Plan a Sick Day
Every once in a while, it's common to need a mental health day or a day to just relax. While sick days are supposed to be used when you're sick, it's fairly common to use them as extra vacation days or paid time off. Usually frowned upon by management, it is possible to use a sick day for your own purposes (other than being sick). Here are some tips about how to plan a sick day.
Steps
- Get your work done ahead of time. If you've got stacks of files or other paperwork to get through, it's a good idea to get most of it done before taking your sick day. Accomplish necessary tasks and meet approaching deadlines so that when you take your day off, you won't come back to work and have to play catch up.
- Clear your schedule of appointments. It's hard to take a day off if you know you're missing important appointments and meetings. Attempt to schedule around the day you anticipate taking as your sick day.
- Check the number of sick days you have remaining. Often, sick days go unused while vacation days are used up. However, parents with small children sometimes run out of sick days before anything else. Check to see how many sick days you have left. You don't want to wake up with the flu a few weeks from now only to find you're out of sick days.
- Keep your excuse for needing the sick day simple. The more complicated the excuse, the less believable it is to management. When you call into work that morning, simply say that you are sick and can't come in. If you give a complicated excuse, you run the risk of having to remember it the next day when you return to work. Additionally, if your excuse indicates you are terribly sick, your coworkers may expect to hear about a doctor's appointment.
- Plan to use the day at home. Catch up on housework or watch television. Relax and sit down with that novel you've been hoping to find time to read. Spend the day catching up on tasks you've been letting go at home. If it's around the holiday season, use the day to prepare holiday decorations, send cards or wrap presents.
- Avoid local places where you might be seen by coworkers or your boss. If they think you are sick, they will be surprised to see you shopping at the mall, dining out at your favorite lunch place or working out at the gym. If you must venture out of the house, travel out of town or to an entirely different part of the city to shop or eat out.
- Act a little under the weather or tired when you return to work. Your coworkers and boss think you've been sick. If you return and act bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, they may know something is up.
Things You'll Need
- Telephone
Related Articles
- Get Work Done While Sick
- Relax when You Are Sick
