I’m sure we’ve all been there, when we wake up one morning and have a slight tickle or sickly feeling but not really enough to warrant the day off work but we do anyway. We wrestle with the idea that we are definitely going down with something and the reasons why we may wish to pull a sickie: we don’t want to be responsible for introducing a bug into work, we don’t want to go all the way in to be sent back home. We plan our route of attack, who to inform (usually your line manager) and how to deliver the news.

Back in the old days the only solution was to page (!) or call (let’s try a tactical call early as we know the line manager won’t be in and therefore can leave a message on the answer machine!). The call would be heavily rehearsed in our most poorly voice (how pathetic the message must have sounded!) and then delivered. We then get to the end of day 1 and secretly hope that what is really a minor cold develops into something more! Start of day 2 arrives and actually we are feeling a lot better but to mask the fact that it was a genuine skive we feel like we need to take another day as sick to emphasise how serious it was. Day 3 will be the back to work day!

Nowadays leaving a message on voicemail gives us the opportunity to re-record our message if it isn’t up to scratch! Today we also have a multitude of ways to communicate – phone, text, email, WhatsApp, Twitter! Some of the more liberal companies we deal with are now adding the concept of hangover/sickie days to staff allowance (not sure what happens for those who don’t drink alcohol) – to basically avoid the need to go through the rigmarole as described in the prior paragraph! How many people have pulled a sickie on National Sickie day?

Author: Steve Halsall

Image: Pixabay