Why is it your bosses never believe you when you are sick?

Question

and are mad to fell guilty for having time of to get better i hardly take time off for sickness and feel bad when i do...

Answer 1

That is because the boss faked it before when he was working under someone.

Answer 2

Their job is to get the work done. If someone's out for any reason, they have to fix that. They're just bad bosses. And many are because they're unable to do their job and so they pass the problem on to the employee to fix by making you feel responsible to be "the boss" so they don't have to. Hold your ground. If you've seen a doctor then be sure you make a copy of that visit and have it at work to demonstrate you were legitimately out. If you are really sick, you're sick!
Stay home and get well, no matter how long it takes. If this jeopardizes your job, the EEOC, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission can help you.
Don't feel worse than you already do. Take a nap, eat well, and get better! :}

Answer 3

You can't generalise, there are good bosses and bad bosses, just like there are good workers and bad workers. If you are always asking for time off sick then its not surprising if your boss gets a bit suspicious, especially if you come back into work with your haircut! However if someone comes to a boss for the first time in 3 years and explains that they can't stop running to the toilet then its more likely that they will be believed.
Unfortunately there are some that exploit the system, and sometimes everyone else gets tarred with the same brush.

Answer 4

There's always the situation where a manager knows that they can rely on you to do good work. If you are sick because you get run down with all the extra work, they are responsible. Despite being paid for their responsibility, no manager wants to admit they deliberately heap extra work on people under their control - it's a guilt thing. They usually blame it on your family life or social life.

Either they have had too many 'sickies' themselves or they have seen too many other time-wasters and shirkers and don't know the truth anymore.

And having a note or letter from your doctor will only be useful if it gets to an employment tribunal. Certain managers will tend to ignore doctors letters because they figure the doctor hands them out like candy.

Personally, I cannot stand to be idle - I have to feel busy all the time, even during the holidays and vacations - so I'm always fixing the house or helping family or something. I do not like to be sick but it happens.

I'm off work at the moment with flu-like symptoms and a hacking cough.

Answer 5

Because a lot of the time it is someone just wanting time off. Generaslly though, their belief in you will stem from the level of trust they have in you. If they know you're a hard worker and you rarely take sick days, then they will probably believe you. If on the other hand you're a lazy SoB who takes them off every month, chances are they won't.

But if you need to prove to them that you are genuinely ill, find an excuse to have a work collegue come over (say you weant to be kep up to date on whats happening at work or something) and then they will see first hand that you are ill and (probably) report how bad you look to the rest of the people at work

Answer 6

Same reason the traffic court judge believes everyone is lying. Because too many do. If you have a clean record the boss knows you do not abuse sick days. Company I work for makes it easy, you get a ceertain number of Personal Days Off PTO. When you use them up for sick or vaction you are out of time,.End of subject.

Answer 7

Last week I came to work caughing my guts up, I was so full of cold, but otherwise I was perfectly well to be at work. The boss walked in when I was having a caughing fit and he sent me home immediately. He was too worried that the others will catch it from me. So off I went, this was on Wednesday, and I didn't come back until Monday. Great, innit?

Answer 8

Well maybe it's usually because your not... hmmm or is that just me... I be thinking not!

Maybe we've got to the stage where we need to drag ourselves into work when we are sick... infect everyone with what ever sniffle we have and go home sick... at least the boss would be happy knowing that we ARE actually sick... probable along with the rest of the office the next day! hehehehe

Answer 9

I have a boss who rings me to see if I'm at home when I am sick. She's stopped doing it now since I pointed out to her that she is not allowed to hound me when I am not within my work environment and if she had a problem with that she could speak to my Union Rep who would be more than happy to clarify this.
Some companies are bad but if you are sick it is up to you what you do with your time when you're at home. As long as you're not bungee jumping of Canary Wharf and having it plastered on TV, you're perfectly within your rights to go out shopping (visiting the chemist/Docs of course), go out for a meal (too sick to cook), in fact anything you want. Lots of people feel differently when they are ill, not everyone stays in bed all day. Sometimes going out for a walk is all you need to feel better.

Answer 10

Hi. I guess if you put your self in their shoes you might understand why. When you have to pay someone out of your pocket, you'd typically demand 170% value for your money.

Psychologists say the average human being does not like to work but would like to continue receiving regular income. So, bosses tend to believe that an average worker would do ANYTHING to get off work.

We (my wife and I) once hired a maid and we quickly got weary of her excuses. She was always late and gave excuses about her kids... after a while I thought to myself "maybe this is how my boss sees me!"

Answer 11

Because, I've found that people judge others by their own standards. So it's obviously something they are used to doing, or have done in the past.

Don't worry, if you're genuinely ill, just take the time to get better and don't go back before you are completely well - otherwise you'll make yourself sicker for longer!