Honesty Is The Best Policy

Dear Co-worker,

I want to thank you for taking a sickie today and leaving the rest of us in the lurch. Not that we were entirely run off our feet or anything like that, but rather its the manner in which your sickie has been taken that has got my goat.
I want you to repeat after me: Honesty is the best policy.
And try this one: Mental health days are nothing to be ashamed of.
Methinks the better idea - rather than chuckie a sly sickie whenever you feel a bit stressed, which you plan on doing on a fortnightly basis from now - is to be honest from the start. That way you wont be getting anyones nose out of joint, and neither will you look like a big, fat, dirty, sneaking liar when you get busted.
Busily yours,
Me

This may be the look i will give him from my desk tomorrow...

Let me explain - one of my co-workers has decided that from now on he wants to take weekly/fortnightly sick leave days. His counsellor has recommended it, and is willing to write him a doctors certificate for every mental health day he takes. This has really got my back up - not because i dont believe in mental health days ( as a person who has lived through depression and still struggles with depressive episodes, i very much appreciate a day off in the name of keeping sane ) - but rather its the way he's chosen to go about having these sick days thats got me all cranky. He is, for lack of a better term, lying about them, and expecting us to do the same ( and just accept that thats what he's doing ). Instead of going to our regional manager and saying " Hey , here's the situation, i'm stressed and a health professional has recommended time off " and organising a functional way of taking some time off, this co-worker is just going to ring in sick from time to time, and expect one of us to say he has a stomach ache/migraine/diarrhea. And when our managment very quickly get suspicious of all these random sickies - not only will he have to tell them the truth anyway, but then he'll look a selfish little whinger who's only looking out for himself.

Part of his stress has to do with the fact that we are very short-staffed around here - but rather than do things honestly, admit that he's having a problem, and hopefully have some alternative arrangments made... well, he's just leaving us in the lurch. Leaving us more short-staffed than we already are. Doing the same thing to us which is stressing him so badly. I'm all for looking after yourself but i'll be frank - what he's doing is rude. And disrespectful. ( Especially in light of the fact that another staff member was told by her doctor to take time off and she declined because she didnt want to leave this guy in the position he has left her ). This guy doesnt have a good work ethic at the best of times, so this whole " I'll just have sickies whenever i want, the rest of you be damned " attitude has only served to further raise my hackles...

What do you think? Should employees be upfront about their need for "mental health days " ( as advised by a medical professional ) or is it ok to just chuck a sickie and expect the rest of your office to shoulder the load?

Operation Slimdown - A Day Late. Again.

My apologies for the tardiness of my usual update - i had to get the letter to my son in first! In any case, i didnt really feel like writing an update anyway because...well... my results suck, ok ? We all had a feeling that would, what with a weigh in on Christmas Day ( of all bloody days! ) but still, they sucked enough to make me cry. In front of my parents, and Mick. Wah, wah, wah...poor fat me!

Let me explain. But first, lets go to the tape:
Bust: 97.5cm - up 0.5cm
Waist 82cm - no change
Hips: 103cm - up 1.5cm
Bum: 108cm - no change
Thighs: 66.5cm - up 0.5cm
See, that doesnt really look so bad considering the fortnight of Christmas parties ( and few days of, uh, that time of the month, which of course equals mega-bloating ) but, once again, those nasty, nasty scales have brought me undone. See, i only weigh myself on a Saturday morning, once a fortnight. However, this week i was at my mum and dads house ( i dont own scales... ) on Thursday afternoon and i couldnt resist taking a sneak peek. 74.8kgs - woo hoo! That was 800g down in a fortnight! I would totally be able to hit a full 1kg loss by Saturday morning! However....
Weight 11.12.10 - 75.6kgs
Weight 25.12.10 - 75.7kgs
I burst into tears - how could i have put on 1.1kgs in ONE DAY?!? It just wasnt fair - Thursday afternoon i was ecstatic about finally having a good loss, and then one day later that loss is completely gone and has turned into a 100g gain. I was shattered. I just cant wrap my head around it. And i'm sure that if i went and weighed myself again today, the scale would have something completely different to say again ( loss? Gain? who knows? )

So i guess i just push on. Try harder. The four days of non-stop eating over Christmas are now officially over and i know i can handle New Years Eve. I'm not back at work til Tuesday 4th of Jan so i'm going to try and fit in some exercise everyday this week. Establish some new, good habits. And then, maybe next fortnight, i will have that 1kg loss to report. I hope. Because i'm thinking if that doesnt happen the only way for me to shed the weight might be to cry it out. I could get rid of a kilo through tears...couldnt i?

When Does Existence Count?

Thats the question that I, and many others in Australia, am pondering today? It comes on the back of the case of a couple who, after having been hit by a drug driver on Christmas Day, lost their unborn child at 32 weeks ( " NSW to review unborn child laws " ). This poor woman, who was hit whilst out taking a walk, had to endure the pain and suffering of having to birth her child even though they knew the baby, already named Zoe, would be stillborn - and now, because of laws regarding what constitutes " human ", she cannot even get justice for that loss. See, here in New South Wales, a baby is not considered human until it has taken a breath and, thusly, this drug driver cannot be tried for either murder or manslaughter.

This, frankly, is ridiculous. Is the law saying a baby does not exist until it breaths? So you can have a baby growing inside you, evidence of their existence available on any ultrasound screen, available to any passer-by in the street - yet, in the eyes of the law, that baby doesnt exist until it takes its first breath of air. What a load of rubbish! I know this poses all kinds of moral and ethical questions, but surely a baby at 32 weeks, that could be born that early and survive, which kicks its mother, and gets the hiccups, and can suck its thumb - surely that MUST count as human?

The problem, as its been described to me, is that it raises the question of when would abortion become murder? I dont know at what stage abortion becomes murder - and therefore illegal - in this state, but i'm damn sure its well before 32 weeks. Not that i want this to become a debate on abortion but, for the record, i consider myself pro-choice - although i dont believe that abortion is the right choice ( for me, or anyone else ), i do believe that each individual woman should be able to choose for herself. But abortion is illegal in this country beyond a certain stage because the law regarding abortion must recognise late stage abortion of a fetus as murder. Mustn't it? Otherwise abortion would be legal at any stage. So why is it different for the loss of a child through other criminal means?

I just dont get it. And i'm sure this poor couple mustnt either. My heart goes out to them, their living daughter, and their angel baby. I just hope this legal loophole can be rectified soon so that other families need not suffer the same....