I was scheduled to work the breakfast shift at Hardee’s. I woke up about an hour before I was due in, and smelled gas, very strongly. This was particularly alarming because I was on the second floor of the house. I ran down to the basement, and could clearly hear “sssssss” from the top of the stairs. Turns out the gas line had become disconnected from the water heater in the middle of the night. I ran back upstairs, woke my mom, and then called 911. I said, “Hi, I don’t know if this is an emergency, exactly, but the house is filling with gas.” They assured me it was indeed an emergency, and told me to get off the phone and get out of the house. We had guests staying over, and so my mom hustled everyone out and over to the neighbor’s while I gathered up all the pets: rabbits, cats, and a bunch of birds. The neighbor was not thrilled to see us. The fire department came, shut off the gas, opened all the windows, and told us not to go back in until that afternoon.
So I called my boss to tell him I wouldn’t be in because my house had almost exploded. He didn’t find this a compelling excuse. (“But it didn’t explode, did it?”) I explained that I was also in my pajamas, was not allowed to go in and retrieve my uniform, and even if I could have, it was in the washing machine, still wet from the night before. I had planned to dry it that morning. Running the dryer now would be a definite no-no. He felt it was worth the risk for me to go get it and dry it at the neighbor’s house. I told him he was welcome to come over and go in and get it for me. He said fine, take the day off.
I’ve called in sick for the death of a pet. I also call in sick when my favorite author has a new book out.
When my daughter was in high school, I allowed her to take days off at her own discretion. She was so conscientious, she never abused the power, but she did use it a few times for things like “bad zit” or “just don’t feel like seeing those people today”. I would write her an excuse note saying that she didn’t feel well.
The only time I ever called in sick without being actually sick was for a really bad haircut. It was the day before Thanksgiving and by the time I actually had to come in to work, it had 5 days to grow back. But it still looked terrible.
I’m of the mind that hungover is a valid kind of sick…yes, a sickness you bring about yourself, but sick nonetheless!
That being said, I’ve only actually called in hungover once. I have taken a few “mental health” days, they could be called, though. Once every few months I just wake up and say “nope, not dealing with XYZ today” and call out. I just say “not feeling well,” and it’s not a lie…mentally not being well is still not well.
You’d be amazed at how much a day of playing video games in your underwear can do to your state of mind.
I’ve never had a job that required a reason for calling in (first jobs had no leave, current one has combined sick/vacation days) and, so, I’ve made a practice of just not giving one whether it’s because I’m sick or because I’m having fun, and since I seldom take a day off, no one cares.
However, I still remember a funny call someone made at a job I had several years ago. We were waiting for him to show up when he called in and the call went something like this “Hey, this is Steve (or whatever his name was), I can’t come in to work today because I’m sick… of my job. click” …I don’t think we saw him around anymore after that.
OK, calling in because you’ve sprained your ankle is maybe not that bizarre… but calling in because you’ve sprained your ankle, WHILE AT AN ORTHOPEDIST’S OFFICE, has got to be a bit unusual.
Beyond that, nothing beyond the usual assortment of “can’t breathe”, “everything I’ve eaten in the last month is trying to escape”.
Back in the day when I cared about my coiffure and used a curling iron on it, the thing shorted out and burned a big chunk out of the front of said coiffure. Yeah, I could have washed my hair again to get the smell out, and go in anyway, looking like some bizarre comic-book character. I chose to call in sick and go get an emergency hair trim and style.
For several years I was the only woman in my work group. I could easily get out of work any time by stammering, “Oh, umm, it’s an, er, a female problem,” and offering to explain. I was never taken up on the offer.
I once had to leave work because the smell of my new shampoo on my hair was so strong that it made me nauseous. I’d nearly gagged using it that morning, but had persevered and gone in to work anyway. But the scent clung like a needy ex, and I eventually had to run to the bathroom and blow chunks, then excuse myself from work for the day. That was about six years ago, and this was the shampoo.
I just remembered another one. Six years ago, a little movie called “Serenity” came out. You guys might’ve heard of it. Being a pretty big Firefly fan at the time, my then-spouse and I had gone to one of the surprise early showings in May-ish. They announced another one afterwards for a few weeks out. We felt kind of bad about going ourselves, since we knew a lot of other Firefly fans.
They announced that tickets would go on sale at something like 11AM on a weekday. I called in so that I could be sure to get them for each of my friends who wanted them, as if I’d been at work, there was no guarantee I’d be free at the proper moment. It worked.
I’ve called in because of books I wanted to read and games I wanted to play. Also skipped school to catch movies, especially Return of the Jedi on opening day.
But those were jobs that really weren’t serious (at least to me). Nowadays, when I want off from work, I take it. Supposedly. Currently I have 132 hours of vacation time and 32 hours of sick time coming to me.
My neighbor’s tree came down across my front yard, clipped the edge of the roof, and pulled out all the service lines to the house. The live lines were across the road, sparking and shooting out small flames for a bit, and I live on a cul-de-sac. I literally couldn’t go back to work after coming home for lunch.
Back in 2001, I think it was, I was getting ready for work and it suddenly occurred to me that I would much rather spend the morning playing SSX Tricky on my XBox.
So that’s what I did. I called in sick, but I was really calling in tricky.
