My stepmother has been working the same job outside of university for 25 years. She is a school teacher. She's wanted to quit for the last few years but over COVID decided to stay. From my understanding, they have not always been the best employer and punish teachers based on their decisions (like taking multiple sick days or holidays can lead to less desirable classes, expectations outside the classrooms etc.) to the point where my stepmother has played the game. She has not used her sick leave to go to the dentist or doctor all these years instead going during holiday time and return to school as soon as possible when having a cold/flu because she is worried about the fallout. So with her wanting to quit, and quit with passion, she wants to use all her sick days before leaving. She started at 200 days and now is down to 80 days.
We are trying to brainstorm what would be great ideas to use up her leave. She had knee surgery and is having another surgery coming up, but overall is in excellent health, so she hasn't yet needed any sick days.
She doesn't want a teaching job after this, so it's not like she cares about a good reference.