Humor will not be tolerated!! -Portia

Here I am, feeling horrible, wondering if I'm feeling horrible enough to call in sick for work. So here's my question for all of you all:

What are your criteria for skipping classes? Are they different for work?

This one time I barely made it through work and decided to skip my class and go home, just because of cramps. It was my last class ever, too.* I was very put out.

So, my criteria are different for school and work. I feel like if I'm getting paid or have a responsibility to be there, I should be there unless I'm sure that my being there would provide a worse experience for my clients than my not being there. For class, if I feel like I'll have a worse experience being there than staying home, then I'll stay home. (I have generally liked going to class, for various reasons, so these criteria might not work for everyone.)

*not ever ever. my last class ever before I stopped going to classes regularly.

If it's anything that could possibly be contagious, I stay home. If I have a fever, I stay home. (My mom's rule that stuck with me.) If I start getting ready for class/work/whatever and can't stand, well, standing, then I stay home. Another rule my mom had was that if we were too sick to go to school (or work) then we were too sick to play afterwards. So if there is something I plan on still doing that evening, despite feeling sick, I force myself to work/school. Because if I skip those, I have to skip my evening plans, too. (Though, sometimes that laxed. I'm pretty sure my mom made that rule to make sure we weren't faking. And sometimes in college I really just needed more sleep, so by the time I napped and woke up, I really was feeling better to do things in the evening. So if I knew I was being completely honest with myself, I'd still go to the evening stuff.)

Dragon Lady wrote:If it's anything that could possibly be contagious, I stay home.

Not trying to be nitpicky here, but does that include something like a cold? Because although I appreciate trying not to spread illness around, I think that might be taking a relatively minor illness a little bit too seriously, unless you work in the ICU or something.

I'm generally a stickler about going to class -- so I don't skip unless absolutely necessary. The only times I've ever stayed home from school were for nasty things like the flu or food poisoning. Work (and church) is about the same, I guess. I once missed a little bit of work because of cramps (sorry fellas, not trying to be gross here). But they were the debilitating on-the-floor-curled-up-in-a-ball kind. So it usually takes something pretty awful for me to skip out.

Laser Jock wrote:

Dragon Lady wrote:If it's anything that could possibly be contagious, I stay home.

Not trying to be nitpicky here, but does that include something like a cold? Because although I appreciate trying not to spread illness around, I think that might be taking a relatively minor illness a little bit too seriously, unless you work in the ICU or something.

Nah. But that I can keep from spreading by not coughing into my hand, keeping tissues nearby, and washing my hands often.

I try to go to work, although my current job I have called in sick more times than ever before, like once a month at least. It makes me sad and I feel like a slacker, but sometimes when 5 am comes around I am absolutely unable to keep my balance. If I'm just tired I'll go to work and then come home and sleep.

Class, if I haven't done the reading and they don't take attendance I won't go.

I'm a terrible person and will skip class for many, many reasons. Sick? I think I'll sleep. Snowing? No class for me. Didn't do the reading? Looks like I'm picking up a later lecture. Nice outside? There's no way I'm sitting inside. But those reasons may be why I have never been successful at school...hmm...
As for missing work, I do that, um, never. I like to eat too much and no work = no money = no food.

I skipped a class today because I have bronchitis...

We make the kiddos skip day group if they have a temperature at or above 100.5, since anything above that is likely contagious. However, by the time I catch it it has already made the rounds, so I go to work sick much more often than I ever have before.

Back in the day, I used to skip class a lot. After about my third semester, anyway. Oh the reasons you can come up with if you try.

My sister and I have been terribly sick all week. She has gone into her work twice for important meetings/presentations, but then left right after. I have been working my normal full-time shifts. She keeps texting me about how she's exhausted from doing a load of dishes and how she can't believe I'm at work. It makes me feel tough.

I will almost never stay home due to sickness because (a) I generally think I am probably exaggerating (b) I like people to see me as the dependable kind and (c) I'm afraid of missing important things. If I'm really all that disgusting, I figure it's my co-worker's job to tell me to go home.

Ramoplot wrote:I skipped a class today because I have bronchitis...

Bronchitis is the worst, Rompalot. Feel better.

One time (last week) I left a class early because I lost my phone and was panicking. That was the first time this semester I've skipped. Actually, the first time since I've been in this program (I'm in my second and final year). So I guess that normally, I don't skip classes. I just bring my computer to my classes and don't pay as much attention as I should...

TheBlackSheep wrote:After about my third semester, anyway.

I read this as "third trimester" which definitely changed the context of this.

When I was in school, I almost never skipped class. Now I get a pretty decent amount of time off work, but I value that stuff so highly because there's so much I want to do with it that I've been really sad the two days in two years that I've missed work for illness. I want to use that time to travel and do cool things, dang it!

Wisteria wrote:When I was in school, I almost never skipped class. Now I get a pretty decent amount of time off work, but I value that stuff so highly because there's so much I want to do with it that I've been really sad the two days in two years that I've missed work for illness. I want to use that time to travel and do cool things, dang it!

Heh. I remember that feeling well. And I still do with Yellow working. We like to save up all his vacation so we can do a week at Lake Powell in the summer and a coupla weeks over Christmas to go to a cabin and spend time with family.

My criteria for skipping classes and for skipping work are completely different. I figure that for classes the only responsibility I have is to make sure I learn the material, which frequently I could do without going to class. So I skipped quite a bit (at least until my upper-level lit classes, which I wanted to go to because they were interesting). But when you're working, you have a responsibility to other people as well. Since I started teaching I haven't missed work for anything short of typhoid or taking my sister to the airport 5 hours away.

I had a much, much too lenient criteria for skipping classes as my BYU career went along. Wanting to sleep? IM with a boyfriend? Go into work? Makeout? Hadn't done homework?

This did nothing for my GPA. My soon-to-be husband somehow slept pretty much from 4 AM to noon for a good year or so and got out of there with 3 degrees . . .

After attaining my majority and going to a university out of state, my attendance and GPA shot back up to their high school levels. It was about (a) living way off campus, and therefore not being able to just go home for a nap; (b) taking it more seriously, (c) having a very short quarter. Even at BYU I did better about actually attending when it was spring/summer term.

As to work, unless I'm snowed in/truly ill, I go. I like money.