Sick Day

Yesterday I left work after about three and a half hours. I went home and sat on the couch the rest of the day. I always feels guilty leaving work sick. The problem is, of the four sick days I remember in the last eight years, I was never "that" sick. It's not like I am throwing up or anything, just the usual cold symptoms, sore throat, runny nose, exhausted, sweating a little awkwardly.

Why do we have a problem taking a sick day? It's worst among restaurant workers. I mean, they make food for other people!

It's okay to go home sick! I've mentioned tiny bits here and there, about financial independence for myself, and I think that is part of the reason we stay at work, we're afraid that going home will in some way diminish our income or job security. It's not a crazy thought. I was talking to a man in Kansas about a year ago and his daughter got the flu when she worked at War-Mart and after four days missing work she was automatically fired. I don't know the rest of the story, like perhaps she never called her supervisor or brought in a doctor's note. I'm sure others have heard similar stories, and it keeps us afraid.

As I sat at my desk searching "when to go home sick from work" on the Internet, I thought of the fear, that I'll get a bad performance review or that I'll get fired. When you are doing an Internet search for "when to go home sick from work" it's already too late by the way, you should go home. However, I've been reading too much about financial independence, and I thought, 'I could last years without a job' and that's kind of what encouraged me to just go home, to have the "courage" to go home.

In the afternoon on my couch I thought about that "courage". If you're sick, you should just go home and get well! Don't get others sick. Don't try to muscle through some mediocre productivity and be a hero. Admit you are an imperfect human and go home. It should not be something that takes courage.