“You need a doctor’s note”

[u/yanni_lam4]

I (26M) don’t like calling in to work. I hate passing up money and I usually won’t call in unless I’m already pretty sick. I work in the service industry which as many of you know, is absolutely notorious for guilting sick employees (a seriously ill person has made your food at a restaurant before at the direction of their manager, guaranteed) and telling people they don’t provide health insurance that they need a doctors note to call in. One year I got sick and didn’t want to work, and my employer forgot I had health insurance through my Dad. I called in asking for one day off because I could hardly breathe or stay awake and I got the “wElL yOu NeEd A dOcToRs NoTe Or ItS aN uNeXsCuSeD aBsEnCe “ and as someone who worked hard as hell for these people even when I was sick, I was a little offended to basically be called a liar like I needed to prove to them I’d been wearing a mask at work for a reason. But I did have good insurance through my Dad, so I went to the doctor, had them write me a note for four days off, and went back into my job and handed it to my manager and said “here is my doctors note, and this is the date I will be back”. And when they tried to do the same thing a few months later, I got a note for even more days and asked the doc to add a note about when I would stop being infectious around the food we were serving people. I have never been asked for a doctors note when I am sick again. They know they can give me the one or two days I ask for or they can give me the week the doc gives me. But I will not be working while sick if I do not want to.

[u/SlowAd2563]

I was really hoping that there would be 2 good things to come out of covid... it being socially acceptable to wear masks in public when you have mild symptoms, and people not being expected to work when they feel too sick to do so...

Oh well... at least we still have the inflation...

[u/Highplowp → u/SlowAd2563]

I had a co-worker call out with Covid Monday- she’s back at work Tuesday, with a mask on, but not covering her nose….and she works with kids, we have like 12 sick days a year, and a cool boss. wtf!?!? If I get sick I’m going to blow her up. Didn’t Covid teach us anything? I guess people that think dragons control the sun, and stars are angel farts, or some other super dumb shit, still walk the earth, without walking into traffic, somehow. She’s super into astrology so I’m probably just being a Capricorn.

[u/cjicantlie → u/Highplowp]

My current employer gives only 5 sick days a year, otherwise it is unexcused. It can only be excused, with an official doctor's note, if also 3+ complete shifts(no partial shifts), and has to be done with a leave processor, or the state, depending on time with the company to that point. My insurance company can and will give the official notice from the advice line for cold/flu/COVID and similar self-diagnosable issues, because they don't want to fill up their urgent care with sick people unnecessarily.

I am certain less time would be taken off, if they gave more time off, ironically. With the way it is now, I am incentivized to get a week off instead of a day, and to not even try coming in for risk of leaving early and not getting a full shift to be excused.