I don't believe in "sick days"...

[ironeagle2006]

Crimzy you are NOT the only one that feels that way. Try driving for weeks with a bad gall bladder. I did it til the freaking thing leaked coming out of Utah and the closest Hospital was Evanstion Wyoming. I told my Dispatcher I needed to get home I had been having stomach pains she did not believe me well I was out of action for a few weeks while I recovered from that surgery. Most OTR truckers do not GET any SICK DAYS at all we do not get paid unless the wheels are turning so we do everything we can to KEEP those wheels a turning. We drive with the Flu massive colds Peumonnia Bronchitis you name it short of death we drive or unless we are in the hospital we are out there.

 

[crimzy]

Originally Posted by uneverno
http:///forum/post/3023161
Dunno 'bout D-town, but here that would be illegal.
From a legal analysis, there is no constitutional protection from the actions of private entities. So the only issue may arise in the civil rights act and I'm fairly certain that smokers are not members of a protected class. Actually now that I think about it, I believe that drug and alcohol addicts are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act. I wonder if there is an exception for recovering addicts vs. current users.
In my opinion, a person who smells bad, has bad breath, is not intelligent enough to avoid life-threatening risks, is addicted to a substance and will need to to take multiple breaks during the day should not be ENTITLED to be employed over another worthy candidate.
Either way, they don't need to know why I didn't hire them. I simply was more impressed with another candidate.

 

[aquaknight]

That's the thing Crimzy, it's a system. And as long as it's a system it will get played.
The notation of a fixed number of sick days is screwy itself. This is the separation from a 'perfect world' and reality. Ideally there wouldn't be sick days, the employee would just call in when they absolutely couldn't come in. However, in the real world, people either abuse that, or the jaded employer forces a sick employee to work, and something unfortunate happens to the employee on his clock. I think as an attorney, you Crimzy, would know how that one ends...

 

[eric b 125]

i got your back crimzy. i think that sick days get abused by a majority. i guess it depends on your job though. in my profession, if i'm sick i'll go to work unless it puts my patients in harms way. i spend a lot of time in a helicopter, so if i have something that's going to send me to the bathroom every 10 minutes, forget it. but honestly, even though i'm in direct patient care, the people i treat arent worried about a little cold

 

[uneverno]

I was just giving you a hard time - I didn't expect an actual response.
Pardon my warped sense of humor - doesn't always translate well to text.

 

[prime311]

I never go in to the office when I'm sick. I don't see any point in getting other people sick. Net productivity is less. If you're sick then stay home. I do work from home though when I'm sick(I'm in IT). I've only truly called in sick(like didn't work at all) a couple times and those times involved a lot of puking.

 

[reefraff]

Originally Posted by crimzy
http:///forum/post/3023114
Personally I think it's a bunch of crap. Unless you are completely disabled by some condition, you are not going to feel better at home than you are at work.
In my career, I have never taken a day off because I didn't feel good. Days off, IMO, are OK if you will be out of town or have an important engagement, but because you aren't feeling good... that's silly. Sack up and go to work.
Unfortunately, you generally see the same whiners taking sick days over and over again... and often it is the smokers because their immune system is so jacked up as it is that they are walking around everyday on the verge of serious illness. Ever hear the coughing and hacking of an otherwise "healthy" smoker??? When it's not the smokers, it's generally people who are simply hung over. Is it a coincidence that most sick days come on Mondays?
Unless there is a policy of X number of vacation/sick days per year that are a part of the employee's benefit package, I wouldn't pay anyone for sick days.
My rant for the day. If you disagree then please go tell your boss that you have a runny nose and need to go home to watch soap operas.

I feel the same way. I never used a whole lot of sick days because I was sick. Doesn't mean I didn't take them but I always made sure things at work were under control before taking off. My job required being out at different customer locations all day so certain conditions meant you really couldn't work but I am lucky in that I think I've had the flu maybe 3 or 4 times in my life.

 

[reefraff]

Originally Posted by crimzy
http:///forum/post/3023165
From a legal analysis, there is no constitutional protection from the actions of private entities. So the only issue may arise in the civil rights act and I'm fairly certain that smokers are not members of a protected class. Actually now that I think about it, I believe that drug and alcohol addicts are protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act. I wonder if there is an exception for recovering addicts vs. current users.
In my opinion, a person who smells bad, has bad breath, is not intelligent enough to avoid life-threatening risks, is addicted to a substance and will need to to take multiple breaks during the day should not be ENTITLED to be employed over another worthy candidate.
Either way, they don't need to know why I didn't hire them. I simply was more impressed with another candidate.

I had to fire a guy and the flat out main reason was he smelled like an old ashtray. Try giving a person a warning about that without making them feel lower than dirt. I have never been around a smoker who smelled like this guy, it was almost like he was sitting in his truck with the windows rolled up smoking all day but I checked and his truck really didn't smell that bad, this guy just absorbed the odor but when we kept getting customer complaints what else can you do?

 

[tank a holic]

I don't abuse the sick day policy but I have used sick days
I work in a power plant and three months ago I took 2 sick days because I threw my neck out of wack and couldn't turn my head or walk without extreme discomfort. Heck I could hardly even stand up. I don't think I would have been very useful at work in this condition so I took 2 days off, went to the bone cracker, got fixed up and went back
Now I do agree that lazy people who take sick days because they don't feel like working are worthless and should have the privilege revoked but for people who use it for its intended purpose its a very good policy.
I think the fact that "On another note, how can I be the only person with this opinion??? " should be an indication that its a kinda dumb opinion

lawyers

 

[pblrdom]

I have been in my current position for about 6 years now and I have on occasion had to call into work sick. I think in the past 6 years I can count the number of days called in sick on one hand. I agree Crimzy that 99% of the sickness you can work off rather than sit at home being less productive. My only point to argue with is symptoms like chronic vomiting or like bronchitis. Just my .02

 

[crimzy]

Originally Posted by tank a holic
http:///forum/post/3023250
I don't abuse the sick day policy but I have used sick days
I work in a power plant and three months ago I took 2 sick days because I threw my neck out of wack and couldn't turn my head or walk without extreme discomfort. Heck I could hardly even stand up. I don't think I would have been very useful at work in this condition so I took 2 days off, went to the bone cracker, got fixed up and went back
Now I do agree that lazy people who take sick days because they don't feel like working are worthless and should have the privilege revoked but for people who use it for its intended purpose its a very good policy.
I think the fact that "On another note, how can I be the only person with this opinion??? " should be an indication that its a kinda dumb opinion

lawyers

You people...

In my original post, I make the point that unless you are physically impaired then I think that most sick days are crap. You respond with an analogy of a time when you were physically unable to work but concede that there are a lot of lazy people who take sick days for nonsense reasons.
The way I read it, we pretty much agree. Yet your response suggests that this is a "dumb" opinion...

I think the sky is blue and water's wet... wanna argue about that too?

 

[ruaround]

Crimz, when i was younger and trying to move my way up the corp ladder i didnt believe in sick days either... i demended a dr's note from anyone who called in sick... now i would prefer if one stayed home if they truely are sick... it doesnt benefit anyone to have an employee around who looks horrible, sounds horrible, disrupts the work environment by getting up to leave the station repeatedly, coughing, hacking, moaning, crying, sighing, blowing their nose and worst of all complaining about being at work...

 

[sepulatian]

I am given 15 paid days of sick time per school year on top of all paid vacations, holidays, and 8 snow days. I use my time. Why wouldn't I??

 

[meowzer]

Originally Posted by sepulatian
http:///forum/post/3023273
I am given 15 paid days of sick time per school year on top of all paid vacations, holidays, and 8 snow days. I use my time. Why wouldn't I??
LOL....I'm salary so it really doesn't matter to me...I have the max amount of sick days accrued though...I think it's 30...cause I never take any..
BUT...I also get 3 weeks vacation, and very rarely even take a week, so in our policy, on my anniversary I get paid (as a bonus) for the vacation time I did not take the year before..
Guess who suggested that one

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by meowzer
http:///forum/post/3023276
LOL....I'm salary so it really doesn't matter to me...I have the max amount of sick days accrued though...I think it's 30...cause I never take any..
BUT...I also get 3 weeks vacation, and very rarely even take a week, so in our policy, on my anniversary I get paid (as a bonus) for the vacation time I did not take the year before..
Guess who suggested that one

I am salary as well. We can also cash our time in. I don't use all of my time but I am not shy about taking a day when I feel like it. That is what sub service is for. The substitutes need work too.

 

[crimzy]

Originally Posted by sepulatian
http:///forum/post/3023273
I am given 15 paid days of sick time per school year on top of all paid vacations, holidays, and 8 snow days. I use my time. Why wouldn't I??
I'm not suggesting that you don't take your sick days. What you have is part of a benefit package that really has nothing to do with actually being "sick". You might as well call them personal days or vacation days.
What I think is silly is when employees call on Monday and leave that whiney, intentionally deathbed-sounding, message indicating that they can't be in today. If an office is a team effort, and one person flakes out, they are not doing their part. My office does not have a formalized package of sick days. So this particular paralegal will show up tomorrow because if she takes off more than a day, then she may not get paid in full for the week.

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by crimzy
http:///forum/post/3023292
I'm not suggesting that you don't take your sick days. What you have is part of a benefit package that really has nothing to do with actually being "sick". You might as well call them personal days or vacation days.
What I think is silly is when employees call on Monday and leave that whiney, intentionally deathbed-sounding, message indicating that they can't be in today. If an office is a team effort, and one person flakes out, they are not doing their part. My office does not have a formalized package of sick days. So this particular paralegal will show up tomorrow because if she takes off more than a day, then she may not get paid in full for the week.
Ah, alright. I was wondering what the fuss was about. None of us ever feel bad about banging out of work

 

[meowzer]

Originally Posted by sepulatian
http:///forum/post/3023280
I am salary as well. We can also cash our time in. I don't use all of my time but I am not shy about taking a day when I feel like it. That is what sub service is for. The substitutes need work too.
That's true....I wish I had a sub

I'd probably take more vacation time...But I am the only one who does my job, so if I am not here I do double the next day.

 

[salt210]

Ill admit that when I had my job they paid sick time, and I think I only used it once when I was actually sick the others I just hated the place

 

[flower]

Originally Posted by ironeagle2006
http:///forum/post/3023163
Crimzy you are NOT the only one that feels that way. Try driving for weeks with a bad gall bladder. I did it til the freaking thing leaked coming out of Utah and the closest Hospital was Evanstion Wyoming. I told my Dispatcher I needed to get home I had been having stomach pains she did not believe me well I was out of action for a few weeks while I recovered from that surgery. Most OTR truckers do not GET any SICK DAYS at all we do not get paid unless the wheels are turning so we do everything we can to KEEP those wheels a turning. We drive with the Flu massive colds Peumonnia Bronchitis you name it short of death we drive or unless we are in the hospital we are out there.
This is a bit long but I think it needs to be said...
I got run off the road by a truck driver who was too sick to be on the road. My three small children were in the car and we were trapped for an hour. I can no longer drive on a busy highway, I go phobic and am not safe.
When you are sick...not to mention something as deadly as a big rig...stay home!
I do so much understand the need to work, but it is not worth your life and the life of those around you. Taking a sick day is not being a whimp it is being intelligent.
My brother in law was one of those never stay home guys. he went to work sick, he thought it was a flu, or bad indigestion from something he ate. His boss noticed how pale he looked and insisted he go to the doctor. The boss insisted to the point of driving him there himself, my brother in law went into convulsions and died on the way from a blocked artery. He was only 46.
All this grief was preventable. All it would have taken is for these people to stay home and say..."today I don't feel good and I am not going to work, I need a sick day."
When I was 22 years old, my left arm ached. I work at cleaning so a sore arm was a good enough excuse to me to take a day off, later that afternoon I had a massive heart attack. At 22 who would have thought of a heart attack? what if I had gone on in, I would be dead...A lady some years later did just that. The boss found her dead sitting in her station with a broom in her hand. She had been dead 3 hours before she was even missed.
I do not agree with you Crimzy, you do not know another’s pain or health. You wouldn't give a person a job because they ask about a benefit!! OMG what a horse’s rear! I hope you are never in authority. It is just a sick day...it is not your personal money. It is the company money. They have a budget with the sick days employees are allowed already factored in. You are willing to take food out of a person’s mouth and the mouths of their children because you think it wrong to inquire about a benefit??? So you won't give them a job...then I bet you turn around and say nobody should get unemployment.
Meowzer it is so very unwise to go to work sick. The guy who created the Muppets died very young because he didn't think he was all that sick.
Is there abuse? Sure, but the good outweighs the bad. If you’re sick stay home, and I don't think it is a requirement to be on the floor vomiting either. My personal experience with my heart attack is testimony to that.
Don't bother saying ... Well in that case, or in that instance it was okay...my whole point is that you never know when it is THAT case, or THAT instance.