The Great Sickie Amnesty
11:30 UK time, Wednesday, 3 January 2007
It was, according to the papers, Britain's biggest sickie. While Tuesday, 2 January was officially a normal working day, it looked and felt like a bank holiday (which, in Scotland, of course, it was.)
Firms were said to be braced for a flood of calls from workers ringing in sick, when in truth most just couldn't face crawling out from under the duvet. In the event, a "record number of workers" according to the Daily Mail, "took an illicit day off in what employers believe is the greatest national 'sickie' in industrial history". It was, according to the Guardian, the "great new year skive".
The Monitor finds itself torn on such matters. While it could never condone such flagrant dishonesty, it makes no secret of wishing to be a distraction from the mundanity of the working day. So, what better way to smooth the tensions between underling and overlord than by getting matters in the open, with the Great Sickie Amnesty.
The rules are simple: if you were one of the millions to have skived off work yesterday, confess all using the form below. Why did you do it? What was your excuse? How did you spend your illicit day off?
Tell all, by clicking on the "comments" button immediately below this story. Anonymity absolutely guaranteed.
Comments
I was in Scotland for the new year. However the weather decided that it was in a bad mood and so the party I intented to go to was cancelled. So I just got very drunk instead.
I was so drunk that I could not even get out of my bed to drive back home on the 1st. I could barely get up on the 2nd. So I phoned my boss telling him that the weather in Scotland was really bad and the police had advised me, that for my own safety I should to stay put.
My boss was so nice about it, gave me today off too. So, I'm off to the sales. Cya.
No. And shall I tell you what irritates me most? I've got the worst cold I can ever remember having, and I struggled in only to have an inbox full of "so and so is off sick today, they hope to be back tomorrow" messages. Now, almost time for my afternoon nap, I think...
Well, I'm actually the boss (how else do I get time to play here?) so have had a few cracking sickie excuses over the years – "My mum's dog is poorly" ranks high in the all time list. But yesterday I got this gem: "I'm stuck in Swindon and don't know how I got here.." If you get anyone sending in that, and what they did for the day, I will be fascinated. He looks very pale today..
I was off sick on the 2nd, but it was genuine!
After a week of kayaking on some nice cold whitewater in Scotland over the New Year, I've got a horrendous cold.
Yep, i took the day off sick - texted in NY day and said i'd explain Wed when i got in. However, he's not in hehehehe, hopefully i wont have to explain that i did nothing all day apart from sitting on my butt watchin telly relaxing having a fabulous day - naughty i know but just didnt want to work.......
I, too, was off sick yesterday but was genuinely sick, having not been able to sleep for two nights due to my inability to breathe or swallow properly from an infection. I find it awful that people like me get branded in with those who just couldn't be bothered to get up
I took a sickie yesterday but it was genuine! I have been ill since Christmas Eve and it seemed to peak on New Years Day, I only had approximately 2 hours sleep (NOT I hasten to add because of partying!) and even then my husband said I was screaming out about being attacked!! I was so shattered by Tuesday morning that I decided to stay at home. Despite being not much better today, I am at my desk and really enjoying the hilarious comments from my colleagues about the "hangover" I had yesterday! I wish!!!
I didn't take the day off on the 2nd - really and truly there's not much point because ... what do you do on the 3rd? Sometime you will have to go back to work so just go back on the 2nd and get it over and done with.
I was stuck in Swindon and I don't know how I got there.
Perhaps if the holidays we got in Britain were more in line with the rest of Europe we wouldn't feel the need to skive off.
Strange that the train home was as jam packed as ever, then, if everyone else was off work!!!!!
I went on a massive bender on new years eve, had no sleep, and fuelled by 2 bananas I spent all day of the first drinking guiness in a pub. I was tucked up in bed by midnight and Fresh as a daisy in the morning, straight to work only to find it like a ghost town.
Why are people such lightweights?
I managed to get the 2nd off of work - but I would have definately called in sick otherwise!
The worst sickie I have ever pulled was when I was working at a bar and told my manager I had food poisoning 15m before my shift was about to start... all so I could go to Reading Festival and Prague for two weeks.
She was none-the-wiser (I hope!) and went back to work after my paid time off! Left the job four days after coming back, never mind!
I worked from home ;)
I'd like to be able to skive off but I'm a housewife and a mother... *humph*
I was off yesterday, but our bosses gave all of us in the rest of country a discretionary day off because the Scots had an extra bank holiday. Nice bosses, nice Scots too.
Honestly, whats with all the complaining. If you dont feel like going to work then dont go in, simple as that. Who cares if the boss thinks your faking it, no one should have to wokr on the 2nd 'cept for bus drivers and other type of work. IN NZ, the 2nd is a holiday! However we only get a handful of the holidays you brits get, and we work harder too, it's a scientific fact.
the best way to make that phonecall sound convincing is by laying on the floor, face down, so your voice is muffled and heavy - almost flu like, one might say...Not that I've tried this myself, you understand...
well, well... I had to work on the 1st and 2nd, and NO, I did not pull the sickie... thinking about it now though :)
Booked the time off on account of being in Tenerife on a cycling holiday. It was wonderful.
Being a temp I don't take sickies unless I'm physically incapable of making it to the office. Despite being a cause of other people taking time off, I get paid just the same. Employers just don't seem to grasp that paying temps occasional sick days is far more economic than letting them come into the office and making everyone else ill.
I woke up in a strange bed and didn't know the way home.
I so nearly skived - but no! I went to work like a good girl! So I am very proud of myself.... but I feel a headache coming on at the moment really... my throat hurts.....
I was genuinely v v ill with flu ( jet lag & the left over effect of altitude sickness from a US ski trip) & spent the whole miserable day in bed with a temperature.
Although weirdly now that I've struggled into work today (on the 3rd) I feel bizarrely fine & suddenly cured!
I believe in listening to my body & it said resolutely to 'stay in bed on the 2nd'
But has it been tricked by my mind..??
I called in on Tuesday morning at 7:00 a.m. thinking that I would reach my manager's voice mail. Instead he picked up the line. With neigher a cough or stammer I told him. I wasn't coming in. My manager asked "Are you sick?" I replied "Did you hear me say I was sick". He burst out laughing and said "Honestly, women - do you at least know how to pretend. I'll see you on Wednesday".
I walked into my office sat down and he walked in and took a seat and burst out laughing. He said in all his years in business; he had never encountered anyone who just honestly stated that they weren't coming in.
I said I could have lied, but what was the point.
He thanked me for my honesty and handed me my year end bonus and said thanks for a great year and keep up the good work. Still laughing.
i had a legitimate day off yesterday after working everyday from boxing day to new years day without a day off (pulled in some lovely double time overtime hours!) it was great. i enjoyed every minute of lazing around in my pyjamas, finally putting my christmas presents away, and going out to see kylie minogue at wembley!
I was too busy to go back to work yesterday, taking delivery of all those things I had bought in the sales!
I live in Scotland, so... No, I think that's all I wanted to say. Apart from "ha-ha!", of course.
I was genuinely sick and still am today. I've been terrified that they'll think I'm skiving... I can't afford to lose my job.
I woke up at 8 yesterday moring to find that the radiator next to my bed had burst, and was spraying boiling water all over the room. 9:30 found me at the plumber's merchants buying a new radiator, having removed the old one and dried out most of the mattress with an iron. By the time I'd fitted the new radiator, it was gone 11:30, so I didn't make it to the office until gone 12. Sickie? I'd have liked one...
Despite spending most of the 1st either sat on or head down the toilet I really should've taken 2nd off but didn't. After driving to work and passing out at my desk I really wish I had, but now reports of the big sickie make me look like a real trooper.
Thankfully, we didn't have to be back at work until today. Everyone is here, but the heating has broken down so we are all leaving early anyway! See it pays to be honest and turn up to work, even when you don't feel like it!
I was clever enough to book the day off work in advance and thus stayed in bed all day watching tv and eating waffles. However i think the real reason everyone was off sick was to call up call centres and sort out their bills as ours was seriously busy yesterday.
I work in education so I'm not due back until next Monday plus I'm owed a week so I'm taking that next week so now not due back until the week after - and no need to skive! Hehehehe! Have fun all of you - I am!
91Èȱ¬ with the dogs, but was looking for my next job after working out at the gym whilst feeling 'under the weather' due to too many Kir Royales with friends and neighbours at my house the night before.
Alas, I was one of those poor suckers that came in on the 2nd. That said, it was because I'd been offered a new contract on my last day of 2006, and with 90 redundancies due in my workplace over the next 18 months I thought I'd better get it in ASAP!
Otherwise, a sickie would've been tempting, hangover or not.
I took yesterday off. Booked it as real vacation too. Now I read that everyone else except MM threw a sickie. Makes me sick ...
Hmm. If this is so anonymous, why do you need our name AND email address? You don't for normal comments to the Magazine... Needless to say I was working on the 2nd even though none of our students turned up to use our library, despite always moaning that we should be open longer hours!
Last new year a Scottish uncle of mine went out first footing and re-appeared 4 days later with no recollection of where he had been.
I wonder what he put on his sick form??
I came into work, voiceless and feeling rather pooh as I have had the cold / flu since Saturday 23rd.
I am dedicated unfortunately ( or is that more fool me ? )
It was great fun as I talk to people all day and today my voice is even hoarser....
Happy New Year by the way! :-)
I am a teacher and not due back to work until Monday although I've been in today and will be there Thursday and Friday to get all the necessary done before the children appear. How is it that the rest of the working population complain about ALL the holidays teachers get and yet most of the country has shut down for a fortnight??
I booked the 2nd as a holiday so I didn't have to work on my birthday. I wasn't feeling too well as it happened, but a lazy day at home (including short nap) and a pub meal out in the evening meant I got through my first day at work of the year on only four cups of tea.
Ah the beauty of being self-employed. I didn't work yesterday, because I didn't want to. And it doesn't matter if my boss sees this, because it's me and I don't care! Happy new year!
I work for (an unnamed) scottish bank and can confirm the 2nd is a normal working day. However, since I was in work yesterday, I can also confirm that a large proportion of my colleagues booked holidays in advance, called in sick or, in some cases, simply failed to turn up.
I had the day off, thankfully, so no skiving necessary. Having said that, please hold me in your thoughts anyway - I was one of the poor saps working a bar on New Year's Eve!
Last new year a Scottish uncle of mine went out first footing and re-appeared 4 days later with no recollection of where he had been.
Swindon?
I went to work early.
So there.
Today was the first day of term at school. I turned up early ready to work . Unfortunately many of the year 11 students decided 2 weeks holiday was not enough for them!
I took yesterday off, from my paid holidays. FYI, to the person who moaned about holiday entitlement, I work in France and have 25 days paid leave a year. I believe this is the norm in the UK. Also, in France, when Christmas Day falls on a weekend day (as last year), you don't get a day off in lieu! So don't complain ;) But I was back in work today. Everyone has to go back some day!
I flew back to Memphis from Dublin!
I phoned in sick on the second as we were expecting loads of summer holiday catalogues and they are extremely heavy. After all the booze I just couldnt get myself out of bed.
P.S I'm still off now and loving it.
I get really fed up when people presume that Scotland have an extra Bank holiday on 2nd. We don't! I work for a bank and it was business as usual. What really annoyed me about being in yesterday was that every team in our department,except mine, got to go home a bit early. The only one who slipped away early in our team was the boss - 5 mins before I was due to finish anyway!
Let's start a campaign for the more bank holidays.
We get 8 the French 11 and the Italians 16
I went to work on the second of Jan 07. I was sent home again at 1345, having been there for 5 hours, in the freezing cold, becuase my company has not upgraded the heating system in 35 years. I would have been better off pulling a sickie! Amazing I'm not sick yet- the temp was about 10 Degrees C!
PS: had to come home again today, too- same reason.
I moved to NZ in Oct, Jan 2nd is such a sensible day for a bank holiday! What did we do? we went to the beach, flew a kite, played in the surf and thrashed my chums at beach cricket. I forgot the sunscreen so am now glowing and radioactive looking. Reading about the great sickie and all those troupers who struggled in with the lurgy makes me feel soooo much better about having another summer! Enjoy...
No time for sickie takers!
Either your jobs are so unimportant you're absence isn't a problem so you're probably worth considering for redundancy or while your sat on your lazy fat backsides someone else is having to do twice the work to compensate for your ignorance and selfishness, (most likely for their same wage).
What a load of wusses out there! Some of us work for a 24x7 helpdesk and this year I worked on Xmas & Boxing day nights as well as New Years Day (and that was after going out on New Years Eve!). You once a year drinkers really get on my nerves!
Best I ever heard was "Sorry I wont be in today - Im in bed with something I picked up last night" And everyone thought it was food poisoning ?????
Some people work and are not paid while some have jobs to avoid work. The minimum wage is the maximum insult and the unemployed being forced by threats of withholding food money are forced to work on government mickey mouse schemes for less than the minimum wage/maximum insult. Unemployment hidden by a smokescreean of postmodern fog. Sick of the nationalists blaming it on the unemployed while they invest our sold off national industry in china.... YEAH REALLY SICK OF THE FARCE !!!
I work in an essential service. I worked Christmas this year so that I could have New Year off.
Guess what, people who were supposed to work New Year (after having Christmas off) didn't. So I had to work Christmas, and the 31st and the 1st. I am working this week and the weekend too.
I have hardly seen my children, but they understand that someone has to do the job. I wish some of the 'adults' I work with had the same mature and responsible attitude.
Sick? You bet I am.
haha i planned it this year and put in my leave form in about August. mind you, i should have asked for wednesday off as well :(
I'm English... but living in New Zealand where the 2nd was a holiday so fortunately no excuses needed (but the best one I ever had to use was when I was a nurse due in for a night shift. I was flying back from a remote island that afternoon but the plane skidded off the runway and crashed into the bush so I couldn't make it back in time. They didn't believe me at first when I tried to explain over the satellite phone. Later I showed them the pictures!)
Some of us were working on the 1st! If I ran a business and found that someone was pulling a sickie and didn't show on the 2nd, they need not bother coming in ever again as they would be out of a job.
If you want the 2nd off, book it as a holiday and don't steal it like a common criminal.
In the US you often have to take any sick time out of your vacation time, so a sickie doesn't really make sense - what you have to do is say that you'll be working at home catching up on email...
I really wanted to pull a sickie but as I still live at home (I’m an impoverished student back for the Christmas hols) my Mum didn’t let me. Instead she tricked me out of bed with a trail of biscuits. I really didn’t want to go into work as I’m a receptionist and I have to deal with people who make me want to scream and the reception area I work in is constantly cold as the door is always open. I got so cold before Christmas that on the last day I was so very ill from the cold but had to come in as we had only a skeleton staff and no one knew how to deal with reception. Now I sit with a heater on and a tartan blanket over my knees to keep warm. I’m constantly told by the elderly that come into reception that keeping my coat on indoors is rude, especially when talking to people. So no I haven’t pulled a sickie, would have like to tho! Oh well back to Uni next week for a well deserved rest!!!
I live in Scotland, so the 2nd was a given, but also had a bonus legitimate day off yesterday as well as the office didn't open. Result!
Our boss once took a day off as he needed to to tend to his sick goldfish who had got a hair caught in it's gills!
Having worked 7 night shifts from Christmas Day until New Years Day, I feel fully entitled to the whole week off!
I was actually quite sick (not self inflicted) but went into work anyway to avoid being labelled a skiver...
Aren't I great?
I felt terrible on 2nd Jan - not from hangovers but from a chest infection. I still travelled the 70 miles to work and did a full day, for fear of being considered a sickie-puller.
I found out yesterday (3rd) I have pneumonia. I'm now working from home!
I went in on the 2nd and was rewarded with such a blissfully empty journey it only took me 35 minutes to drive the 27 miles to work, which is usually a 1hr 20 crawl, so thanks everyone for skiving, please do it more often as it makes my journey easy!!!!
I was in Scotland on the 2nd. I'd say "neener", if I hadn't actually been ill ... I spent most of the Christmas holidays ill. One heavy cold and two stomach bugs.
Now I'm back to work, and I feel fine. Go on, snigger, you know you want to!
With everyone I work with being in fear of their jobs thanks to a huge chunk of the jobs already being moved to Poland it was no surprise I was in work along with everyone else in my office.
I didn't even consider taking a sickie. If I'd wanted a day off I'd have taken it as holiday. I'm rather amazed at the laziness and cheek of some of the people posting on this board.
Would you like it if your employer lied to you?