Was out with some friends the other day, and while discussing plans for vacations, time off, and recent milestone anniversaries at work. One of our friends had just reached a number of years, and so was now moving up to more PTO and more sick days. I mentioned that one of the things I had begun focusing more on was my health (both physical and mental) and making use of my sick time, such as feeling under the weather, or needing a mental health day, I'll take a day and fully recover rather then try to work through it.
This friend then proudly mentioned that even with more sick time, he won't take sick days 'since i work from home'. And talked through how, hes not at risk of making anyone else sick because hes at home, so why take sick time?
Blew my mind. He is someone who continually vents and struggles with how much work hes loaded up with, and how miserable most days are. But even when hes sick…he feels proud to put this work first.
I wanted to scream