A work colleague of mine has been ill this week and has come into work. Another team member has phoned in sick so he possibly caught it off the team member who came in! He joked "Serves him right cos the last time I phoned in sick he accused me of taking a sickie"!

So it got me wondering: have you ever taken a sickie off work/Uni/school when you weren't really ill? If yes, why? Did you feel guilty? Did you get caught? What did you do with your time off? Would you do it again?

I feel guilty when I'm really ill, let alone pulling a sickie - I don't really know why - think it's an ingrained thing I got from having to go to school

I'd never ring in sick if I wasnt sick.

A lot of people do it at our place and it p*sses me off.
Not only is it dishonest, but it just passes more work onto your collegues and they dont deserve it.

If you are ill then fair enough. If it's just a hangover, get to work. It's your own fault you feel like that.

Aghh, I sound like Gareth Keenan.

Just digressing a bit of the topic...It really p**ses me off when ill people come into work..all sniffling and sneezing and coughing..You can guarantee it does more harm than good cause I'll definitely catch whatever they've got..JUST STAY AT HOME AND GET BETTER FIRST!!!! I don't want your disease!

I agree, wibbles. When I was a student I used to go in whatever - cos no one else can learn for you - but now I'm very much of the attitude that there's no point me going in and making everyone else ill, and myself worse.

No...never taken time off sick when I wasnt sick. I also dont take time off if all Ive got is something like a cold or a headache or hangover. But, when I really dont feel well, I dont go. Dont see the point in struggling through the day and making yourself feel worse.

Originally posted by slh73
No...never taken time off sick when I wasnt sick. I also dont take time off if all Ive got is something like a cold or a headache or hangover. But, when I really dont feel well, I dont go. Dont see the point in struggling through the day and making yourself feel worse.

Yeah...but if you have a cold and come into work then someone gets it..not nice for the other person. Then there is pressure on them to come into work because you did...just stay at home and get better!

Im one of those annoying people that goes into work even though I feel like death. It bugs me when people pull sickies because I wind up covering for them, and do they cover for me when I want a legitimate day off????
Although I am learning to phone in work now when I am really badly, and because Im not normally off sick, the boss believes it when Im ill. After all the poor sod has had to literally carry me out of work on two occasions now, and its kinda embarrassing :blush:
xxx

Don't you just hate those people who never have a cold, it's always flu and never have a headache, only migraines.

cant say i havent had a day off school fo no apparent reason.. but i have been caught for that and gotten in trouble for it!

when it comes to work though, i go in ill and will be again tomorrow. (limped round at xmas for a week!) would come home though if i was really ill i guess!

I don't like it when people come into work with a Cold/Virus. It just passes it onto everyone else. If your ill stay away until your better. However, I imagine there are some companies who are reluctant to give staff sick pay and will also pressure staff into returning to work early. That is another story though.

I ONLY have sick days when i'm either die-ing or when I am not really sick - so I can make the most of 'sick' days (no point staying at home moping unless you really are too sick to stay awake even - so may as well make sick days worth it!!)
:thumbsup:

My answer's no, but I did have an alcohol induced sickie once. Even then I did make every effort to work, but ended up throwing up.

I've had loads of days off sick when i just couldnt be a**** to go in. I dont gt paid for sick day so i've never felt guilty about having them off.

Originally posted by Mo
Don't you just hate those people who never have a cold, it's always flu and never have a headache, only migraines.

I'm the classic example of a guy who ends up on the other end of comments like this, and it makes me want to puke.

I inherited a predisposition towards migraine headaches from my mother who suffered from them on a regular basis. The majority of people who are intolerant of migraine sufferers are those who have never had one themselves...which is pretty much saying that they are lying about their condition.

A migarine headache is caused when the blood-vessels in the brain swell and apply pressure, this can have different symptoms for different people, but here's what happens when I have one:

1. My vision becomes blurred by more than two dozen swimming silver blots know as "Silverfish" meaning that I cannot see my hand infront of my face.

2. I have temporary paralysis on one side of my body, leaving me immobile and unnable to speak.

There are no magic pills to cure this and an attack can last more than 24 hours. Don't patronise my condition just because you don't suffer from it yourself.

Originally posted by Carmine
I'm the classic example of a guy who ends up on the other end of comments like this, and it makes me want to puke.

I inherited a predisposition towards migraine headaches from my mother who suffered from them on a regular basis. The majority of people who are intolerant of migraine sufferers are those who have never had one themselves...which is pretty much saying that they are lying about their condition.

A migarine headache is caused when the blood-vessels in the brain swell and apply pressure, this can have different symptoms for different people, but here's what happens when I have one:

1. My vision becomes blurred by more than two dozen swimming silver blots know as "Silverfish" meaning that I cannot see my hand infront of my face.

2. I have temporary paralysis on one side of my body, leaving me immobile and unnable to speak.

There are no magic pills to cure this and an attack can last more than 24 hours. Don't patronise my condition just because you don't suffer from it yourself.



Far from patronising you I am merely stating that too many people jump on the 'I've got a migraine' headache. If anything it is these people who make the illness seem like an everyday occurance.

Pray tell me how you know that I don't suffer from migraine.

I agree Mo, too many people say they have flu when its a common cold and migraines when its a headache. I had a friend who used to say she had migraines, but her symptoms were nothing like Carmines (hey chill out Carmine, Mo wasn't having a go at actual migraine sufferers, just people who say they have one when really its a bad headache and a couple of painkillers would do the job). Flu, is the one that annoys me the most as if people really had the flu, they would be bed ridden and very ill, not just have a runny nose and feel a bit run down. I had a friend who had the real deal of flu and was bed ridden for 3 weeks and nearly died.

As for all you lot who keep saying that people should stay home and not bring their germs in, well that's a fair point, however the contagious incubation period of most colds/virus is before the symptoms have fully broken so they are at work giving to everyone before realsing they should have time off.

I go to work with a cold and cough, ok its not pleasant but I don't feel I'm ill enough to justify a sickie. What annoys me is those who say they caught it off me and have sick days themselves. If I manage to come in, why can't they??!! Oh, I know it'll be because there's was worse than mine! Yeah right....get your arse into work you woss!

I work to live, I don't live to work. If I'm ill and I don't feel like going to work, I won't and neither should anyone else. Work is not the most important thing in the world and the vast majority of us don't owe our employers sh*t - why do people think we do? Basically if I wanted a day off work I wouldn't hesitate in pulling a sickie.

Having said that it's very rare I'm off work but that's just because I'm generally a healthy person/

Ok, point accepted...sorry if I flew off the handle back there Mo.

This is a touchy subject for me as I've come across so many people who have never suffered from a migraine and as a direct result seem to be under the impression that they are a figment of my imagination...It grinds on me when I take people at their word that they have conditions that display no obvious outward symptoms and then get told that a pain-killer should sort me out!

Originally posted by fnkysknky
I work to live, I don't live to work. If I'm ill and I don't feel like going to work, I won't and neither should anyone else. Work is not the most important thing in the world...<snip>
Having said that it's very rare I'm off work but that's just because I'm generally a healthy person/

Naughty me, I agree. I rarely pull a sickie a)because charities don't have much sick pay at all...one cold and you've pretty much used it up, and b) we have flexible TOIL hours. But it's worth keeping a sense of perspective on the whole work/life thing...I doubt most of us will lie on our death beds looking back at all our special, delightful days at work. The odd wickedly stolen day spent doing something really memorable, on the other hand...those are the days that make memories.
I'm a firm believer in duvet days as well...stay home, recharge your flattened batteries, and return to work refreshed the next day without having to make some lame, guilty excuse about being poorly. Also, people can't then stick an extra day's illness on just to make it look better, because it was always just a duvet day.

Cosy (wishing I was on a duvet day - wishing, actually, that they existed):P

Oh, bring on duvet days! That would be bl**dy marvellous. Although I'd probably never go to work. The lure of a snug, warm bed in the morning is difficult to part with!