* I forgot to come back to work after lunch.
* I could't find my shoes.
* I hurt myself bowling.
* I was spit on by a venomous snake.
* I totaled my wife’s jeep in a collision with a cow.
* I had to be there for my husband’s grand jury trial.
* My curlers burned my hair and I had to go to the hairdresser

How cute is this... I feel the same as those 20% of workers. I think sick days are add ons to vacation days! I consider myself a very hard worker (I work 2 jobs) but every now and then a nice cold front will come and kick up the waves down here in Florida, and I might have to take a nice ride to the beach to go surfing! It's not often you get waves in the Gulf of Mexico!

[The Budget Man]

When I was a school teacher I used to call in sick a couple of days a year when the pressure got too much. It's incredibly intense when you're working with children who simply don't want to be there.

I'd go bush walking or beach walking and destress. The kids benefited because I came back able to continue in the pressure cooker environment that is a school.

So I guess I have a fairly relaxed attitude to days off. ( I still work over 60 hrs per week on a quiet week.) That attitude has flowed over into our current business where I head off for a day here and there to refocus. It's amazing. I can achieve more of the high level development work by taking a few hours out.

Enjoy Your Money
The Budget Man
A budget that allows you to enjoy life

www.PersonalityBudgeting.com

[PrincessPerky]

Originally Posted by The Budget Man

When I was a school teacher I used to call in sick a couple of days a year when the pressure got too much. It's incredibly intense when you're working with children who simply don't want to be there.

Thats why I homeschool, no forcing kids on anything

DH has never fake called off, but we often inform the office he will be 'sick' on such and sucj a day for drs visits (the kids, or maternity, DH doesn't do drs...)

[pearlieq]

I MUCH prefer companies who just give you an allotted amount of time off instead of calling the days "sick", "personal", or "vacation".

I always used every one of my sick days--I was entitled to them and I wasn't about to leave them on the table. My company made it clear that it was acceptable to use sick time for medical appointments and to care for ill family members as well as for your own illness. That's mostly what I did, but I really don't see much of a distinction between taking the day off because you're stressed or feeling down and taking the day off because you've got a cold.

[DivaJen]

Originally Posted by PrincessPerky

Thats why I homeschool, no forcing kids on anything

You mean no forcing them to do something related to learning that they don't want to, I'm assuming? Your kids are in complete control of their own learning at all times is what I'm understanding...

(Not that we as teachers can force kids to do anything either, in the strictest sense of the word. We can make requests, discuss reasons for doing this or that, offer consequences and so forth, but we aren't in control of their actions, any more than we are as parents with our own children.)

[Bookie]

Cute article.

When I retired, I had 10 months of sick leave accumulated. Plus, I had 2 months of vacation. The total gave me an additional year of retirement credit.

[rduell]

When I first started my job I asked my boss if our 12 sick days had to be because of illness. She quickly informed me that it was perfectly okay to call in "sick of work"!

[tinapbeana]

when i got laid off in jun i lost a month of sick time after less than 4 yrs on the job =/ they made it really hard to be out sick. job i have now is fantastic w/ their sick time: the policy only says if you miss more than 5 days you go on short term. no 'days per year' or anything!

my sister, however, takes about 1 sick day per month. she calls them 'mental health' days, and uses them to destress etc. ironcially, she works for a bank, and gets more expected time off than any other profession i know.

[PrincessPerky]

Originally Posted by DivaJen

You mean no forcing them to do something related to learning that they don't want to, I'm assuming? Your kids are in complete control of their own learning at all times is what I'm understanding...

(Not that we as teachers can force kids to do anything either, in the strictest sense of the word. We can make requests, discuss reasons for doing this or that, offer consequences and so forth, but we aren't in control of their actions, any more than we are as parents with our own children.)

My kids lead..and follow, but no forcing, when I start talking about something and I hit a 'wall' I have no timeline to pass it.....if they need to know something they will...no amount of coercion taught me to spell (really I used to be worse) it was a desire to share my thoughts and opinions...same thing with kids, no amount of coercion will get a kid to do anything truly well...when they want to know something they will.

This doesn't mean I am a true unschooler, I like to teach to much. I just don't force them to learn anything other than basic rules (no hitting and the like)

Of course I and many good teachers (like yourself) 'sweeten' the deal for topics we feel are important....DS was perfectly content to read at his middling level...to encourage him to learn more I 'sweeten' the deal with books on dinosaurs, pirates or space....he prolly would have found them on his own eventually...but I found them now, placed them in his hand and his reading is again climbing. DD on the other hand likes people, stories, not facts..so I find books for her on people....

So long as learning is not stagnant, I am happy. No stress on that end

[PRICEPLUS]

Way to go! Sounds like you have the right idea about teaching!

[kimiko]

"sick of work", lol

[The Budget Man]

Originally Posted by PrincessPerky

Thats why I homeschool, no forcing kids on anything

DH has never fake called off, but we often inform the office he will be 'sick' on such and sucj a day for drs visits (the kids, or maternity, DH doesn't do drs...)

Just thinking about some of the incidents that caused day's off for a destress. They sound silly now but at the time it was deadly ernest.

At one stage I had a Math class of 14 & 15 year olds who had three things in common. They hated being at school. They totally resented authority and Math was the worst of the worst subjects for them.

Well come Tuesday afternoons they were always almost unmanagable. Success was to keep most of the students from running out the door and causing other classes grief.

Well this particularly rough Tuesday I felt something sharp being pushed into my side and this boy said. "I could hurt you if I wanted to!"

I looked down and it is a large pair of scissors he has poked against me. I still don't know why I reacted the way I did but anyway I quietly said. "****, Why would you want to hurt me? I'm the teacher who has spoken up for you to the principal." Then I looked away.

The boy slowly pulled the scissors back. As always there is no good ending. The boy got into so much other trouble that he was expelled the next week.

I thought that one was worth a day off, unfortunately I couldn't take a Tuesday or the class totally rioted and none of the other classes in the area could have functioned.

The update on the story is that of the three teachers that used to take these difficult classes. I've gone back to helping people with their budgets. The second teacher retired early and the third teacher is off on indefinite stress leave.

So enjoy your home schooling.

The Budget Man
www.PersonalityBudgeting.com
a budget that works

[aurielle]

At my job they allow us a flex schedule which is eight 9 hour days followed by an 8 hour day and one day off, which gives us a 3 day weekend every other week. Makes it unnecessary for me to call in sick for 'mental health' days.

My work weeks look like this: One week of M-F 9 hour days, next week M-Th 9 hours, Fri 8 hours, then Monday off with pay. Lather, rinse, repeat.

[PrincessPerky]

Budget man, those are the very reasons we need to change the system, it encourages kids to become the trouble makers, and forces teachers to figure out what to do with them, instead of teaching..teachers deserve the chance to teach not corral and contain.

[The Budget Man]

Originally Posted by PrincessPerky

Budget man, those are the very reasons we need to change the system, it encourages kids to become the trouble makers, and forces teachers to figure out what to do with them, instead of teaching..teachers deserve the chance to teach not corral and contain.

Here! Here! I couldn't agree with you more. Trying to deal with abused kids in a traditional classroom simply doesn't work. You spend your time on crowd control. Anyone who has had to control 13, 14, 15 year old teenagers who are angry with school sure knows what hard work is.

I guess that's why I love taking seminars so much. You get to work with people who want to learn. The questions they ask are real and challenging. The answers you have to give need to be thought through and precise. I suppose I'm still a teacher.

Enjoy Your Money
The Budget Man

www.PersonalityBudgeting.com
Simple answers to the complex questions of budgeting.

[fairy74]

rduell, your boss is great---sick of work days right on!

[rduell]

Originally Posted by fairy74

rduell, your boss is great---sick of work days right on!

Yes, she is!

[MonkeyMama]

You know with the kids and having to really call in sick so much I haven't really done that in a while. Oh yeah and the whole taking months off for maternity leave - twice in the last couple of years.

But I am all for it. I Would say on average before I had kids I would call in sick to work 2 days a year for no reason. In my responsible way it would be of course be a day when I knew it would be slow and worthless. My old job just had PTO - it wasn't separated. but still something about spontaneously taking a day off that feels so good and rejuvenating. You can't just call at the last minute and say you are taking the day off - still had to use the sick ruse I guess. Though overall as long as you don't abuse it my current boss doesn't really care either. So I show up and do all my work, so what if I take a couple of extra days off. I have a pretty swell boss, doesn't treat me like a child. But I still need a day once in a while just to be spontaneous.

[titi]

Well, it is much better to have a sick day when you aren't in good shape than go to work, pretend that you are working, make a mess and then go home.

I had difficult times explaining to a former boss of mine that when one is exhausted, he or she performs so badly that it takes more time to repair the damage later, than to postpone the task for a day or two. He just thought that by putting more pressure on us, he can squeeze better results but actually the only results were that the number of people who left the company went on the rise.