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Why Can't I Call In Sick?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Pete Incaviglia, Apr 7, 2009.

  1. Fredrick

    Fredrick Well-Known Member

    Call in sick, Pete. This is an interesting topic, though. Man when you start coughing up a storm and feel like shit ... wow it's so much tougher to work than when you are healthy. Don't you hate when you feel the thing in your throat where you know it's coming and there's nothing you can do about. I never call in sick unless I have the chills and can't move. You can't work with the chills. Impossible.
     
  2. SF_Express

    SF_Express Active Member

    Don't disagree at all. Was just pointing out the prevailing attitude among many in all my years in the business.

    I've used a few sick days in my time. On the other hand, the sickest I've ever been since working in the present job -- bad flu, all the symptoms, just a wreck -- was the day we launched a new, critical project and partnership with another major company.

    No way I could stay home that day.

    I doubt if that's Pete circumstance, though, and if he's sick, I really AM with the viewpoint that he should call in and not infect the whole place.
     
  3. It's not nearly as cut and dry as some of you are making it. When you go through cutbacks, as we almost all are, you call in sick, and it ends of effecting three or more people, who at this point, don't need any more work on their plates. It sucks, but calling in sick, when you are sick, isn't always a certain decision.
     
  4. RickStain

    RickStain Well-Known Member

    Yes it is.

    The only reason it's not is if you still cling to the romantic notion that somehow the quality of the paper matters more than your and others' health.
     
  5. crusoes

    crusoes Active Member

    And when everyone is sick, it affects (not effects) the quality, too. Stay home and blow the virus out of your system there. Boss has to work? I refer you to my friend Boo F. Hoo.
     
  6. Johnny Dangerously

    Johnny Dangerously Well-Known Member

    Jobs like Pete's take and take and take from you, and then they take some more. We give in, for all kinds of reasons, and eventually reach a point where we realize we're bending in so many more ways than the employer. Who is in a position to handle a day's worth of adversity more -- a company or a person whose body is screaming for him or her to shut it down for a day?

    There are other employees who could fill in for a day. Would it be ideal? No. Would they do as good a job? No. There's only one Pete. He can't reach into a closet and pull out wellness and put it on like a new shirt. Sometimes you tough it out and get better, but sometimes your body needs the extra sleep that facilitates the healing process. Only Pete can decide how bad it is, but there is more wiggle room for a company than there is for one person.

    Pete is the kind of person who agonizes over all kinds of decisions -- his posts reflect that -- so I do think he should ask himself whether he'd really take a day off. If he went home and worried and stewed and stressed and made a few phone calls and checked in with the office and never really got the proper rest he would take a day off for, then he wouldn't do himself or the paper any good.

    Only Pete knows the answer.

    I will end with this, and it goes back to my first point, that jobs like his (and most people here) take and take and take an ask a little extra from you after that: I seriously doubt the paper would thank Pete in any meaningful way if he worked while sick. The way the industry is going, the way his paper is going, is it really worth it anymore? I mean, really? This is the place that forced people to decide whether to be laid off or bump someone else and take their job. We know the stress that put on Pete. If the paper lays off Pete or shuts down one day, nobody will come to Pete and say, "Hey, Buddy, thanks for working sick that day (or week). Here's some extra pay for that, to show how much we appreciate the extra effort."

    If taking a sick day makes him more expendable, well, eventually an employer who would make that kind of determination is going to find any excuse to cut him loose. Pete, it's your call, and only you can answer the important questions. But, I'm here to tell you: Take care of yourself. Nobody else will.
     
  7. tapintoamerica

    tapintoamerica Well-Known Member

    I'm calling' in sick. I'm callin' in twisted. I was drinkin' two-fisted.
    -- Reverend Horton Heat
     
  8. SF_Express

    SF_Express Active Member

    One twist to this whole thing in recent years, of course, although likely not in Pete's case. If I were to get sick now, for example, I could work from home almost as if I were sitting right in the office.
     
  9. BitterYoungMatador2

    BitterYoungMatador2 Well-Known Member

    It doesn't love you back.

    And THEY don't love you at all.

    Call in sick.
     
  10. forever_town

    forever_town Well-Known Member

    Especially with the way they've screwed you over.
     
  11. mjp1542

    mjp1542 Member

    Now that Pete's a photographer, I am thinking that's not an option.

    In my seven years at a small paper, I called out sick once and left work early sick twice. The one time I was out I had pink eye and I would have infected teh entire newsroom had I gone in. The two times I left early were back-to-back nights when I was the only person in my department that could lay out. Both nights I set everything up, told a news desker where to place stuff and left. The second day I felt great when I went in and progressively got worse. Had I known it was bad, I'd have called out.

    My boss was very anti-sick days. He certainly would look down on someone if they took one, so I see where Pete is coming from. However, my opinion is, if you're too sick to work, you're too sick to work. Only you know where that line is and if you've crossed it. Not being able to focus or see the monitor correctly probably crosses that line.

    Hope you called out, Pete. One day's work is not worth risking your health.
     
  12. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    And you don't think some of those people will call in sick if they are actually sick and need a day of rest? Of course they will. That's the right thing to do.

    Seriously, people -- he's giving himself enough of a guilt trip. Doesn't need our help with that.

    Take care of yourself. Nobody else will.
     
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