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There’s this system in Belgium when you are sick. If you are sick for one day, that’s fine. If you are sick for two days or longer, you have to get a doctor’s note for it.
I’m on day two of being sick now and instead of, you know, resting, I have to either take my bike or public transport into the city to go see my doctor so he can physically write me a note. Sure, it might only take a minute of his time but at this time of the year, with everyone getting sick, doing that one minute 20 or 30 times a day gives you less time to help actual patients.
The supposed logic behind this is that your employer can’t disregard the note of a medical advisor but I feel like we are evolving backwards that way. There’s no need for people like me with a common cold to see a doctor after being sick for two or three days.
Wait you get days off work for the cold?
Well I don’t get them, I call in sick. And I most of the time do it for a cold too. First of all because I think we should normalise not working when feeling unwell, second because I don’t want to infect others either. I see hundreds of people through work on a weekly basis so me feeling sick can turn into hundreds of people feeling sick and I think that’s pretty selfish.
If my place of work has an issue with that, that’s up to them. My health and that of others is more important to me. We people work enough already and we should take back some selfrespect.
Had to do the same back in school here in Germany, only difference being that the doctors note was needed on day one. Stupidest shit ever.
It’s a dumb system. I’m originally from The Netherlands and never had to deal with anything like this. When I still went to school my mom would call and tell them I was sick and they were like ‘Okay get better soon’. When I worked in NL I’d call myself and tell them I was sick. If I was sick for a longer period of time I’d either go to the doctor myself because something was probably wrong or they’d send a doctor for the company to check on me.
Do people abuse that system of trust in The Netherlands? No. There’s no need to be overly controlling.