The Ole' Apothecary

I called in sick one day in November of 1979, when I spent the entire morning puking up an Italian sandwich. The next time I called in sick was for two days in the winter of 1985, when I had a severe case of influenza.  After that, I did not use another impromptu sick day until February 2005, when I had the worst case of flu in my life: cough, congestion, fever, and no way to get comfortable. I felt like one of the characters in the film Outbreak. Finally, I had to call it a bad day in November of last year, when severe sinusitis sent me to the E.R. and not even I.V. Dilaudid could touch the pain.  Total number of days called in sick in my 32-year pharmacy career: five.

Now, read http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,377901,00.html.  In Connecticut, a second-grade teacher calls in sick. What does she do? Spend the day coughing and puking in her bed? She goes on the Howard Stern television show in a bikini, with her husband! 

At my previous employer, people used sick time like vacation time.  When I would come in to work on Fridays and Mondays, I would always get especially tight in my diaphragm, because I would never know where I would end up with all the absenteeism.  The boss called the sickness "Mondayitis." I never caught it; I just do not believe in using that company benefit for other than that for which it was intended. So, being blessed with good health, I am seldom on the phone announcing my absence to my supervisor. One can assume that if I cannot come in, my death may not be a rumor. If I can think, I can work. The five days in question were days on which I could not think. Vomiting, fever, and extreme pain are not conducive to my practice of pharmacy.

But, there is another side to this philosophy, as many pharmacists will testify.  I, and we, could probably be a lot kinder to ourselves when it comes to sickness.  Having the ability to think as my criterion for coming in to work does not mean that I work comfortably.  Working with a throat on fire, or a feverish, headachy feeing in the absence of fever, or with a bad headache that Excedrin will not relieve, is unfair to me. I could use the time off, but I persevere for the sake of continuity among my co-workers and the pharmacy department.

Jim Plagakis dealt with this issue in a recent post on http://www.jimplagakis.com. In "Pharmacy Is Not For Sissies," Jim tells of the chronic wear and tear on pharmacists' bodies that is the result, not only of our stoic nature, but also of our toleration of working conditions that the rest of the working world would stage a demonstration against call out the legal eagles and the Industrial Accident Commission over.  The Pharmacy Alliance (TPA, see www.thepharmacyalliance.com; you should join!!)  wrote 14 principles to deal with our emotional and physical pain, and soon will probably be concentrating more on the physical injuries we must start addressing.

Remember the old joke, "Any employees found dead in a standing position will be sent home?"  I think of the Ole' Apothecary every time I run across that.