Calling in sick to work?

[Whitacre_Girl]

So I have a question that I am not really sure about. I feel bad posting here since I gave up the forums for lent, but hey, it’s technically sunday and I need advice from fellow Catholics.

Basically, my life has been through some pretty dramatic changes these last few weeks. Today has been my first day off of all 4 of my jobs (4 part time jobs I am working around each other to maintain around a 40 hour work week) in 2 weeks. I am exhausted, and I haven’t had any time to see my friends, husband, or just relax. I am stretched pretty thin and I am worried about the effect this is having on my health. Not to mention I just got accepted to a post bacc program that I am having to really gear up for.

Anyway, I have a chance to have a night to spend with my husband and friends tomorrow night. However, one of my jobs scheduled me on a shift until 3am. Combined with the fact that I have to work the following morning babysitting a 1 year old for 9 hours, I am thinking of calling in “sick”. Is it immoral for me to call in to work saying that I am sick when I am really not to get out of this one time shift? I feel really bad, but I don’t typically stay up that late (I can’t stay awake much past 1am these days as I am usually up at 6:30) and I worry I won’t be effective at work, and the mental health day would do me a lot of good.

I have never called in sick when I haven’t really been physically ill. I just worry that with my stress (it’s good stress, but still stress) if I combine it with severe sleep deprivation (I’d only get 2-3 hours of sleep that night) I’d be dooming myself to an ailment worse than the one I’d fake. I know it’s totally my fault for overcommitting myself, and I am heartily promising to God not to let it happen again if I can just find a way out of some of these commitments for now. I only have to power through another 2 weeks until I start school, but I am worried I won’t get that far at the pace I’m at now.

 

[JRKH]

Based on what you have written I would say go ahead and call in sick.

You have a strong work ethic, and a properly formed conscience or you would not be asking this question in the first place, so it is OK to follow your conscience in this matter.
You need the R&R.
You also need to rethink your job situation overall and make adjustments to prevent your burning out.

Peace
James

 

[prodigalson12]

Ditch the job that has you staying up way past your bedtime and show up for your “real” job the next morning. At the same time, why are you spreading yourself so thin, what goal is there that you are accomplishing? Spend time with hubbie here, all I can say along you free time, you two need each other for support during these troubling times.

 

[Whitacre_Girl]

You also need to rethink your job situation overall and make adjustments to prevent your burning out.

Peace
James

Thank you for your kind words. I am rethinking the job situation. I kinda got into this mess like a frog in boiling water. Gradually. One job started scheduling me for 2 hours a week, or not at all for weeks on end, so I had to find other ways to earn money for school. I took on a couple extra gigs (temporary until school starts), then the first job threw all kind of hours at me, including midnight (or later) shifts. I HATE backing out of commitments so I made it work, but I’m headed one way into burnout city. LOL

 

[Ron_Conte]

Lying is intrinsically evil and always immoral, even with a good intention, even in dire circumstances. So it is a sin for you to lie and say that you are sick when you are not.

Telling someone else that it is OK to lie is formal cooperation with an intrinsically evil act, and that cooperation is itself intrinsically evil and always immoral. So it is also a sin to recommend or encourage another person to lie.

 

[JRKH]

Lying is intrinsically evil and always immoral, even with a good intention, even in dire circumstances. So it is a sin for you to lie and say that you are sick when you are not.

Telling someone else that it is OK to lie is formal cooperation with an intrinsically evil act, and that cooperation is itself intrinsically evil and always immoral. So it is also a sin to recommend or encourage another person to lie.

hmmm - I wonder if physical and mental exhaustion qualify as “Sick”.

Peace
James

 

[tjm190]

Lying is intrinsically evil and always immoral, even with a good intention, even in dire circumstances. So it is a sin for you to lie and say that you are sick when you are not.

Telling someone else that it is OK to lie is formal cooperation with an intrinsically evil act, and that cooperation is itself intrinsically evil and always immoral. So it is also a sin to recommend or encourage another person to lie.

She is not claiming “I have a foreign pathogen in my body, and despite my immune system’s best efforts, this pathogen has negatively effected my body’s ability to function.” That would be a lie. Saying “I’m not gonna be able to make it in today, I don’t feel well” is a perfect representation of the truth.

 

[Whitacre_Girl]

heh. I wound up going in anyway. My husband made it rather clear that he would be disappointed if I didn’t go in as we needed the money. They wound up sending me home early anyway, so I was able to be in bed by midnight.

I’m still set up for a good 55 hour work week though. heh.

 

[dominicandinah]

So I have a question that I am not really sure about. I feel bad posting here since I gave up the forums for lent, but hey, it’s technically sunday and I need advice from fellow Catholics.

Basically, my life has been through some pretty dramatic changes these last few weeks. Today has been my first day off of all 4 of my jobs (4 part time jobs I am working around each other to maintain around a 40 hour work week) in 2 weeks. I am exhausted, and I haven’t had any time to see my friends, husband, or just relax. I am stretched pretty thin and I am worried about the effect this is having on my health. Not to mention I just got accepted to a post bacc program that I am having to really gear up for.

Anyway, I have a chance to have a night to spend with my husband and friends tomorrow night. However, one of my jobs scheduled me on a shift until 3am. Combined with the fact that I have to work the following morning babysitting a 1 year old for 9 hours, I am thinking of calling in “sick”. Is it immoral for me to call in to work saying that I am sick when I am really not to get out of this one time shift? I feel really bad, but I don’t typically stay up that late (I can’t stay awake much past 1am these days as I am usually up at 6:30) and I worry I won’t be effective at work, and the mental health day would do me a lot of good.

I have never called in sick when I haven’t really been physically ill. I just worry that with my stress (it’s good stress, but still stress) if I combine it with severe sleep deprivation (I’d only get 2-3 hours of sleep that night) I’d be dooming myself to an ailment worse than the one I’d fake. I know it’s totally my fault for overcommitting myself, and I am heartily promising to God not to let it happen again if I can just find a way out of some of these commitments for now. I only have to power through another 2 weeks until I start school, but I am worried I won’t get that far at the pace I’m at now.

Take a “mental health day” and call in. you don’t want to risk the chance of being so stressed that your immune system is compromised and you catch something that will cause you to miss several days…or to be so exhausted you become physically ill with nausea/diarrhea or a stress-induced migraine type of headache.

Rest and regenerate.

 

[dominicandinah]

hmmm - I wonder if physical and mental exhaustion qualify as “Sick”.

Peace
James

Absolutely. All she needs to do is say “I’m not feeling well today and won’t be in”.

 

[Whitacre_Girl]

Thanks again everyone. I’ll have to remember this for the future.