Off work ill

If you're ill, stay away and don't infect me too.

Most 'ill' people are not ill.
The number of times I see a 35 year old pathetic woman pretending to shiver, all wrapped up in scarves with 'flu' making no effort to cover her mouth up is hilarious.

I had flu once when I first attended University. For 4 days I felt like complete death. Standing up for >5 minutes was an effort.
She had a cold and was being a martyr.
 
Ouch, always sad to hear another biker get knocked off. Most importantly, was the bike ok, or was it a cool crash at least? :p

Bike was a Cat C, got paid market value for it and kept salvage for nothing, busy repairing it. Not really, someone not looking when changing lanes.
 
Think I've only had 3 days off sick in the last decade :S (1x food poisoning, 2x migraine).

Work with or have worked with a fair few people who milk it - got someone off at the moment who took a minor bump and this is their 3rd week - must be some nasty bruises that - whereas someone else at work started throwing up blood and was rushed into AE and not expected to be back any time soon and was back at work the next day - they aren't in good shape (though fortunatly not as critical as first thought) and wouldn't go amiss for them to have a few days off.

EDIT: I seem to have a natural resistance to flu however or I'd have probably had more time off - its been around work 2-3 times and wiped everyone out (for real) but each time left me untouched.
 
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To the people moaning about sick people coming in and making you sick; it's not their fault you have the immune system of a newborn. Sort yourself out and maybe you wouldn't get an ickle sniffle every time someone looks at you funny :rolleyes:
 
All this thread proves is just a twisted version of the old adage 'The grass is always greener...'.

Some of you resent sick colleagues/workers as:

1. They cost you money for a service you aren't getting;
2. Management are expecting you to make up their shortfall in workload;
3. You have some twisted idea about being a tough guy for coming in and spreading the disease;
4. Some even encouraged disobey a surgical rest note...

Ex-colleague had a shoulder cuff surgical procedure and wasn't allowed to drive for 5 weeks. He was afraid of being called a slacker, even in jest, so he came in to work. On drive to work he wrenched his shoulder, and undid the surgery, and then did even more damage. End result was he was off for an additional 9 weeks. And this wasn't a scam, his ethic was unquestionable.
 
Some people are just work shy and will swing the lead at every given opportunity. They exist in a place close between having a job and not having a job whilst HR knows them personally.
 
Some people are just work shy and will swing the lead at every given opportunity. They exist in a place close between having a job and not having a job whilst HR knows them personally.

Some do, yes. However the main problem lies with Management.

They should not create additional stress upon the remaining staff to pick up the extra work (all this will do is further alienate the missing team member, and probably exacerbate future issues). They also should be able to correctly determine if a staff member is genuine or not, and deal with it appropriately.

Additionally, Managers should also bear in mind that one person off sick may be 10% less output in the team, yet if they come in and infect the rest of the team, they are all working at 75% due to the cold, you're actually down 25%. The easier option, and the least impact option is for the one person to be off.

I used to be a martyr like some of your proclaim, and i'd get to work somehow with the worst cold or flu ever. But then i'd sit there, and almost fall asleep. Couldn't be motivated to do any work and just was so lethargic and unwell. That is really productive, right?
 
To the people moaning about sick people coming in and making you sick; it's not their fault you have the immune system of a newborn. Sort yourself out and maybe you wouldn't get an ickle sniffle every time someone looks at you funny :rolleyes:

So I guess you don't make any effort at all towards not making other people sick? Prepare food after wiping with your bare hand etc, after all, it's the fault of the other persons immune system if they get ill.

If you in fact do follow basic hygiene protocols to avoid spreading germs around all over the place then why wouldn't you also apply this to "not sneezing all over people in the office"? Or do you just have some weird agenda against people who have a couple of sick days a year?

The management approach that values bums on seats above everything else is so archaic I wonder how companies that enforce it survive.
 
I think both sides of the Story have been covered adequately by many posters.

Work to live don't live to work. If you need a day or 2 off and are in a position to do then do.
If you are a contractor or self employed you will probably be motivated to persevere and keep going.

I think 8 days is pretty generous and allows you for plenty of snide sickies. Just gamble you don't get ill for real.
 
I've had some managers who don't believe you can be so ill as you can't get into work but only need 1 day off and that your either well enough to drag yourself in or so ill you need several days off :|

Funny how people in general are so stupid when it comes to sickness, either abusing the system or closed minded view of toughing it (that they often don't apply to themselves) with the usual end result of making it worse on people who are genuine.
 
There are a number of people where I currently work and previous work places that seem to be constantly off work sick.

In the past 6 of years I think I have had 1 day off and this was a 'sickie' for Summer olympics when I went to London.

Do you think this is down to poor immune systems, because people are more prone to illness or just pulling sickies?

There's a guy off at the moment due a serious problem (understandable he's off) but some just have the odd day every couple of weeks and are then usually in and fine the rest of the week.

It really grinds my gears, especially when other people have to take on their workload

You seem to be under the assumption that all people who are off sick are so due to an infectious illness like the flu, rather than a long standing disease which waxes and wanes.
 
You seem to be under the assumption that all people who are off sick are so due to an infectious illness like the flu, rather than a long standing disease which waxes and wanes.

Migraines are a typical example that is often poorly understood. My brother gets batches of them now and again, then he'll be fine for weeks or months then have a few days or weeks where they will happen frequently.
 
if someone is ill I would rather them be off, than come in and do a half arsed job and make more work for me undoing the mistakes. or causing someone else harm from not giving full attention on the job (lots of forklift drivers at my place)

however we currently have a guy off "sick" its been 4 months.... he's just a lazy ****
 
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