National Call in Sick Day

Setting: laptop, flannelet robe, socks, neurofen, tea and tissues - seas and seas of tissues. Well actually it's toilet roll - i'm out of tissues.

Why is it that, every time i am sick, i still feel guilty for taking a day off work? If i am able to stand, without vomiting, i feel like i should be at work. This is made more ridiculous by the fact that 1. i normally have a maximum of 3 sick days a year; and 2. some of my colleagues (both senior and junior to me) will take Mondays / Fridays off and return with a suntan. They take the bull*cough*shit joke to a new level.

I had to call in sick today and i actually didn't know how to do it. In the end i constructed a three paragraph email to my boss, coping in my manager and leaving my mobile number in case they needed me for an emergency. I'm an administrator - what possible emergency could there be? Although, my boss did ask me yesterday if the email we had sent that morning was double sided..

I know you shouldn't really email in sick but when you wake up at 6 am coughing, spluttering and sniffing the last thing you want to do is wait until a 'reasonable hour' to call your boss, make your voice extra scratchy so that they can't dispute your story, and then try to get to sleep again. As is i have spent the entire day wondering whether they really believe i am sick and weighing up whether i could get a doctor's certificate for a bad cold?

I think this irrational self important attitude stems from the thought that the firm will fall down without me but in the same breath realising that i am as replaceable as a bin bag.

This is a somewhat pointless post but i felt the need to document how proud i am of myself for taking a day off when i needed it. I'm a classic for coming in early, working through lunch and staying late, then getting frustrated because the only person who notices is me.

How do some people get to work late, surf the net all day, walk out the door at 5.01 and ask for a raise all in the same day? Do you really just need to be a confident hard arse and you get what you want? Nice guys finish last etc etc.

Anyway, i must go, i have to start work super early tomorrow to make up for being away today..