Thank you for the prayers! No, I don’t do surgery, operate heavy eequipment, or work at the post office. I do work with special needs children, though. I hate being grumpy and stressed out with them, however. I feel awful if I loose my patience with them or do not do what I feel is a good job with them.
It is no sin to take a sick day when you lack the mental capacity to work rather than the physical capacity…particularly if your mental lack of capacity cannot be treated on-the-job, may have adverse effects that go far beyond what you contribute on the one day, and is likely to be “catching”! This is different than just feeling like you’re having an “off” day or just feeling like you’d rather not work, of course. That would be a cop-out. Your job is your job, even on the days you don’t feel like doing it.
Also, you do better to look down the track and try to schedule these days. When you call in by surprise, it shifts the burden of your job onto someone else’s shoulders. The mental health of your staff as a whole would be best if you kept that to a minimum. The same goes for people who have physical problems that they ignore until things come to a crisis point. You have a responsibility to take care of your health, in order to bring your best to those you serve and work with.
Finally, if you are sick enough to call in sick, you are sick enough to refrain from anything that is not going to contribute to your recuperation. If you’re not working, you need to be working at getting better! You need to be honest about what that means, and seek outside help if that is what you need to continue to do your job faithfully.
The goal should be to deliver as much as you are honestly capable on what you promised when you took your job, to do that in such a way that everyone else you work with can also contribute as well as your common abilities allow, and to truly be reliable and of service to the families whose care you have taken on.
Speaking of, have you talked this over with your co-workers? This kind of thing must happen to all of you on a fairly regular basis. I had a friend who was a waitress, and the wait staff gave each other the heads up when they were not in a “hospitable” mood that day or when a particular customer was driving them nuts. The rest of the staff would try to step into the gap and so give the best service and experience that the restaurant was capable of on that day.
Your co-workers have undoubtedly had days when they weren’t 100%. Ask them what they do, and what the expectation is. If you think it is not healthy, then that needs to be addressed. More likely, though, they have been through it and will have pointers on how to cope with the minimum loss of effectiveness.
You cannot function at 100% every day. Your kids need your best (at school and at home), but you can’t give them more than what you have.
