Calling in sick always seems to be a frowned upon action at my place of work, but yet so is coming in sick…so really what is the proper course of action? What constitutes being sick? It seems to be a very grey area at my work. Is being to hungover you can’t stop puking sick? is having the flu sick? is having a broken leg sick? is having strep throat sick? or is it so sunny out and all your friends want to go to the beach sick? Who really ever knows what it is, and if it is “sick enough”.
There have been a few times where I have called in and told my managers that I have had various “sicknesses” such as strep throat, the flu, pink eye or a cold and yet they still want me to come in for my shift. Upon arrival they will comment “oh wow you look really sick, you shouldn’t be here”. “I can’t believe you would come in for your shift looking like this..”Oh really? What do you think I called you for a few hours ago?
Managers get frustrated when you tell them your sick, but yet frustrated when you show up sick, so what really is the solution to this problem? Would you rather run the restaurant a little short staffed, or have you staff coughing all over customers food for them to see? It really is a double egged sword.
In my personal opinion, honesty should be the best policy. If managers are able to create a trustworthy and respectable relationship with their staff, I believe staff will be more open and honest with their managers regarding issues such as calling in sick. If a staff member abuses the calling in sick system, maybe it is best to terminate them. Although, if a staff member calls in sick a few days a year, give them the day off, allow them to rest and prevent getting everyone else in the work environment sick.
In the end, we are all human and are not perfect, we are bound to get sick a few days a year. Allow your employees to stay home, binge watch netflix and recover quickly.
Have you guys ever experienced an issue with calling in sick?
How do your managers generally react?
Server Life 
I personally hate calling in sick but my manager and supervisor are very understanding if I ever called in sick which is very rarely. Fortunately (knock on wood), I don’t usually get very sick to the point where I can’t come to work. I totally agree with you about being honest and trusting. Managers should trust their employees and employees should be honest and not take advantage of the situation. It works both ways. Very interesting topic. 🙂
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I have been met with a few opposition when calling in sick..however..most of those times where last minute but beyond my control as one time I sprained my ankle a few hours before work. However, in the end, they understood my condition but the only downfall was, it was very last minute….sort of makes me wish I sprained my ankle the day before….but in the end..its your health and well-being that comes to the front of the line.
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I really liked your blog, since it’s a topic that’s commonly debated in the work environment. I usually have to call in a manager from another store to cover for me if I’m sick, so I try to avoid that situation all together. On the other hand, other managers are usually willing to help me out if I’ve come down with a sickness. You might consider me to be lucky, but I’ve never had a problem with employees calling in sick for an illegitimate reason; therefore, I’m always willing to help them find someone to cover their shift. Here’s my theory: If an employee is sick, they should stay home. This helps to speed up their recovery period, and allows them to get back to their fully-functional state quicker. Plus, the customers always seem to get paranoid if they see a sick employee handling their food. As you said, if calling in sick clearly becomes an issue due to illegitimate reasons, the manager should simply terminate that employee.
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I couldn’t agree with you more! It is pretty easy to see someone who is abusing their sick days at every job. These people always call right before their shift, have multiple sick days per month, and never seem to reason why they are so frequently sick. If this is the case, I think they should be fired because it ruins it for everybody. Whenever I’m actually sick my manager will be very sarcastic and disbelieving of my sickness because I have a few coworkers who abuse the program. But ultimately, I think honesty is the best policy.
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I agree with you. I don’t usually call in sick or skip my work, but one time I had to call in sick because I was having a fever. I called the manager and she was angry. She then told my boss that I wanted to skip work not because I was sick. Later, my boss called and gave me a long lecture which I couldn’t even focus on what he was saying because I was so sick. Two days later, they apologized to me in regards to their bad attitudes. From then on, the manager was nice to me. Till this day, I still don’t know what had happened that changed their attitudes so quickly… =/
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I hate calling in sick. It sucks waiting on the line for over half an hour at times just to finally get to speak to the manager. And once you finally do get to speak to the manager you have to convince them that you actually are in fact sick. The worst part is when they ask you to bring in a doctors note. So I have to take time out to got to the doctors and pay for a note to prove that I actually am in fact sick? It’s honestly just annoying.
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