‘Tis the Season for "Sickness"
By Olivia Leigh in Miscellaneous on Dec 14, 2006 6:10PM
As the days turn longer and colder, and thoughts of spending time with loved ones drinking cocoa draws near, your desk probably isn’t the at the top of the list of places you’d like to be.
So what are poor employees to do when vacation time is dried up, and they really “need” a day off? Sick time to the rescue!
A recent Sun-Times article suggests that the holidays are a hot period to fake sickness for a few extra hours of sleeping in, shopping or spending time with your significant other. More employees may be inclined to call in “sick” at the end of the year if they have a few sick days waiting to be used, as 40 percent of employers do not allow sick days to be rolled over to the next year. One in four employees in a Careerbuilder.com poll also said they treat sick days like vacation days, with illness not being a requirement to take the day off, at least in their minds.
We’ve seen some pretty impressive “sick” call-in performances from friends who suddenly contort their voices into that of someone on their deathbed while leaving a voicemail for their boss, and then go back to playing video games and eating French toast.
That said, a simple “I’m not feeling well,” seems like the most reasonable excuse to employ if you want to run the risk of being fired, not one of the ridiculous reasons managers have heard. Some of the craziest, according to Careerbuilder.com survey, include:
- Poisoned by mother-in-law
- Feeling the same symptoms as pregnant wife
- Bad hiccups
- Charged by a buffalo every time I tried to get to my car
- Blew nose so hard, back gave out
- Skunk broke into house and sprayed all my uniforms
- Broke leg snowboarding off roof while drunk
What about you, Chicagoist readers? Have you ever faked sick during the holidays for a little more R&R? What’s the best excuse you’ve ever used?