So, I’ve been a sickie for the last couple of days. Stayed home 2 days because of it. Some might call that being a weenie. I prefer to think of it as being smart and healthy. Wow, what a weird thought process this is.

You see, before I got the glamorous job that I currently enjoy, I was a retail store manager for a bad long spell. And when you’re employed thusly, you are simply not allowed to call in sick. See–there’s you and maybe another 2 people in your store (who are also employed similarly), so if you call in sick, there’s nobody to replace you who’s not already working 60+ hours a week. So what do you do, as an ill retail salaried employee? Why, you go in, work your 10+ hours like usual, all the while hoping that the day will end sooner than it normally would. Yuck. Oh–that and you don’t heal up, which means your cold/flu/thingey is going to be hanging on for the next few months.

There are not a lot of people, probably, who have this unique perspective. I suppose I should be thankful. It causes quite an inner struggle, though, whenever I (rarely) do get sick, as I have this past rule of “the only reason you don’t go to work is if you’ve died” conflicting with this new rule of “I feel like absolute dog poo-poo, and my body really needs to just stay home and rest it out.”

Long story short, the new rule won out over the old.

Here’s hoping my friend Mike feels better (and Liz and the cat). Here’s holding a symbolic loving thingey up in honor of all the salaried retail management peoples who don’t have a choice in rules. And here’s to being thankful that I do have a choice in rules.

*sniffle*