I'll start with Magnum's question since it's easier for me to segue from this one into OP's than the other way around.

Magic Magnum said
This reminds me of another question I have, but is close enough to this topic I'll just ask it here.What are your people's standards for calling in sick legitimately?

Basically, if you feel like you can't work (and I mean that you really feel miserable and know you can't be very productive), then stay home. Your work quality won't be as good and your body could probably really use a day of rest, anyway. Otherwise, though, just go work. It shouldn't be that bad and so long as you're not lazy, you can get through it. Really it's just about judging whether or not you feel you're capable of working on a given day. Bring some hand sanitizer or something, though.

There are exceptions to this, like if you're working with food or something, in which case you should probably be a bit more hesitant to work while sick, but I feel like the above rule of thumb covers most things.

If you don't have any excuse, though, and you just didn't feel like getting out of bed that morning... quit being such a lazy bum.

I mean, maybe I'm not the best person to ask, since I'm a weird little workaholic who, on multiple occasions, has tried to come to school despite really being too sick to be there, and then only left a bit later in the morning after my friends managed to convince me that I looked and felt absolutely miserable and I really needed to just go home and sleep.

Given that piece of info about myself, my above opinions should be rather unsurprising. But, that's just what they are - my opinions.

So Boerd said
If you don't work in food service, you can see straight, focus, and walk and you're not throwing up, you should probably go to work.

Whatchoo talkin' bout, Willis? Food service has a way higher standard for callouts than almost any other industry I can think of, at least when you're talking decent places with any chef culture at all. You're expected to be in if you are able to crawl out of bed. I've gutted through migraines, ulcerative colitis flareups (that means you're shitting a lot and some of it bloody) and out and out fevers and colds, including ugly chest colds that just linger (wash your hands twice as much, which means that by the end of it, yes, your hands are going to be cracked from all the scrubbing). I've worked with stitches in my hand. I've done a shift in unbelievable pain from a sprained whatever and then, only then, sought medical treatment where they basically threw the painkillers at me, except I then learned that I can't work on my feet with them and so didn't take them while on shift. I know a chef that kept working through five weeks of pneumonia.

The moral of the story is; don't go into food service expecting to get off for evewy widdle ache.

To be fair, food service needs to knock off the macho shit. In some of these scenarios, I've learned my limits and have put my foot down, but yeah, you don't call out because you're feeling fluttery. You call out because your ass isn't able to get out of bed.

PS. Hangovers are no excuse at all; self-inflicted injury. Having had a full blown degenerate alcoholic chef drinking away in his office, I've become very insensitive to how drunks feel.

PPS. Cutting high school? Go ahead, so long as your grades are up. Cutting college is, regrettably, a much worse habit that can lead to a rut -- you're also paying for it, so not recommended.

Unfortunately "calling in sick" is one of the few acceptable ways to take a break in our culture. It's one of your only tickets, so it's your responsibility to use it when you need it.

Read through the comments in this very thread and you'll see how thoroughly conditioned we are to feel guilt.

It's sad that you need a debilitating physical ailment to catch a break in most institutions while mental health is thoroughly ignored.

Need a break? Take one. It's not your fault if you have to fake-cough or lie about a funeral to keep your job while you take that break. Think about it. It's about control.

I think "calling in" is perfectly acceptable if you don't do it all the time. I work in retail and there is a boy who will call in EVERY time he has to recover the Grocery section. The worst part is when he calls in only an hour before his shift is scheduled to begin. This leaves the four people left in the store to start scrambling and trying to do everything they have to do and then pitch in on what this boy doesn't feel like doing. I, on the other hand, don't call out of work unless I need to for stress, my own health, or a family member. When it comes to work, I've called out a total of three times over three years. All for reasons other than "being lazy." Unlike most, I don't get paid for sick days. I only get paid for when I'm at my job, so I can't afford to call out. Which, if I could, I would probably be doing so tomorrow because my stress-level is insane and I deserve a laid-back day.

If you're going to call out of work, for whatever reason, try to do so hours before you actually have to come in. It eases the load for everyone because 1, someone else could come in or 2, the people who were suppose to come in later can come in earlier.

As for school, I skip it a lot. And this is college. I'm trying to do better and I will admit that this is where I use my "I'm sick" (read as: lazy) excuse. This is all a personal thing, where it will only effect you if you fuck it up (unless you skimp out on a group project). If you want to fail, skip as many days as you want.

So basically, if you need a day for whatever, take a day. Who cares if you're faking it. As long as you don't abuse the system, you shouldn't feel any guilt.

HeySeuss said Whatchoo talkin' bout, Willis? Food service has a way higher standard for callouts than almost any other industry I can think of, at least when you're talking decent places with any chef culture at all. You're expected to be in if you are able to crawl out of bed. I've gutted through migraines, ulcerative colitis flareups (that means you're shitting a lot and some of it bloody) and out and out fevers and colds, including ugly chest colds that just linger (wash your hands twice as much, which means that by the end of it, yes, your hands are going to be cracked from all the scrubbing). I've worked with stitches in my hand. I've done a shift in unbelievable pain from a sprained whatever and then, only then, sought medical treatment where they basically threw the painkillers at me, except I then learned that I can't work on my feet with them and so didn't take them while on shift. I know a chef that kept working through five weeks of pneumonia.The moral of the story is; don't go into food service expecting to get off for evewy widdle ache.To be fair, food service needs to knock off the macho shit. In some of these scenarios, I've learned my limits and have put my foot down, but yeah, you don't call out because you're feeling fluttery. You call out because your ass isn't able to get out of bed. PS. Hangovers are no excuse at all; self-inflicted injury. Having had a full blown degenerate alcoholic chef drinking away in his office, I've become very insensitive to how drunks feel.PPS. Cutting high school? Go ahead, so long as your grades are up. Cutting college is, regrettably, a much worse habit that can lead to a rut -- you're also paying for it, so not recommended.

That teaches me to be far more cautious about where I eat...

I mean the food industry should be one of the fields you call sick the most, if you're sick and handle others food that can be a huge health risk. :/

Mahz said UIt's sad that you need a debilitating physical ailment to catch a break in most institutions while mental health is thoroughly ignored.

I'd say that's far more due to the fact that we treat physical illness far more seriously than mental illness.
Once mental illness is more recognized as being just as big an issue we'll probably see more sick days be allowed for mental reasons.

I'd say that's far more due to the fact that we treat physical illness far more seriously than mental illness.
Once mental illness is more recognized as being just as big an issue we'll probably see more sick days be allowed for mental reasons.

Outside of communism, most mental illness cannot be spread which is why we treat physical illness more severely, but other than that I think we should get guidelines from professionals on exactly when to take mental health days.

So Boerd said
Outside of communism, most mental illness cannot be spread which is why we treat physical illness more severely, but other than that I think we should get guidelines from professionals on exactly when to take mental health days.

True in regards to being contagious.
But days off can still be granted for things such as injuries or broken limbs, but mental harms are usually ignored unless if it's the death of a loved one.

I thought I would just add a little insight to people who call-in sick (especially if they aren't sick) and who take a sick day when it less than practically life threatening.

I work in South Korea teaching Engish. I do not get sick days. I do not get flex days, or call-out days, or even vacation days. I get a scheduled vacation for 5 days in July and 5 days in December. I am expected to teach with no voice, while coughing so much I get a horrible headache from lack of oxygen, while sick to my stomach, and so much more. And FORGET a mental health day. Heck even discussing mental health could mean you could lose your job.

Just be aware that America and many other countries give you these days so when you truly need them, you can use them. They don't want someone who won't be productive or may make themselves more sick working until they collapse on the job. You are lucky and you might not realize it until it is gone.

Thar has the logical fallacy though of going "We shouldn't focus on/talk about this, because this other thing is worse". Those South Korea standards listed are terrible and they should seriously be fixed for the good of both the teacher and the students. But South Korea simply being worse doesn't suddenly mean places we live have it 100% figured out either. We can have flaws and issues but still be doing better than other places.

Indeed. Sukisho, we are pretty aware of it. Just because you guys have it worse doesn't mean people in UK (like me) and people in US don't suffer too. No offence.

Guys.
Guys.
Who the fuck cares?

Some people, seeing as there's a page worth of replies.

Zed said
Guys.
Guys.
Who the fuck cares?

That is one of the stupidest posts that has ever been posted in the history of posting things.

Magic Magnum said
Thar has the logical fallacy though of going "We shouldn't focus on/talk about this, because this other thing is worse". Those South Korea standards listed are terrible and they should seriously be fixed for the good of both the teacher and the students. But South Korea simply being worse doesn't suddenly mean places we live have it 100% figured out either. We can have flaws and issues but still be doing better than other places.

Difference =/= Deficit

South Korea (and Japan, and many other East Asian countries) puts an emphasis on worker productivity and the common welfare of the system over worker satisfaction and the welfare of the individual. It's about individualism versus communalism, not about countries that are different from the West being inherently inferior to the West.

Take a day off when you need one, and call in advance. Don't send your boss a text ten minutes before your shift starts telling him that you're not coming into work today because of the hangover you earned yourself the previous night. Be responsible and act like an adult.

Like always, it depends on situations. Skipping school is something that isn't bad, like, people skip school and stuff like that all the time. However, unless you're job isn't letting you take a break or something, skipping work is stupid as hell.

HollywoodMole said
Like always, it depends on situations. Skipping school is something that isn't bad, like, people skip school and stuff like that all the time. However, unless you're job isn't letting you take a break or something, skipping work is stupid as hell.

May I just take a moment to say I love your signature? Okay, my irrelevant post of the day quota is full now.

Derpestein said
May I just take a moment to say I love your signature? Okay, my irrelevant post of the day quota is full now.

This is why we have Tumblr, so we can comment on overrated anime and see gifs from it. (Before anyone says anything, SAO is definitely overrated,now, back to the topic)

Magic Magnum said
That teaches me to be far more cautious about where I eat...

I mean the food industry should be one of the fields you call sick the most, if you're sick and handle others food that can be a huge health risk. :/

Bluntly put, most food service operations work on a slim budget and the workers are in over their heads a lot of the time if someone calls out. As a result, we're loathe to call out because we're letting someone down in the process. Usually. There are callout queens but they are a known quantity.

The other side of this equation is that we are professionals, and the emphasis of professionalism in kitchens is your sanitation. I trim my nails way more than other dudes, for example, to prevent anything from getting under there if I were to be careless (as if I don't wash my hands constantly on any given day, wear gloves and change them often) and have been given shit by other dudes for the fact that I trim them up to three times a week. I consider them rubes that don't understand and can't possibly relate because they snot all over each other's pens and pass them around in the cubicle farm and fart at each other to relieve the boredom of collating mail.

Suffice it to say, you go where there are professionals doing the cooking, you can rest assured that they're sanitary. We tend to shame each other into cooking clean. "He's dirty" is an indictment.

Want to skip on school? Just be sick for real - easiest how to do it? Eat and apple and drink Cola at the same time - guarantied stomach ache of extreme magnitude inside the next 12 hours. Not sure if quantity has anything to do with the result. The actual experience involved 1 apple and I think 2 dl of Cola.
Source: Me. Yeah I was enough stupid to do this - trough I didn't know that it would result in a stomach ache. To bad it was during a school break so it just ruined my day instead of giving me a day without school.
Of course this is only if you are really desperate and know that your parents/boss will not buy you faking it.

But again you probably shouldn't skip at all. Skipping is bad. Really bad ...

Honestly, those who think skipping in school doesn't matter... It does. First you really don't wanna be that guy who is looking for work or post secondary at age 20 who doesn't even have a high school GED cuz they skipped too many classes to qualify for it. Especially in this economy. Just... Trust me on that one.

Second, you get it in your mind that it doesn't matter if you fail in your obligated responsibilities to the corporation or collective entity that you participate in. This is especially nasty seeing as how the work place will eat you alive for even slight tardiness, leave alone abusing a privilege like sick days... And if you think you aren't training yourself subconsciously for later on in life, you are a fool who does not understand the power of sloth and addiction.

Trust me. Unless you are genuinely sick or having a mental emergency, do not brush off the consequences of shirking your one responsibility to society. That it is largely paying for you to attend, I might add.

Could've lied about it all I wanted in my last job; you still had to go to Medical if you were dying THEN come into work to be excused for the day.

And if you were ill and got days off and someone saw you out and about having fun? Oh, child, standby to standby.