Anyone else feel guilty calling out sick?

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I've been sick since Tuesday morning. Had soar throats but took drops and went in but now my nose won't stop running and I sneeze a lot and I feel that it'd be bad for me to go in tomorrow like that :s

Do you have sick days? How long has it been since you called in sick?

Nowadays, you're not allowed to be sick. You call in, expect to be terminated (I found out the hard way. Why do you think I was fired from every job, except 2, I ever had?)

Yeah, I was going to work and did everything around the kids with rather awful cought for the last 2 weeks.
Now I'm laying in bed breathing shallowly, avoiding some positions because of the pain and waiting for the X-ray results :/
Diagnosed bronchitis, possible pneumonia or pleurisy.
That was stupid of me... but there was so much to do and I would feel guilty if I didn't work :/

Sometimes I went to work or school when I was sick

Sometimes I called in sick when I was not sick

Sometimes I felt guilty for "lying"

Sometimes I feel guilty for not having a job

Sometimes I feel guilty for continuing to live



And etcetera

I do. I didn't get sick enough to stay home while I had my job, but there were a few times I went to school with a high fever because I felt bad about staying home, so I just didn't say anything to my parents about being sick until I was home. When I was in college, I had what I was absolutely certain was strep throat, but the person who saw me at the health center took my temperature, quickly glanced at my throat, and said it was probably viral before sending me on my way. I continued to go to class, even on the day my temperature shot up to 103 F overnight (and I went back in to the health center, and then they actually took me seriously - I'd been right all along). I went to class simply because at college, not going even if I was sick felt too much like skipping class, which in my mind was utterly inexcusable.

However, you certainly shouldn't feel guilty about staying home when you're sick - that's something I probably ought to work on. You recover faster if you give yourself some rest, and going to work while you're sick exposes everyone else to the disease as well. As magz mentioned, not giving yourself adequate rest and time to recover can make you even more sick.

I will never forget that I finally decided after a couple of years of perfect attendance in my first job to call in sick. What does my boss say? "You aren't that sick! Get in here, you are letting everyone down!" When I insisted there was no way I could come in it was repeated how I was ruining everyone else's day. Go figure when I quit that job they didn't replace me for months. Guess I wasn't that important, eh?

So glad to work in the public sector where it's expected you call in sick when you are sick and you also get a very generous sick allowance. If I were to go in to work sick today, everyone in unison would say "what the heck are you doing here? Go home, get in bed and rest!"

Yes. All the time which is why I get anxious each time I have to call in sick. I am afraid I will get fired or be seen as making excuses or slacking because he might think I am not sick enough even if I was throwing up or having a lot of diarrhea or running a high fever or that I can't keep my eyes open because it hurts to keep them open and hurts when I stand because of a really bad headache. Those are the times I call in and why would I want to make others sick?

My work firm sends you a nasty letter if you have 3 or more days off sick. At first I thought it meant 3 days in a row, but I actually found out that it means 3 days off in one year, which I think is pretty stupid. So if you have 2 days off sick in April, then one day off in March next year, you'll be called up on it.

But anyway, yes I feel so guilty phoning in sick, that I find it really hard to do. When you do phone in sick at my workplace, they interrogate you over the phone, asking you specifically what's wrong and what your symptoms are, and they expect you to see the doctor, even if you know what your pain or illness is and there's no cure except bed rest, for example a bad cold or tummy bug. So these days I still go into work when I'm ill, because if they see that I'm ill they can send me home. And fortunately I don't get tummy bugs.

We can miss 3 days every 6 months without trouble, then we use to have sick days but now it's paid time off which I have 28 hours of. I dont know if that doesn't count towards the 3 days. I don't remember how many I used in the past 6 months. I'm also unsure if the 6 months is from when I was hired or from the first call out used. :s also I was told by another work consecutive days would just count as 1.

I rarely get sick but I did use a day or so due to housing and I missed a day cause I felt like vomiting few months ago. :s last year I missed like maybe 4 days total. I've never taken a vacation in two years. Other employees take a few a year.

I hate how they want doctor's notes because not everyone has the money to pay for a doctor visit just to get a note. Also I think sick days are stupid because no one chooses to get sick and they act like it's a choice. Then people come into work sick because of that threat.

I work in the public sector, and have accumulated about 70 annual days and about 250 sick days. I can just about be sick for a year, and still have sick time.

Sly: It's 6 months from when you were hired, usually. You usually get some sort of leave after three months or so. Most people get at least 10 days "annual leave" per year, plus paid holidays. Many people get more. I get 5 1/2 weeks of vacation a year, plus 12 sick days, plus 16 holidays.

How many hours a day do you work? if you work 4 hours a day, then you have 7 "annual days." Since you're a part-timer, you probably have less "rights" than does a full-timer.

Hope you feel better soon.

I'm the type who does feel guilt even though I never lied about calling out sick, so I've been known to go to work with a cold. At the job I started in July of this year, I probably have sick days, although the actual vacation days don't kick in until after a full year of employment, but I still would feel guilty if I had to call out due to having more than just a cold.