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I'm taking a sick day today. I don't like taking sick days. And when it's for something that's basically a head cold, even if it feels really icky and I'm tired all over, it's like I wondeer if I'm "really" sick.
At my last job, this is the sort of sick that my boss would have wanted me to take off for. He rarely got sick, but often made a speech to the effect that it's better to take a day off than to crawl to work and share the germs. And I'd nod, and mostly ignore him.
It's not that he was wrong. Or that he didn't mean it. But, as in the job I have now, I had 5 sick days. This is normal sop, as I understand it. 5 sick days. 10 vacation days. 2 personal days. The non-sick days off can probably be used as sick days, but who wants to do that? And what if I got really sick later in the year?
Sick days don't carry over from year to year. Nor do personal days. I'm not sure about vacation days. I'm pretty sure they didn't at my last job, and the rules are in flux at my current job -- if vacation days carry at all, there's a maximum, and it's a small one. And I don't think one can take half a sick day any more.
So, yes, sure, the sensible thing to do, healthwise, is to stay home. But if it's something I can still do work with, and it's not likely to get worse, I'm used to dragging myself into work anyway. I called my assistant to let her know I'd be out, and she said she was getting it also. She'd just drugged herself up to get herself to work.
Not that she thought there was anything wrong with me taking a sick day. When we talked, I confirmed that a third of my department was out on field trips, as planned. Another person might not be in -- he was feeling wretched yesterday. My presence should not be necessary for this one day. And she agreed that no one really wanted my germs.
My previous job had, at one point, an interesting rule: If you came to work on time (9 am -- I tended to get in about 20 minutes early), and you stayed until 10:30, if you then took off sick, you were paid for the entire day, and it did -not- count as a sick day. This policy was later changed, of course. But in the 2 1/2 years when I worked there that it was in effect, I took advantage of it once.
I had, basically, the same sort of head cold I've got now. Maybe a bit worse. I'd come back from Arisia, I think, worked Tuesday, maybe Wednesday. The next day, I worked till 11, told one of my supervisors (I was working more or less under two different people) that I wasn't focusing, and I was heading home. I went back to find email from my other supervisor encouraging me to do just that, reminding me that I'd been in till 10:30, so it wouldn't be a sick day, and praising my good sense for not spreading the cold around. In fact, we were all pretty sure that this was the same cold that was being passed around the office, and breaking the cycle was a good thing.
I think I took the next day or so off as sick days. But usually, what the 10:30 policy meant to me was that I'd drag myself in, because I knew I had this escape hatch. At 10:30, I'd try to hold out till 11. Then 12. Then lunch. Then 3. And then, no point in leaving early. I don't know if anyone else did it this way. I'm not sure if this is how that policy was supposed to work -- it kind of encouraged one to come in and spread the germs, then go home. And I suspect it was abused, given that it was later dropped.
At my last job, this is the sort of sick that my boss would have wanted me to take off for. He rarely got sick, but often made a speech to the effect that it's better to take a day off than to crawl to work and share the germs. And I'd nod, and mostly ignore him.
It's not that he was wrong. Or that he didn't mean it. But, as in the job I have now, I had 5 sick days. This is normal sop, as I understand it. 5 sick days. 10 vacation days. 2 personal days. The non-sick days off can probably be used as sick days, but who wants to do that? And what if I got really sick later in the year?
Sick days don't carry over from year to year. Nor do personal days. I'm not sure about vacation days. I'm pretty sure they didn't at my last job, and the rules are in flux at my current job -- if vacation days carry at all, there's a maximum, and it's a small one. And I don't think one can take half a sick day any more.
So, yes, sure, the sensible thing to do, healthwise, is to stay home. But if it's something I can still do work with, and it's not likely to get worse, I'm used to dragging myself into work anyway. I called my assistant to let her know I'd be out, and she said she was getting it also. She'd just drugged herself up to get herself to work.
Not that she thought there was anything wrong with me taking a sick day. When we talked, I confirmed that a third of my department was out on field trips, as planned. Another person might not be in -- he was feeling wretched yesterday. My presence should not be necessary for this one day. And she agreed that no one really wanted my germs.
My previous job had, at one point, an interesting rule: If you came to work on time (9 am -- I tended to get in about 20 minutes early), and you stayed until 10:30, if you then took off sick, you were paid for the entire day, and it did -not- count as a sick day. This policy was later changed, of course. But in the 2 1/2 years when I worked there that it was in effect, I took advantage of it once.
I had, basically, the same sort of head cold I've got now. Maybe a bit worse. I'd come back from Arisia, I think, worked Tuesday, maybe Wednesday. The next day, I worked till 11, told one of my supervisors (I was working more or less under two different people) that I wasn't focusing, and I was heading home. I went back to find email from my other supervisor encouraging me to do just that, reminding me that I'd been in till 10:30, so it wouldn't be a sick day, and praising my good sense for not spreading the cold around. In fact, we were all pretty sure that this was the same cold that was being passed around the office, and breaking the cycle was a good thing.
I think I took the next day or so off as sick days. But usually, what the 10:30 policy meant to me was that I'd drag myself in, because I knew I had this escape hatch. At 10:30, I'd try to hold out till 11. Then 12. Then lunch. Then 3. And then, no point in leaving early. I don't know if anyone else did it this way. I'm not sure if this is how that policy was supposed to work -- it kind of encouraged one to come in and spread the germs, then go home. And I suspect it was abused, given that it was later dropped.