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You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion
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Watcha' Doing - 2021
Margo wrote: "I got the go ahead to lose the moon boot on saturday! My ankle is very weak but it's on the road to recovery. I have my first physio appointment tonight, storm allowing.We have Barra at the momen..."
Great news for the boot and hope the weather won't last long..
Thanks guys! And the storm has passed. Lots of flooding but noone died. The sun is shining today 🙏
Sorry to hear about the storms, Margo. Glad to hear you are safe though and the weather has passed. And even better to hear about the moon boot!!
Sounds scary, Margo. Glad to hear everyone is fine after such a a storm. Goodreads was down for many hour yesterday, as you all probably know. I'm just catching up with your comments.
Yes! I couldn't get on for most of evening. As BorrowBox was down too I was blaming the weather.
It seems it was one of Amazon's servers that came down.
Oh that’s cool Kristie and oh ok Kristie and oh that’s cool Kristie and oh ok Kristie and oh that’s cool Kristie and oh ok Dawn and oh ok Dawn and oh that’s cool Janice and oh that’s cool Janice and oh that’s cool Janice and that’s wonderful news Margo and I hope the weather turned out well for you Margo and oh that stinks Margo and yeah that’s what my mom told me about one of the Amazon’s servers went down Sandra
Lol I love when I make people laugh lol
Yep, I think you caught us all there there Christina ROFL
Christine wrote: "Lol I love when I make people laugh lol"And it was very nice from you to answer every single comment. :)
Oh I’m sorry Margo and lol your funny Margo lol and and aww your so sweet Sandra
I'm trying to justify taking the day off. Here's my reasoning. 1. Yesterday was a horrible day because my anxiety was through the roof. Still is.
2. I worked through the weekend at the end of November to meet deadlines. I could count it as a day in lieu.
3. I went to the optometrist yesterday and she didn't change my prescription, so I can afford a few hours off... money not spent, but still.
4. It's Friday and I don't want to.
But I should.
Why would you NOT take a day off Janice? Go for it! You deserve it :)
Janice, I think the best excuse is that you need it. Go for it and enjoy it. :)
Yeah, I agree with Peggy. That seems like a long list of reasons. Number four alone is enough for me right now. lol
I took the day off and I enjoyed myself.
Glad you decided to do that, Janice.
Yay! Sickies are the best. But sounds like you needed a mental health day anyway, Janice. I am glad you had a lovely day.
Why is it so hard to admit when you need a mental health day? I think I'll do it more often.
I think people feel guilty or embarrassed acknowledging that they need time off. But no one can go full throttle without needing a break. After a MH day (worked into a 3 day weekend) I always felt refreshed and ready to go another round.
I think people often feel like they need to work all the time in order to show a good work ethic, but in reality they work better when they have some time off. It's something we pick up from society. I know different cultures are different, of course, but around here it's always frowned upon to take time off even though companies are obligated to give you a certain amount of time off. I used to work for someone that would request doctor's notes from people when they called in sick. It caused issues more than once.
Yikes, that's horrible Kristie. It wouldn't even be allowed here. When you call in sick, your employer is not allowed to ask for specifics or proof. Luckily I've always worked in places that operate on trust, but that's definitely not the case everywhere. And not all jobs are as easy to take a mental health day in. When you know it's just you that has to catch up on work it's fine, but if you have a job where someone else would have to work extra to cover for you, it's not so easy.
I've been okay so far, but I notice this week my winter blues is setting in. I feel a bit down, tired, don't feel like doing anything, have to really motivate myself to go out for a walk, just want to sit on the couch and read or watch tv. The weather has been gray for so long, maybe once a week there's an hour of sunshine (at least, that's what it feels like ;-)) but real sunny days haven't been around for ages. There's supposed to be a bit of sun in the afternoon. Maybe going out for a walk then and putting up the christmas tree today will help :)
Peggy wrote: "Yikes, that's horrible Kristie. It wouldn't even be allowed here. When you call in sick, your employer is not allowed to ask for specifics or proof. Luckily I've always worked in places that oper..."
What happens if you need to take more than a couple of days off? We can take one or two days without a doctors certificate off, maybe a week if you have the flu, but anything more you need a certificate from a doctor.
Lexx's work used to ask for a doctors cert for any day off, but he just filled in a statutory declaration that said he legally swears he was sick.
Doctors certs are so silly for one or two days. You spend all day trying to get an appointment (if you can, GPs are so scarce here sometimes you can't see one) and they say "you have a cold, go home and rest" and it's like i would be if I didn't have to be here for work. So most workplaces are more relaxed about it now.
And workplaces here usually recognise mental health days as sick days. But as you don't have to say why you are sick those couple of days now you just say I'm sick, which you are. I actually feel really uncomfortable when my staff tell me exactly why they are taking days off now. Unless it for more than a couple of days, I don't need to know what your stomach, nose, mental health, etc is doing. You look after you.
To be honest, I'm not sure. I have never called in sick for work, at least not in the past 11 years since I started grown-up work life. The worst I get is a cold, but rarely so severe that I can't still go to work (pre-covid times). On those few occasions that it was a severe cold, it happened to be on weekends or in holidays, or I was still able to work and worked from home. I think though that when you call in sick you can get a visit from a doctor sent by your company. Which would probably not happen when you're just ill for a few days, but when your sick for a longer time. Or maybe when you call in sick very often. I remember such people visiting our house when my dad was sick (when he hurt his back and couldn't walk or had a severe flu) when I was a kid. But that was 25 years ago so times may have changed ;-)
Wow! May your good health continue, Peggy! That is actually amazing. I had a pretty massive wake up call about colds at work about 6 years ago. I was the same, if i wasn't unable to move and okayish, I would turn up to work. The academic across the hall from me came to my door one day and asked me to go home. I said I was fine and was busy, I could deal. Her response was sure, but she couldn't. She had a severely immuno-compromised partner, and if she caught my cold and passed it on to her partner, the partner could end up in hospital or worse. She just quietly said I was sick, it was okay to stay home and get better as that is exactly why we have sick days, nothing at work was that urgent, and left.
I had never ever thought about it like that. And now it has been a constant thought with Lexx and Covid over the past two years, and he isn't severely compromised, they must have been just so exhausted all the time!!
Yeah same here. You don't stay home just for a sore throat or a cough if you can still get work done! At least, that's the attitude many people have, and if you do stay home for such reasons, it's frowned upon. I would also feel very guilty, especially when someone else would have to cover for me. But good point about infecting other people, especially those who do get sick easily. I wonder if this will be different post-covid. I haven't had the slightest health issue since June last year, and that's okay with me. I wonder if people will stay at home more easily in the future when they have a cold and can afford it. Maybe for a while, but back to old habits soon too, probably.
I do not have sick days, I have days I can take off, either vacation or sick day. The only difference is a check box to say sick in the day-off request form. Probably because these forms are usually filled after the day off when you are sick. So I do not have to justify a day or 2 off if I am down. I would if I had to take a week off or so, And these would probably require a doctor's note.
I agree, Rus. That was always my issue with doctor's notes. If you have a cold or even the flu (pre-covid) you wouldn't necessarily call a doctor right away. But you spend your time (and money here) trying to get a note. It makes no sense. Most places I've worked allow sick days without a note. Some would want one if you were taking a lot of time off. It's not standard practice to request one all the time.
The company I was working for at the time I mentioned above didn't require them for one day off, it was just our specific boss. I remember one woman confided in me that she had had an abortion that she took time off for. Our boss required a note. She supplied one from her gynecologist. Then, our boss thought it was a 'fake illness' because her gyn had sent the note instead of a regular gp. (And this was a female boss!) She assumed it was a friend of hers. I had to explain that women can have female issues that they need time off for without divulging what the employee had told me about her medical treatment. That was a strange, uncomfortable position to be in.
I've always had the feeling that you should go to work if you can. I hate to call in. However, I know other people appreciate not being exposed to my illness as well. There is definitely a line where I'm like, no this is a bit much to be going to work with, but there is that gray area in between.
I worked two union jobs and they both had sick days written into the contract - like 1.5 days a month. The glitch came in when you were sick immediately before or after a stat holiday. If so, you needed a doctor's note.I got a sinus infection one year at Christmas and I was really sick. Christmas and New Years were a write off. When I phoned in, my coworker gave me a head's up that I would need a doctor's note, so I went to see my doctor. I told him that my sinus's were plugged and I had bad headaches. He listened to my lungs, checked my throat and said, "There's nothing wrong with you. There's no lung congestion, and no inflammation of the throat." I asked, "Did I complain of congestion or a sore throat? No! You tell me why, when I look at your walls, I see spots because my headaches are severe, and why I can't breathe through my nose because it's so stuffed." He said "Fine!" Wrote out the doctor's note and threw it at me, "I would recommend you get a new job," With that, he stomped out of the examining room leaving me sobbing my eyes out. Instead of getting a new employer, I got a new doctor. Those were the days when you could. He no longer practices here - too many complaints.
My second union job, my boss told us in a meeting that if we needed a mental health day, just to call in sick, but she said, "Just don't let me catch you shopping in the mall. or out on the golf course." Two things that are great at relieving stress.
What a horrible doctor! I would have replaced him too. I love when jobs offer personal time in addition to sick or vacation. It makes sense to be able to take some time off work if you need to register a car or something like that and it doesn't fall into one of the other two categories. Then, you can use it as a mental health day if you want to and be seen anywhere you feel like being.
I had a holiday lunch with one of my book clubs earlier today and we all brought a wrapped book that we've read and enjoyed and did a book swap. We are all supposed to read the book to discuss at our next book club meeting. We also need to try to guess who brought the book we read. Should be a fun meeting. I received State of Terror.
Kristie wrote: "What a horrible doctor! I would have replaced him too. I love when jobs offer personal time in addition to sick or vacation. It makes sense to be able to take some time off work if you need to re..."
I had a job like that. We got 5 personal days a year, sick days that could be rolled over to the next year if they weren't used (useful if you got sick for an extended time) and vacation days that could also be accumulated but you had to be careful about that. We got all of our year's allotment of days at the beginning of the year and could have no more than 60 vacation days at the start of the year. It was a very generous agency.
That is such a great idea, Kristie. We're having our book club Christmas lunch next week.
I hate sinus infections Janice and oh that’s cool Kristie
Kristie wrote: "I had a holiday lunch with one of my book clubs earlier today and we all brought a wrapped book that we've read and enjoyed and did a book swap. We are all supposed to read the book to discuss at o..."My book club does that every year at our xmas party Kristie! (Well, the years we can have parties anyway - this year and last year we were denied :(). Anyway we each bring a wrapped book and a bookish quiz question, whoever gets the right choses the book from the pile and isn't allowed to answer anymore questions. It's hilarious :-D
OMG I think I aged a couple of years in the last hour. Not sure if any of you follow Formula 1, but today was the final race of the season and the top 2 drivers were tied in points after 20 or so races. I've always hated formula 1 but Rob is really into it, so you know, it grows on you. One of those 2 drivers is Dutch (from my area, actually) and he was in second place for most of the race and no chance of him winning, but then the last lap was absolutely crazy, my heart was hammering!!! And he won! I had no idea I would care so much and would find it so nerve-racking.
LOL! Peggy, that is hilarious. I'm glad your guy won and you can celebrate.
Janice wrote: "I worked two union jobs and they both had sick days written into the contract - like 1.5 days a month. The glitch came in when you were sick immediately before or after a stat holiday. If so, you n..."That doctor is a git!!!
I get at least one sinus infection a year so I know what you were going through.
In the last company I worked for your bonus was tied into performance and the amount of sick days taken was a key parameter. Tough of employees with health problems! You could self certify for up to 5 days (giving a reason) then it was doctors certs.
Peggy, congrats! We were seeing it. A huge surprise.
Lol thanks, but he won with zero help from me ;-)
No problem Peggy and lol your funny Peggy lol
Haha Peggy. It's funny how things creep up on you. I got very enthusiastic earlier in the year with a couple of England's football matches in the Euros.
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You'll love this one...!! A book club & more
Books mentioned in this topic
Dark Horse (other topics)A Clean Kill in Tokyo (other topics)
State of Terror (other topics)
The Way of Kings (other topics)
The Way of Kings (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Jane Harper (other topics)Gabriel García Márquez (other topics)
Gabriel García Márquez (other topics)
And good luck with the weather.