Opinion Poll: Going to Work Sick ... - Page 7

Moonchilde · ‎05-23-2010

@ncascade wrote:
Couple of things:
Should you be the one "calling" around to get a sub?
I think asking about (boss) what is wrong maybe illegal-Not sure.
I have gone to pharmacies to pick up a script and the tech has been so sick she/he could hardly function. Don't understand why these very ill people are not sent home.

Whether one appreciates their workplace policies or thinks they're "fair" or employee-friendly is different than legality. A company can pretty much decree anything except something that violates civil rights or is provably discriminatory.

I've lost count of the times I've heard about "if you can find a sub you can stay home, otherwise get your bu** in here" from others, including nurses working with patients on the Floor. Your boss can not only ask (demand) to know your excuse, the company can also require a doctor's note with a single day's absence if they choose to, instead of the usual three days. If you don't provide - grounds for termination if a person has been counseled for absences.

This is in CA, the state that is probably the most employee-friendly in the country, at an organization that employs people in the tens of thousands, whose Employee Handbook and policies have been gone over by attorneys with a fine-tooth comb, not a mom & pop hardware store.

"Don't understand" that sometimes, if a sick person doesn't show up, the business or area will need to be CLOSED? And of course, people will then bi... complain about that, or the fact that a substitute doesn't know what they're doing. Yep.

Life without Mexican food is no life at all

Lipstickdiva · ‎03-10-2010

Are we seriously talking about the flu? Many people call any illness they get the flu. If someone has the real flu, I don't know how they could go to work.

I don't get sick days. I know a lot of people who do not get sick days. More people I know don't get sick days than do get sick days. My bosses philosophy is if they give employees sick time, they are going to use it whether they are really sick or not because they have it and don't want to lose it. If you are sick, you are sick and you stay home. If calling off sick gets out of hand, they address it. That happened with one employee here years ago.

My DH used to work for a company where he didn't get sick days and if you called off sick, it was points against you and he didn't get paid. So yeah he went to work sick a few times because back when he had that job, we couldn't afford for him to miss work unpaid.

@chrystaltree, you've posted a number of times that you work from home. LOL

Way back when I started the job I'm at now, I had only been here about 2 months and I got what was the worst cold of my life. I didn't want to call off because I was new. Everyday I dragged myself here and on lunch, I would go to sleep for the hour and someone would wake me up. My bosses knew how miserable I was and never told me to go home or stay home. I scheduled a doctor's appointment one day and used my lunch hour to go. I ended up having a throat infection, double ear infections and bronchitis. My doctor gave me a note that I couldn't work. I went back to work to give it to them and leave. One of my bosses handed me some files to work on while I was home!

Moonchilde · ‎05-23-2010

@Lipstickdiva wrote:
Are we seriously talking about the flu? Many people call any illness they get the flu. If someone has the real flu, I don't know how they could go to work.

I don't get sick days. I know a lot of people who do not get sick days. More people I know don't get sick days than do get sick days. My bosses philosophy is if they give employees sick time, they are going to use it whether they are really sick or not because they have it and don't want to lose it. If you are sick, you are sick and you stay home. If calling off sick gets out of hand, they address it. That happened with one employee here years ago.

My DH used to work for a company where he didn't get sick days and if you called off sick, it was points against you and he didn't get paid. So yeah he went to work sick a few times because back when he had that job, we couldn't afford for him to miss work unpaid.

@chrystaltree, you've posted a number of times that you work from home. LOL

Way back when I started the job I'm at now, I had only been here about 2 months and I got what was the worst cold of my life. I didn't want to call off because I was new. Everyday I dragged myself here and on lunch, I would go to sleep for the hour and someone would wake me up. My bosses knew how miserable I was and never told me to go home or stay home. I scheduled a doctor's appointment one day and used my lunch hour to go. I ended up having a throat infection, double ear infections and bronchitis. My doctor gave me a note that I couldn't work. I went back to work to give it to them and leave. One of my bosses handed me some files to work on while I was home!

Totally agree about the flu. Every bug everyone gets is not "flu." And if you genuinely have the flu, you cannot work because you can literally barely crawl out of bed.

Caifornia passed a law within the past couple of years that mandates a minimum of 3 days paid sick time per year, period. Some of the provisions won't take effect until this year. Many cities and counties mandate more than the 3 days, and the higher number takes precedence.

BEFORE this law, I knew many people throughout my working life who did not get paid, were in poor health with chronic illnesses (asthma, bronchitis, etc.) and never took a sick day no matter what, because they couldn't pay the rent if they did.

Life without Mexican food is no life at all

Qshopper1991 · ‎08-15-2014

@Moonchilde

Here's a couple of things that I've found:

1. Find a drug store that delivers.

2. There are services that are out there that will deliver food, meds and whatever else you need.

3. Prep yourself in the Fall for possible illness. I live alone. I make chicken soup and I freeze it. I keep good OTC meds in my home. I've found a great local service that will deliver meds, shop for me - whatever I need.

4. They even have those Urgent Care places that you can see a doctor over the phone (video chat) if you are that sick.

Trust me, there are ways.

Stay healthy, @Moonchilde!

CrazyDaisy · ‎03-20-2010

@Qshopper1991 wrote:
@Moonchilde

Here's a couple of things that I've found:

1. Find a drug store that delivers.

2. There are services that are out there that will deliver food, meds and whatever else you need.

3. Prep yourself in the Fall for possible illness. I live alone. I make chicken soup and I freeze it. I keep good OTC meds in my home. I've found a great local service that will deliver meds, shop for me - whatever I need.

4. They even have those Urgent Care places that you can see a doctor over the phone (video chat) if you are that sick.

Trust me, there are ways.

Stay healthy, @Moonchilde!

You are very fortunate to have all those services available. Where I live only place that delivers is pizza. Wouldn't have the extra money to pay for those services anyway.

Someday, when scientists discover the center of the Universe....some people will be disappointed it is not them.

Carmie · ‎10-25-2010

I worked for a health insurance company who would penalize you for calling in sick. Anything unscheduled was frowned upon. You could be let go or be denied a raise or higher position because of sick days.

Many of my co-workers were single mothers who had to work. I had a cubicle partner who was vomiting in her trash can all day, but kept on working. There were hundreds of people in one large room working and on any given day, someone was sick enough to stay home.

The call center was the worst. They had to be staffed to a certain level, and it was impossible to even leave your desk to use the restroom during the lunch period. You had to wait until everyone was black from lunch before you could go. There were monitors on your managers desk and he/ she could see if you were taking calls or had your phone shut off.

i remember once I almost had an accident. I asked my caller if she could wait on hold for about two minutes and ran like the wind to the rest room. My manager never caught me because her monitor showed I was on the phone. I was lucky that time.

Because of my call center experience, I am always kind when I call Customer Service. Sometimes I have to wait on hold a long time in queue to talk to someone, but I know that job is very hectic and stressful. I'd rather wait in queue than be the person to answer the phone on the other end.

I used to think that it must be nice to actually be able to use your sick days to take off when you were sick. The company I worked for gave us a lot of sick days. I was collecting 24 sick days a year when I retired and also,had short and long term disability.

i am fortunate that I don't get sick often. I have never had the flu. I used two of my days when I got hurt at work as WC kicks in on day three. When I retired the company paid me for my unused sick days at 33.3% of my hourly wage. It came in one check that Uncle Sam took almost half of. Looking at the amount of that check made me sick,

Moonchilde · ‎05-23-2010

@CrazyDaisy wrote:
@Qshopper1991 wrote:
@Moonchilde

Here's a couple of things that I've found:

1. Find a drug store that delivers.

2. There are services that are out there that will deliver food, meds and whatever else you need.

3. Prep yourself in the Fall for possible illness. I live alone. I make chicken soup and I freeze it. I keep good OTC meds in my home. I've found a great local service that will deliver meds, shop for me - whatever I need.

4. They even have those Urgent Care places that you can see a doctor over the phone (video chat) if you are that sick.

Trust me, there are ways.

Stay healthy, @Moonchilde!
You are very fortunate to have all those services available. Where I live only place that delivers is pizza. Wouldn't have the extra money to pay for those services anyway.

Bingo. Why is it people assume if something is available to them, it's freely available to everyone? No Uber or Lyft where I live. NO restaurant delivery. NO drugstore or grocery delivery. Urgent Care is 13 miles away. Video chat in my area? LMAO. Of course, you and I are just making this up or exaggerating, @CrazyDaisy - it couldn't possibly be - gasp! - true. SMH at naive assumptions. Oh BTW - bad girl for not having extra $$ on hand to pay someone to deliver for you, for not having a medicine closet (is that like a gift closet?) and for not being Suzy Homemaker. What are you thinking? 😜

Life without Mexican food is no life at all

SeaMaiden · ‎03-10-2010

I remember many customer service type jobs years ago where my bosses told us we either came to work sick or we we fired. One boss handed out over the counter cold medicine to the employees that had coughs and colds. You did not have a choice to call in sick or leave your shift due to illness. I worked many a job sicker than a dog because I needed the job when I was younger. Wrong...yes, but I had no choice at the time.

dex · ‎03-09-2010

I sent my son to school one morning when he said he had a headache.I gave him some Tylenol and told him to call me if he didn't feel better.I got a call from the school an hour or two later to say he had developed a fever.I wouldn't have sent him to school if I knew it was a flu and not a simple headache.What I am saying is that with children things can progress quickly and most children were not knowingly or carelessly sent to school by their parents.

Piperdellilah · ‎02-12-2015

I really don't like it when people come to work sick. We get 6 sick days a year at my job and the unused days roll over into the next year so there is no excuse to come in sick. Some people think they are too important to miss work, well they are not. Eveyone i work with has a back up who can do their job if they are gone. My boss actually would rather have you stay home if you are sick or go home early so there is no chance of getting in trouble for staying home. My husband on the other hand does not have "sick time," if he is sick it is unpaid.