It feels like the people I know who don't work in medicine don't seem to understand the responsibilities people in medicine have toward their jobs.
I was ill with a fever a few weeks ago, and I was having a bit of post-viral malaise (still am). I wasn't feeling fabulous, but I wasn't actively sick or anything. Just dragging a bit since the fever, although improving. I was supposed to work at the hospital over the weekend, and multiple people told me I should blow it off. Adults. Who have had or currently hold jobs.
One person further suggested I should take several months off.
It's exhausting to explain this to people. Including my husband. Do people in other fields really don't get that you can't just take off work without warning just because you're a little tired?
No, they really don't get it. And never more clearly illustrated than when the requests for sick certificates come rolling in...
ReplyDeleteWow...I Think that is called a work ethic and I find it seriously lacking in most individuals 15 years and younger than me. I don't work in health care but most of my nuclear family does. I have never stayed home because I was tired. I would never be at work if I didn't go in because I was tired.
ReplyDelete*Mary (For some reason blogger will not let me sign in.)
Not hardly, no work, no paycheck. No paycheck no bills paid, or food on the table. Our house likes to eat and sleep indoors. Off to work I go regardless if I am tired or not feeling 100%!
ReplyDeleteI often dream of what it would be like to work in an environment where it would be acceptable to take personal days for minor illnesses and be rude and unhelpful to customers. Ah well. Chances are it’s not ok for them either, they just care less than you do.
ReplyDeleteMy bosses are making me take time off because they will only let me carry 200 hours of PTO and I add nearly that much per year. Time off for being tired? Not likely.
ReplyDeleteI am a pharmacist and I can assure you it is not smiled upon to take a day off unnecessarily. I think I have taken off half a day in the past year for a vertigo that had me vomiting. That is it... It is entirely work ethic regardless of where or what field you work in. My father was a manual laborer and he never took off work even when he had paid sick time, and he was never late either in his eyes if you weren't 30 minutes early you were late. And all my siblings are the same way. You just have some lazy acquaintances. Take note and don't ever depend on people who makes those kind of statements for anything of importance.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking as someone outside of healthcare: I think there's broad variability in different fields for how acceptable it is. In mine, it really isn't okay. But in my husband's, where people routinely take the entire month of December easy/off, it is. It's so weird to see his attitude and approach to time off, because he'll abruptly decide to take a few days off, and it's fine. He sets an out-of-office, he calls his boss, and he's set. Doesn't even need to be sick, just wants a break.
ReplyDeleteFor me, I typically have to plan for 3 months in advance. And there have been times when I've gotten sick and ended up trying to get things done from home with a fever and what was most definitely not my best thinking.
Sometimes I think that people who advocate taking time off in these circumstances are advising what they think everyone ought to do, not what's actually done. Do I think that people ought to be able to take time off if they feel lousy? Absolutely. Is it okay for me to do that, and would I actually do so? Not unless it was really extreme.
Did you stay home on the days you had the fever until you’re fever free for 24 hours without a fever reducer? If so, than that’s your choice. Like a teacher, it’s not easy to stay home. On the other hand, if you worked with a fever, I’d have a problem with that (in any profession). Glad you’re feeling better.
ReplyDeleteWhile freely admitting I don't know how many of your coworkers would have been affected if you had done what I am going to suggest- how do you know that you would not have gotten over the malaise faster if you DID take a day off? Which is worse - one non work day, or a bunch of half productive ones?
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