Need help with feeling guilty!

[newguy88]

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[MasterBlaster]

Well maybe you are just sick of work. So take a sick day !

I would only be worried about taking your days if you can get paid for them when you leave.

If not enjoy the time off that you have earned.

[Caroline]

Hummm, If I stay out the rest of the week will it make a difference? My retirement has been approved by all agencies.

If you've got 200 days left you could stay out the rest of the YEAR.* Anything less than that, and they should be grateful.

Now that I've got that out of the way, let me add this.* Sick time seems to me to be part of my total employment package. The company made up the sicktime rules itself, after all. But it's not a benefit unless I USE it, so I do. And I include "mental health" days in that.

If my trench buddies are involved, however, it's a different story.* Being there for its own sake seems like a waste of life, but being there for co-workers who have been there for me is just the right thing to do.

So I guess if I were in your shoes (I wish), I'd ask myself -- "is my taking this vacation day going to cause a considerable amount of grief to any of my buddies?"*

If so, I'd work that day so as to keep my karma balanced.

If not, I'd make like a baby and HEAD OUT!

[Martha]

My workplace moved from having sick days and vacation days to having PTO or personal time off. Sick days seem to encourage certain people not to tell the truth. Others wouldn't dream of being out sick unless they were sick. Those with young children who were ill had to use vacation days.

It seemed much more fair and straightforward to just have PTO.

[2soon2tell]

New guy,

My DW taught for 21 yrs. and had to take early retirement at age 47 because of health reasons. I know how hard teachers work and believe you should get a medal for your 30 years of service. You have paid your dues many times over and shouldn't feel gulity about using sick days.

Again just my $.02

[grumpy]

I worked for Uncle Sam for 32 years and accumulated over a year of sick leave. While taking radiation treatments for cancer I didn't miss a day of work. Sick leave could only be credited to pension calculation in increments of full months. Therefore, during my last few months before retirement at age 55 I took one sick day each week until my balance got down to an even number of months. Didn't feel the least bit guilty.

Grumpy

[donheff]

Originally Posted by grumpy

I worked for Uncle Sam for 32 years and accumulated over a year of sick leave. While taking radiation treatments for cancer I didn't miss a day of work. Sick leave could only be credited to pension calculation in increments of full months. Therefore, during my last few months before retirement at age 55 I took one sick day each week until my balance got down to an even number of months. Didn't feel the least bit guilty.

Grumpy

I was the HR director at GSA for five years and I always espoused the legitimacy of "mental health" days.

[youbet]

Originally Posted by newguy888

Hummm, If I stay out the rest of the week will it make a difference?

I assume by this you mean will it make a difference to the kids in your class. Seems like you would have to answer that question newguy. It seems like you have disengaged enough that probably not. But who knows? What do you think?

[lets-retire]

The way I figure it is if you have it, and need it, use it. The kids give you enough sickness you don't need to give it back. Not to mention laryngitis will make it difficult to teach, and talking only prolongs the illness.

Martha--My last job was talking about lumping all of our time together, until some bozo, me, let them know that our disability insurance required us to use all of our sick time. Nobody wanted to have to use up all of their vacation time for an injury, before disability kicked in. Some people had a couple months of vacation saved up. Talks of combining the time banks quickly ceased.

[modlair]

The whole concept of "if I am gone, then my work gets laid on my friends and causes them grief" always had a solid defense.

It is:

They are getting paid for 8 hrs a day. The work you lay on them will get done during that 8 hrs. If they don't double their output per 8 hrs to do their work and your work combined, they will still get paid for the 8 hrs. The work won't get done. It will be there when you get back. If they do choose to double their output per 8 hrs, that is their choice. You didn't thrust it upon them. You made the choice available.

[JustCurious]

They are getting paid for 8 hrs a day.* The work you lay on them will get done during that 8 hrs.* If they don't double their output per 8 hrs to do their work and your work combined, they will still get paid for the 8 hrs.* The work won't get done.* It will be there when you get back.* If they do choose to double their output per 8 hrs, that is their choice.* You didn't thrust it upon them.* You made the choice available.
Rodmail, I wish it were that simple. That may be true in an hourly job where you clock in and clock out after 8 hours with no responsibility for meeting deadlines, but it is most definitely not true in many professional or exempt positions where you have deadlines and the work must get done. So if 2 people are assigned for a task, and one is not available, and the task must get done, then the one available person must do the work of two people to get it done.

[newguy88]

It really is a blast being a short timer. Xmas is getting closer.

[SolidA]

Newguy - as a fellow teacher, my only question is: DO YOU HAVE TO DO LESSON PLANS FOR THE SUB??!! If so, use your sick days judiciously - also, here in Minnesota, we can take our unused sick leave and put it toward health care after we retire (copays, deductibles, coverage cost). If you can do that, you might want to save SOME of those 200 days to help you out with rising health care costs. Keep us posted!! Katie

[newguy88]

Its all good, I guess.

[newguy88]

yy

[brewer12345]

Originally Posted by newguy888

I feel guity now about how I cannot stand my sister in law down where we moved to.

Even my wife agrees with me. We are going to need to set some boundries.

I think that sort of thing will be a lot easier to deal with once you are done in Newark and don't have the stress of getting to Xmas on top of dealing with in-laws.

[newguy88]

Originally Posted by brewer12345

I think that sort of thing will be a lot easier to deal with once you are done in Newark and don't have the stress of getting to Xmas on top of dealing with in-laws.

You are right on there.

This is getting old real fast.

[Zipper]

In Ontario some Boards have a retirement gratuity. I got mine in 1997.

You can use 1/2 of your sick days bank (200 days maximum) X's your final years salary.

In my case $32K rolled into an RRSP (401k).

It's now doubled into the high $60's.