Badmovies.org Forum

Tomorrow I'm going to have a "planned illness." In other words, I'm taking the day off and using a sick day. I'm looking forward to it and I'm planning on hooking up the new HD tv and the Blu-Ray player and setting everything up. That's work, but if you're a man, you tend to like that kind of thing. Since it's St. Pats I'm also planning on popping over to The Dubliner for a pint or two.

Where I work this is not uncommon, and even the management seems to suggest that, hey, use your sick days as you see fit. If you want to take a "mental health" day, go for it. Still, as much as I'm looking forward to it, I can never seem to escape this feeling of guilt or thinking I am playing hooky. I guess since I've been brought up being taught a certain work ethic and just my general makeup, I just can't seem to shake that feeling, no matter now much I know I don't have worry about it.

Does anybody else have this stigma?

Where I work sick days are strictly for when you are sick or have a doctor's appointment or other medical condition.  You are not supposed to use sick days in lieu of vacation days, nor are you supposed to take sick days when a family member is sick.  Sick time is for PERSONAL illness or health-related appointments.  For days off like the one you mentioned, we are supposed to take vacation time.  The difference is the company pays you all your unused vacation time if you quit or get fired, but they don't pay unused sick time.  So they don't want you using sick time when you should be using vacation time.  Of course, you have the option of LYING about it  :teddyr:.

I normally don't play hooky.  If I have something personal to do, I just take a vacation day.  That takes all the guilt out of it.  The only excessive sick time I took was when I was in the hospital last year.

Here in Germany you get 32-35 paid vacation days and "unlimited" paid sick days, but you have to be actually sick (sickslip from Doctor) to get those.
I usually don't play hooky either, but at my last job I did fake being sick just to get a couple more weeks of extra vacation ;)

Where I work you have vacation days, which you're supposed to use for "any" unscheduled absence. This can include a sick child, sick self, or whatever, and the company doesn't really care. It's kind of the opposite of Bergomaster's situation. They generally frown on using vacation days for sick days, those are only for absences planned ahead of time and requested off. This is pretty common in the corporate world nowadays, where it used to be unheard of.

Because of this conditioning, I virtually NEVER play hooky. Even though what I'm doing tomorrow is perfectly acceptable, I can't escape feeling guilty or like I have to fake an illness.

About 10 years ago I worked for a company that gave each employee a single pool of time called "Paid Time Off" (or "P.T.O.").  They didn't differentiate between sick, vacation or personal days.  Whenever you took time off for any reason, it just came out of your P.T.O. bank.  You didn't even need to give a reason for your absence.  You just called your boss and said, "I'm taking a P.T.O. day."

*Sighs*
I wish I could play hooky, but if I don't have a job and if I just didn't show up to class, no one would bat an eyelid and I would lose a day's worth of work. :bluesad:

Not really nowadays, I'd have more work to do at home than at actual work. 

Before kids and wife during college I played hooky a lot.  One class I'd show up to get credit for being there and bail for an hour to get breakfast.  The teacher was an insane hippy who blathered on literally about nothing for and hour and a half.  It was late in my college days and I didn't have time for horsesh!t classes like this.  Nor did I care about hurting the professor's feelings.

Earlier in my college career I'd bail a lot to go to the arcade and/or the mall.  I figured I deserved it. 

oooooohhhhh, I'm telling the Principal!.... :buggedout: :buggedout: :tongueout:

I do on occasion use my sick time when I'm not sick.  I almost never use my annual leave (regular vacation time) for actual vacation; I just leave 1 hour early once or twice a week.  It's okay because the work gets done and then some.  The inspection reports that management makes when they look over my ward once a month show no measures need to be taken.  So they're cool with me jetting early here and there.  That's vacation enough for me. 
My sick time is well over 200 hours, so I really should use it here and there.  Since my sister is moving soon I can use a little of that to help her.
Maybe my self-satisfied attitude wouldn't work at every job, but here I know (and management knows) I'm a much better-than-average employee and I deserve a little leeway.

I once played hooky from school to watch Richard Attenborough filming the horror that became Cry Freedom in my home town and everyone knows what a train smash that film was.  :buggedout: :buggedout:

I can't exactly play hooky from work too often.  In as much as, I can't just pick up a phone and call if I wanna hit a baseball game.  I have to have a doctor's note and CANNOT return unless I have it.  Which means I have to then go to my family doctor (without an appointment) and try to get a note saying he saw me (which usually doesn't work).  Or I would have to go to the hospital, but since it's not an emergency, good luck there.  At which point I have to call everyone at work to get them to cover a shift.  Which then means I have to cover one of their shifts.  Which means I have to work a 16 hour day.  No thanks.  It's easier to just show up.  And if I AM sick, I still can't just call out.  Usually I just show up, and if they see how sick I am, they tell me to take a few days off.

Although, I played plenty of hooky in school.  I was a very good student who oftentimes was in classes that were worth more credits than the usual class.  And more often, I would skip ahead in the books and do extra work.  So I would take a few Fridays or Mondays off to have the three day weekend and still be caught up.

I'm not exactly playing hooky today.  I've been sick for over a week, I really wanted to take a day off last week but I kept getting stuff piled up on me at work that needed to be done ASAP, and every time I thought I finished something it was sent back to me to add or remove something or total it up in a different way.  I'm still sick and my boss is going to be out the rest of the week on vacation which means I'll be trapped there, so I thought I'd take today to try to get some rest and when I called her she made me feel terrible for taking today off.. which I'm not really because I'm probably going to be working from home longer than I would be working from work  :bluesad:.

Yeah, and remember what happened to The Little Rascals when they played Hooky:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn9_FMRvo_o

 :buggedout:

I'm playing hockey.