In my old jobs, of course...
Obviously, I've never pulled a sickie in my current lovely, wonderful job *cough* but in previous jobs I've...

Had power cuts that stopped my alarm going off

Been blocked into my drive by an inconsiderate neighbour and therefore unable to leave

Had various tummy/fever/dizzy/can't stand up properly incidents

Been unable to breathe (this does happen occasionally anyway, as I've got asthma, but it's handy for those extra days needed, and gets you loads of sympathetic noises, especially when coupled with 'the morning voice'...)

Driven up the wrong motorway

I guess the one that sticks out most in my mind, though, was the time that I actually really did have flu - as above posters had said, flu really hurts, everywhere, lasts for days, and you kind of can't do anything. I was working in an evil evil call centre at the time, where sickness was discouraged, as were loo breaks, lunches or indeed anything other than being glued to your phone. I managed to get back into work after about a week, to find that a message had been sent round the internal not-quite-email system, saying

'Ancrenne won't be in AGAIN today'

Flaps to that, thought I. Two weeks later, I came into work and told my boss I was leaving, that day. When asked why, I told her it was because I had been offered a 65% pay rise and a training trip in America. I didn't mention that it was because my soul was slowly being twisted and destroyed by the 'supportive' environment they called 'team work'; she didn't mention the simmering hatred between us, but I did get a bottle of loverly vodka as a leaving present.

Funny enough, liking your job does seem to reduce the amount of sickies pulled, but places like call centres will never understand that people are people, not machines, and need to be treated as such. If only they'd realise that, instead of thinking about numbers all the time, they'd realise their currently impossible dream of having a commited and 'healthy' workforce.
( ancrenne doesn't eat anything that can play video games, Thu 15 Jun 2006, 12:07, closed)