Be it because you’re hungover, need a holiday or just really not in the mood to work, most of us have taken a sick day off even when we’re not ill. In fact, 81 per cent of Australian full-time workers have faked sickness to get out of work at least once in their careers, according to a new survey. We suspect 19 per cent are lying.
Fishing picture from Shutterstock
Destination Queenstown comissioned Lonergan research to survey 1005 Australians who were employed full-time aged between 18 and 39. The survey showed the average number of sick leave people take was five per year. For those who fake it, many feel like they deserved the day off with 66 per cent saying they feel ripped off for having a strong immune system and 32 per cent believing they work too hard and need a break.
Of those who claimed they have never faked a sick day *coughbullshitcough*, 39 per cent said they don’t want to let their colleagues down, 15 per cent were scared of being caught and 9 per cent don’t want to miss their work meetings.
So have you ever called in sick when you just wanted to take the day off? What excuse did you give to your boss? Conversely, how much do you hate it when a co-worker does the same thing? Let us know in the comments.
Comments
18 responses to “Have You Ever ‘Chucked A Sickie’ To Get Out Of Work?”
If you got’em, smok’em
When I did, it was to get away from the douchebag boss.
It’s not “faking a sickie”, it’s a “mental health break”. I need them from time to time to let my mental health recover from wanting to do brutal and horrifying things to my co-workers/customers.
Been at my job for > a year and a half now and the only “sickie” I’ve chucked is so I could study for a Microsoft exam -.- Have to get my priorities straight!
logged in just upvote xyranius couldn’t of said it better
Ditto!
Me too but my upvote button is disabled 🙁
I’ve never taken a sickie. I’ve been sent home for rocking up crook a couple of times. My Dad in 34 years at his work had taken a total of 6 sick days.
That’s not a good thing though. People who profess to never take sick days and show up to work sick are much more of a problem than people who just take the day off and don’t pretend to be macho. Spreading your illness is annoying and being pretty much useless at work is not an achievement.
He said he got sent home… And by the time you’re showing symptoms you’ve probably already been passing those germs for a few days already.
In the four years I’ve been at my company I’ve had zero legitimate sick days (I just don’t really get sick.. I think I had a cold over a long weekend once but was fine by work on the Tuesday), and maybe about 10 hungover/nice day/can’t be bothered ones. I’ve always just said I am “unwell” and wouldn’t be in that day. Never been questioned.
People like you are terrible and the cause of outbreaks in the workplace. You aren’t a hero, you are scum and a wealth destroyer.
Are…you directing this vitriol at anyone in particular ?
It’s a long draw to accuse one person who turns up to work crook as being the catalyst for the office plague – 80% of the people in the office will have caught it from their kids, who caught it from other kids at school. Or from people on the train. Or in the shops. Or, or or…
Whilst I agree it’s misguided loyalty to come into work when you’re crook, it’s not as calamitous as you’re making out, and the other part of the problem is that most people don’t get enough rest, eat well or a dozen other things that compromise having a good immune system.
Relax, it’s the weekend soon.
I was directing it at someone (can’t remember but they were basically bragging about coming in sick) but my direct reply feature isn’t working properly on this browser. By the looks of it this should be a direct reply to you.
This is an old topic but on Tuesday a colleague was diagnosed with whooping cough. They have been in and out of the office for the last month despite clearly being sick. Luckily I have all my immunisations but as the father of a 3 month old I’m not impressed at all.
This is merely a high impact example but there are countless examples of people coming in with colds and it just goes right through the Division. I’ve caught illnesses from colleagues on numerous occasions. Work culture needs to change. I for one am a very big fan of work from home schemes and while I think personal leave is there for these reasons, if people feel they want to work while sick then by all means do it at home.
I love how slackers search for anything they can to justify their slackness… That time you had hayfever and called in sick: you weren’t protecting your comrade workers… You were chucking a sickie…
I’m not so sure – If I legitimately get hayfever, I may as well not be at work because that’s how debilitating it is. Thankfully here in WA it’s far less frequent than it was in QLD.
Whooping cough (diagnosis in my workplace just this week) is a little more serious than hayfever. Cold and flu is a little more serious than hayfever. You are just being disingenuous because you can’t come close to justifying grubs spreading their germs in the workplaces and hurting everyone including their bosses bottom line.
Also you clearly aren’t aware how debilitating serious hayfever can be.
a guy at my work has only worked probably 3 or 4 full weeks this whole year. either takes a day off with some bullshit excuse or leaves early.
its a rot that’s set in that the bosses seem unwilling to properly deal with. hes obviously very unpopular with everyone else.
i have every bit of time off hes had this year marked on a calendar, its quite an eyeopener to look at.