comeuppance

one of my bad habits is taking mental-health days off work; that is, calling in sick when i'm not physically ill but just don't feel like working. i don't know if it's the hesitant subversive in me or what. i'm a just wage slave and maybe part of me is occasionally bitter about that; i have so many hours of paid sick time due me, and i might as well use it. regardless, i got in a bit of trouble for it a couple of weeks ago, as i'd taken more days off in a 12-month period than the powers-that-be deem justifiable. so, obviously this means i can't call in sick for a good while to come (even though i still have the hours stored), or else i'll be written up a second time.

so what happens friday afternoon while i'm at work, and facing a one-day weekend (after my three-dayer last weekend)? a little tickle in my throat. this evolved into full-blown debilitating head and chest congestion as the evening wore on, and yesterday, saturday, i was in bed all day with this as well as general aches and malaise. bona fide malaise, not fictional. i've fibbed about illness so many times before, so i don't expect anyone to believe me now when i say i'm actually sick, but, really, i am. and today i have to work.

actually, granted, i feel a tad better today than i did yesterday, but my nose is running and i have a pretty good headache and i'm coughing and stuff. i would recover more rapidly if i spent another day on my back, but that is something i cannot do. doubtless this is deserved, no?