Sick Days

Hi Alyse,

I'm pretty new to my job, I've only been there 4 months and have full benefits including health insurance and sick days. People at my job do not use their sick days - they tell war stories about how they have come into work after falling down stairs the night before, with 100 degree fevers, the list goes on and on. Well the flu is going around and the war hero's in my office of course came to work and of course I got sick - too sick to go to work. I had body shakes, high fever and was incoherent for a couple of days. I stayed home for a couple of days and when I got back to work, it seemed like I was getting the cold shoulder from my colleagues like I broke some kind of code. What's the point of sick days if you don't use them when you're sick? HELP!

Sick and Tired in West Palm Beach, FL

Hey S&T,

Whatever your company culture, you, being the new kid on the block can not change it nor should you try. What you can do however, is take care of yourself, it doesn't seem like you would have been very productive if you had gone into work with "body shakes". Of course with your weakened immune system, you might have been exposed to the other illnesses your colleagues seem comfortable bringing into the workplace, making you worse. You want your company to pay your health benefits, not your death benefits. Take your days and take care of yourself. Assuming lost productivity is the issue with your co-workers, when you get back go to work early and let your co-workers know that you want to make up for the time you were out of the office. Spend a couple of days eating lunch at your desk stay later than everyone else, making sure that they know you are trying to make up for lost time. If that doesn't work then perhaps your co-workers are just miserable people who want your company when you're miserable.

A. Fox
"There are two ways of exerting one's strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up."
Booker T. Washington