I know, I know: obvious, overdone point.
Please give me grace on this post. It's my first time posting on reddit and rn I'm sicker than a dog.
Background: I hardly use any sick days. I used to have really frequent migraines and I've started having extremely painful menstruation in my 30s with all kinds of other symptoms. Therfore, I'm conditioned to never call in sick unless I'm dying; if i called off for every issue i would use all my sick time in 2 months. Also, my son was in the hospital for 2 weeks and almost died when he was 2, so I never want to let my sick time get low in case it happens again.
Having said that, I had to take a sick day yesterday because both kids had the flu and I'm not allowed to wfh if I'm taking care of sick kids. Long story short, I caught what they have: fever, headache, body aches, sore throat and a nasty cough. I also go back and forth between being freezing and super hot.
I “get to” wfh today and tomorrow b/c those are my regular wfh days, but I really should be in bed getting better. It's good that I did log on since the other 2 people who perform my job function are out of the office.
It's our busy time of the year as we work with attorneys who have to complete a minimum number of hours of continuing legal education in order to not get their bar license suspended. They've all all year to do a paltry 6 hours but many wait until December then freak out and call us about it.
But I digress. Why do I have to work when I'm definitely not fit to do so? If I wfh today and tomorrow, I won't have time to get better and might lose my voice from talking on the phone when it hurts so bad to do so. I may end up having to call off Thursday. If I still have a fever or feel even half this awful, I'm not waking up early, driving in traffic, then walking a city block in the cold just to sit at a desk and take care of these professionals who didn't plan ahead and have now made their poor lack of planning an emergency for me to handle.
When my kids or I get really sick, my first thought isn't concern for our well-being, my first response is stress about how it will impact my job and cut into my small amount of sick time.
My boss is really nice, but I work for the state government so there's nothing she can do to help. Managers have very little power in my state.
Sorry so long, tried to make a TL:DR but can't summarize my thoughts right now. I'm just annoyed and sad for the state of our country.