What does it mean to truly be sick? If you don’t know, go visit someone who is dealing with cancer. That’s more than being sick. That’s a pain and a suffering and a toughness that the rest of us can't truly comprehend and, hopefully, won’t have to ever endure personally.

Meanwhile, many of us complain about headaches and sniffles and upset stomachs and allergy symptoms. Reality check? Maybe a dose of our own medicine.

A 2023 report was published at www.statista.com on the number of sick days taken from work or school among adults in the U.S. from 2020-2023. Among the roughly 80% of adult respondents who worked or studied, more than three-fourths took sick leave in the last 12 months.

We most all know someone who seemingly never takes sick time. I worked with an incredibly loyal man at a printing plant I managed a few decades ago who never took a sick day. If he ever was sick, none of us heard about it. He took great pride in being dependable to his employer and his co-workers.

I also knew a young man in his senior year of high school who had perfect attendance throughout all his years. He was a good student and a good athlete, but he was equally proud of his attendance record. He became severely ill one day and was unable to come to school. He was deeply disappointed, as he, too, took great pride in being dependable.

What changed? Some say COVID impacted our views on spreading sickness. Others say today’s sick-time policies encourage employees to stay home. The most critical ones say we are simply a softer generation looking for excuses not to work.

Unfortunately, we all know some folks who take every sick hour available year after year. You have likely heard the comments. “They owe me!” “I have it coming, so I am taking it!” “I am entitled to it!” Inevitably, some of these folks use all their sick days early in the year with the sniffles and end up being truly sick in the latter part of the year and have to use vacation days or time without pay or, worse yet, come to work sick and expose others.

The U.S. Department of Labor says Federal law does not require companies to offer sick leave. But, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 78% of civilian workers do have access to paid sick leave benefits. Put another way, 22% don’t.

So, if you are fortunate enough to work for an employer who provides sick time, be thankful — and hope you don’t ever have a reason to use it.

Have a terrific Tuesday, and thanks for reading.

Shane Goodman 

President and Publisher
Big Green Umbrella Media
shane@dmcityview.com
515-953-4822, ext. 305
www.thedailyumbrella.com

View Shane Goodman's archived columns from past issues here.

The polls have closed and a record number of readers have cast their votes in the latest CITYVIEW'S Best Of Des Moines readers' poll — the metro's original and largest poll of its kind.

 

Winners will be announced in the February 2024 issue of CITYVIEW!

 

$280,000

308 NW Seventh St.,

Grimes, IA 50111

 

Pride of ownership is easy to spot in this great Grimes home. On the main floor, you will find a nice sized living room with large picture window allowing natural light to flood in, Furthermore, the updated kitchen is a great space to gather with friends. The upper level has three bedrooms and a full bathroom. The true gem of this home is the fully finished basement with fourth bedroom and full bathroom all with second family room and a wood-burning stove.

 

By Jim Duncan

Des Moines is considered a small market, at least for media, entertainment and designers. That’s changing now in a world flash-shrunk by the Internet. Before the last 20 years, most Iowa artists with ambition left the state, usually for New York. Iowa was more famous for the people who left and made it there — Halston, Larry Zox, Andy Williams, Johnny Carson, Donna Reed, Glenn Miller, Bix Beiderbecke, Ashton Kutcher — than the people who stayed.