anyone else take FU days ????

[albireo13]

Here I am in my local library with my laptop.   I woke up this morning and just didn't have the stomach to go into work so ... I called in and said I will be out.  I got out of bed and stretched and just said ... FU.
No plan, no schedule.  No meetings ... no BS ... no dealing with coworkers/managers with poor social skills.

 I do this every now and then to keep my sanity and to keep at bay the imposing clutches of MegaCorp.
So today I ...
1. went to local bldg inspector to get a permit - planning on fixing up the basement
2. went to the gym and worked out.  The BB court was open so I shot hoops for 15 min ... nice
3. went to library and relaxed
4. went to local Mexican restaurant for lunch and a glass of wine ... Aaahhhh!
5. back to library and just read periodicals
6. planning on going home for a nap soon.

Wife is working today so noone at home.

I'm convinced I am FI at this point so I don't worry too much.

Anyone else do this?

[Emerald]

Yes, oh yes. We call them mental health days.

[surfhb]

I'd say %90 of my sick time is used up as "mental health" days.   Enjoy!

[Slee_stack]

It sounds nice, but if I take time off (for anything), the work doesn't disappear, it just waits.

I sure want to take 'FU' days, but they would end up truly as 'F-Me' days.

[cashstore2022]

Yes.  I consider my sick time to be part of my compensation.  Occasionally I am actually sick.  Sometimes I need to get things done, like my lawn business, my tax business, my tutor business, or just being a dad/husband. 

I've seen way to many people leave my company with 25+ days of sick time wasted.  You get paid out on vacation, but not sick.

[soccerluvof4]

Even being Fire'd I have them. Just a bit easier because i Have no one to answer to but myself.

[Undecided]

It sounds nice, but if I take time off (for anything), the work doesn't disappear, it just waits.

I sure want to take 'FU' days, but they would end up truly as 'F-Me' days.

Same here (and people demand attention for whatever they perceive as urgent anyway). I wonder how it works out for the OP.

[ducky19]

I have only done this occasionally - I too find that the work doesn't disappear, it just stacks up and waits for my return. I will start doing this more often though as I get closer to FI. I suppose I could probably do this more frequently in the summer too, fewer people in the office means less work for me.

[2Birds1Stone]

I also call them mental health as well. My company has unlimited PTO so I don't even have to call anyone to tell them I'm not working.

[albireo13]

Yup, the work just waits and that's fine.  I get a day to myself away from inane process weenies.

I could disappear for a week with no impact to our schedules.  Progress is ballistic ... at a glacial pace ... dictated mostly by the enormous
bulk of the organization. 

[maizefolk]

It sounds nice, but if I take time off (for anything), the work doesn't disappear, it just waits.

I sure want to take 'FU' days, but they would end up truly as 'F-Me' days.

This is my problem as well. A day off during the week means logging even more hours on the weekend than I otherwise am going to have to do. :-/

[sequoia]

I do take days off here and there, but I usually plan in advance and notify my team so that they can cover my work. I usually just relax, catch up on some errands, long lunch with wife, etc. It feels great, and I am energized when I return to work on Monday - I always take my time off on Fridays.

Not really FU days imo but definitely mental health day to keep me sane :)

[ACyclist]

Tomorrow, I am doing this.  I am taking two personal hours to just ride my bike and train my heart out.  It is important to take time for yourself, if needed.

[Pigeon]

My sick leave and my vacation leave are separate.  If I want a vacation day, I take a vacation day.  If I'm genuinely sick, I take a sick day.  I don't take a sick day if I want a vacation day.

[MrThatsDifferent]

I admire this but haven’t pulled it off to this extent. Normally, my mental health days are work from home days. I manage everything through email but stay home and Netflix binge, order takeout and nap. Love those days.

[SC93]

I remember back on October 15, 1998 I took an FU day..... haven't been back to a J O B since.... :)

[Dicey]

I remember back on October 15, 1998 I took an FU day..... haven't been back to a J O B since.... :)

Badass!

[aGracefulStomp]

Mate I am taking one today - and the weather has been absolutely gorgeous. 100% worth it.

I'm not FI but I do have FU money. Also my FI mindset has helped me keep my job in perspective - a job is a means to end (ie no longer having a job anymore), it is not a reflection of my self worth.

Consequently, although I want to do good work and be regarded as a good employee, I also want to make sure that I'm fulfilling my 'life job', which is being happy.

[Bee21]

Oh yes. Actually, we have 5 days each year for personal leave. On top of rec leave and the sick days.it is technically for looking after children or a spouse, but nobody questions what we are doing. I had 1 of these this year and it was bliss. We are actually quite open about the mental health aspect of these days, sometimes we just need to get away and clear our minds after a period of stress. I perform so much better after that.

My boss just had his mental health day yesterday. 😁 so yeah, it is a thing.

[Monkey Uncle]

I've always been too honest to fake sick days.  When I FIRE in early January, I'll be leaving 8 months worth of sick time on the table.  Ouch.

[Vegasgirl]

I do.  Felt guilty about it for 25 years but now with about a year left I really don't care.  Next year I plan on using a lot of FU days. 

[Linea_Norway]

I have taken one or two in the past, when I had a hopeless boss of the demolishing type. I started applying for others jobs, but it took some time before finding an acceptable other job. During that time I have taken a FU day or 2.
I currently don't take them, even though the project I work on really would deserve it.

[Dicey]

I've always been too honest to fake sick days.  When I FIRE in early January, I'll be leaving 8 months worth of sick time on the table.  Ouch.

You can't use it or be reimbursed in any way?

[Blonde Lawyer]

What's your plan if someone sees you out and about? Doctor's appointment that got out early? You can make excuses if you are seen at the grocery store or the pharmacy but kind of hard to make an excuse if you are seen at lunch with wine.

[rdy4er]

Yep, l call in with “anal glaucoma” because I can’t see my ass coming to work today.

[Brother Esau]

Yes. My job accumulates sick time at the rate of 1 day per month. I've never been physically sick for 12 days in a year so I take several "mental" health days off each year.

[Linea_Norway]

What's your plan if someone sees you out and about? Doctor's appointment that got out early? You can make excuses if you are seen at the grocery store or the pharmacy but kind of hard to make an excuse if you are seen at lunch with wine.

Many years ago I worked at a company that cooperated with a doctors office, that would let a nurse make home visits to people that reported in sick. Some of the empoyees were just on their way out of the door carrying a tennis racket. I guess this had consequences for their personnel file.

[VoteCthulu]

I find that the days I most want to take off for mental health are the ones I most need to be in the office (for important meetings, emergencies, covering for other people out of the office, etc.) The days I feel free to take off on short notice are usually the easy days I don't mind being there :(

[Aegishjalmur]

I can't remember the last day I actually took off due to being sick. If I am miserable I might as well be at work ;p 

[spicykissa]

No, because if I don't show up, people are literally more likely to die (I'm an ICU nurse--our staffing ratios are life-and-death shit). Staff are disciplined for >4 missed days in a rolling calendar year. This includes documented sick days, unless you do FMLA paperwork.

I recommend FU days for anyone else who's job is not keeping people from dying, though. Also I only work 3 nights a week, so the other four are all mine anyway. 9-5 is for the birds!

[Monkey Uncle]

I've always been too honest to fake sick days.  When I FIRE in early January, I'll be leaving 8 months worth of sick time on the table.  Ouch.

You can't use it or be reimbursed in any way?

No, I work for Uncle Sam, and he doesn't pay out for unused sick days (I will, however, be getting a decent payout for my unused annual leave).  If I were working until I was eligible to retire, the unused sick leave would be credited toward time served, which would bump my pension a little.  But as far as I've been able to determine, the unused sick leave just evaporates when you leave before retirement eligibility.

[markbike528CBX]

While Mountain Day, a random day off at my undergraduate school Juniata College is not intended as an FU day, I (30 year alum) finally joined in this year.

The lead-up to Mountain Day was good experience in seeing how "selective hearing" worked.

Student A:   Don't study for that test tomorrow, Mountain Day is tomorrow.   
How do I know?  I work on food service staff and we're prepared,  the top is in, VIX is all time highs/lows, etc.

STUDENT B: more beer!

[Linea_Norway]

I have only done this occasionally - I too find that the work doesn't disappear, it just stacks up and waits for my return.
<snip>

This would be the same for me. It would also require my colleagues with an already high workload to take over my work for the day. So therefore I don't do it. And I have just too much morale.

But I am sometimes a bit jealous at my DH who has had real sick days many times (shoulder problems several times, several shoulders, a heavy flu). I have in the past 20 years had 0-3 sick days a years (real ones), except for that one year described above with a boss from hell where I had maybe 5 and started looking for another job. Sometimes I wish that I could also spend a few weeks at home because of some (mild) medical reason.

[Lmoot]

I've never been able to play hooky, mainly because I hate it when co workers do it. I have (and will again shortly), stated my need for a schedule change. I reduced hours at my part time job, and I am in negotiation with my full time job to go down to a 4-day 10 hour workweek, all so I can have 1 regular day off per week (something I haven't had in over 5 years).

In order to maximize my PTO, I'll sometimes request a couple hours off in the morning to go hike with my hiking group....but not log in until later in the afternoon, and just work into the evening to make up the time (I work from home).

In my mind there is minimal reason for F-U days if you have vacation/sick time. And I'm no goody 2-shoes....just reasonable.

[AccidentialMustache]

I can't remember the last day I actually took off due to being sick. If I am miserable I might as well be at work ;p

Nobody at your office/place of business wants your cold/flu/whatever. If you're sick please for the love of god and all that is holy stay home until you are healthy and non-contagious.

Signed,
he-who-had-an-office-mate-who-practiced-come-back-too-soon-at-a-place-with-25-sick-days-no-i-am-not-kidding-it-was-stupid

[Aegishjalmur]

I can't remember the last day I actually took off due to being sick. If I am miserable I might as well be at work ;p

Nobody at your office/place of business wants your cold/flu/whatever. If you're sick please for the love of god and all that is holy stay home until you are healthy and non-contagious.

Signed,
he-who-had-an-office-mate-who-practiced-come-back-too-soon-at-a-place-with-25-sick-days-no-i-am-not-kidding-it-was-stupid

I don't get 'sick' very often, and have had the bad luck of most of the times I am of being sick on the weekend. My DW corrected me and pointed out I had taken 2 days off in the last year in a row due to both of us getting food poisoning.

My usual issue is migraines, which are not contagious, but just make me miserable for a few hours (Light, sound and movement sensitive).

[GnomeErcy]

I'm a big fan of mental health days but don't take them very often, especially since I don't get paid sick leave or any paid time off so it's expensive to just take mental health days. At my old job I'd take one or two a year.

[Dragonswan]

I've always been too honest to fake sick days.  When I FIRE in early January, I'll be leaving 8 months worth of sick time on the table.  Ouch.

You can't use it or be reimbursed in any way?

No, I work for Uncle Sam, and he doesn't pay out for unused sick days (I will, however, be getting a decent payout for my unused annual leave).  If I were working until I was eligible to retire, the unused sick leave would be credited toward time served, which would bump my pension a little.  But as far as I've been able to determine, the unused sick leave just evaporates when you leave before retirement eligibility.

Surely there is an elective medical procedure you've been putting off that you can have done during December.  And while you've got the good government insurance too.

Leaving 8 months of sick leave on the books is the very definition of wasteful :)

[talltexan]

I think a couple of my co-workers must be on here!

[SKL-HOU]

Work would be waiting for me if I took an FU day, which is fine. In the past, I've come back from a 2-week vacation to find the "urgent" work that needed to be done 2 weeks ago was still waiting for me. So apparently if you are not there, work is not that urgent :)

My issue with taking FU days off is the limited PTO. We get PTO and no separate sick time. I have a young child. So most of my PTO is spent when he is sick or has an appointment or field trip or something else to do with him. Other than that it is planned vacation. If we had separate sick days, I would certainly be taking mental days!

[startingsmall]

Work would be waiting for me if I took an FU day, which is fine. In the past, I've come back from a 2-week vacation to find the "urgent" work that needed to be done 2 weeks ago was still waiting for me. So apparently if you are not there, work is not that urgent :)

My issue with taking FU days off is the limited PTO. We get PTO and no separate sick time. I have a young child. So most of my PTO is spent when he is sick or has an appointment or field trip or something else to do with him. Other than that it is planned vacation. If we had separate sick days, I would certainly be taking mental days!

Yep. I get a total of a whopping 10 days off per year. That's sick/vacation/whatever (...and if I want to leave before about 4:30 pm or come in after 9 am, that 'costs' a half-day).

There's no room for extra days when you get so few of them.

[SKL-HOU]

Work would be waiting for me if I took an FU day, which is fine. In the past, I've come back from a 2-week vacation to find the "urgent" work that needed to be done 2 weeks ago was still waiting for me. So apparently if you are not there, work is not that urgent :)

My issue with taking FU days off is the limited PTO. We get PTO and no separate sick time. I have a young child. So most of my PTO is spent when he is sick or has an appointment or field trip or something else to do with him. Other than that it is planned vacation. If we had separate sick days, I would certainly be taking mental days!

Yep. I get a total of a whopping 10 days off per year. That's sick/vacation/whatever (...and if I want to leave before about 4:30 pm or come in after 9 am, that 'costs' a half-day).

There's no room for extra days when you get so few of them.

After reading yours I shouldn't complain. We start off with 15 PTO + 1 floating holiday (in addition to 7 holidays). After 5 years, the PTO increases to 20 days. We can take in half hour increments.

[Sibley]

I've always been too honest to fake sick days.  When I FIRE in early January, I'll be leaving 8 months worth of sick time on the table.  Ouch.

You can't use it or be reimbursed in any way?

No, I work for Uncle Sam, and he doesn't pay out for unused sick days (I will, however, be getting a decent payout for my unused annual leave).  If I were working until I was eligible to retire, the unused sick leave would be credited toward time served, which would bump my pension a little.  But as far as I've been able to determine, the unused sick leave just evaporates when you leave before retirement eligibility.

Surely there is an elective medical procedure you've been putting off that you can have done during December.  And while you've got the good government insurance too.

Leaving 8 months of sick leave on the books is the very definition of wasteful :)

I used to have a neighbor who worked for the state government. When he retired, he took something like 4-5 months off using up sick leave he'd otherwise use, then just transitioned into retirement. If that's a possibility, do it.

[bognish]

Mine are mostly on powder days and my boss knows I am a skiier, so its not much of secret where I am when we get a big dump mid week. I don't hit every storm, but if work can wait I'll be on the hill.

[WootWoot]

I don't think my employer pays for unused sick days, so yes, I have been known to take them. In my case, it sometimes is a great big FU because I was hired without being told some very specific things about my schedule. Like, I'd never be able to take a Sunday off during the academic year. That I'd have less than 12 hours between shifts sometimes...I could go on but I'm so sick (forgive the pun) of the whole business...I'll spare you all.

[TartanTallulah]

I don't have scope to take a FU day on impulse. It would mean leaving a colleague to do all my work as well as their own, and the customers wouldn't get a decent level of service because we're already stretched almost to breaking point. But I approve in principle of employees being able to take a day off to look after themselves long before they get to breaking point.

[sequoia]

I don't have scope to take a FU day on impulse. It would mean leaving a colleague to do all my work as well as their own, and the customers wouldn't get a decent level of service because we're already stretched almost to breaking point. But I approve in principle of employees being able to take a day off to look after themselves long before they get to breaking point.

+1. At my previous job, I had 5 sick days/year plus PTO. I always take the sick days, even when I can just tough it up and come to work.

It is not good to come to work and spreading the germs. I never thought about this much until one day, a coworker spread his germs, and caused 3 people to be out (out of a 5 person team). Imagine the scramble for the two remaining who were in the office.

[Monkey Uncle]

I've always been too honest to fake sick days.  When I FIRE in early January, I'll be leaving 8 months worth of sick time on the table.  Ouch.

You can't use it or be reimbursed in any way?

No, I work for Uncle Sam, and he doesn't pay out for unused sick days (I will, however, be getting a decent payout for my unused annual leave).  If I were working until I was eligible to retire, the unused sick leave would be credited toward time served, which would bump my pension a little.  But as far as I've been able to determine, the unused sick leave just evaporates when you leave before retirement eligibility.

Surely there is an elective medical procedure you've been putting off that you can have done during December.  And while you've got the good government insurance too.

Leaving 8 months of sick leave on the books is the very definition of wasteful :)

I had a cyst taken off my scalp last week.  That took about an hour, plus a half hour today to get the stitches taken out (including walking to the doctor's office and back!).  But I still ended up working more than 8 hours both days, so that won't help use any of the sick time.  Fortunately, I'm pretty healthy, so that's all I've got in the way of backlogged medical procedures. 

[Monkey Uncle]

I've always been too honest to fake sick days.  When I FIRE in early January, I'll be leaving 8 months worth of sick time on the table.  Ouch.

You can't use it or be reimbursed in any way?

No, I work for Uncle Sam, and he doesn't pay out for unused sick days (I will, however, be getting a decent payout for my unused annual leave).  If I were working until I was eligible to retire, the unused sick leave would be credited toward time served, which would bump my pension a little.  But as far as I've been able to determine, the unused sick leave just evaporates when you leave before retirement eligibility.

Surely there is an elective medical procedure you've been putting off that you can have done during December.  And while you've got the good government insurance too.

Leaving 8 months of sick leave on the books is the very definition of wasteful :)

I used to have a neighbor who worked for the state government. When he retired, he took something like 4-5 months off using up sick leave he'd otherwise use, then just transitioned into retirement. If that's a possibility, do it.

I just can't lie about being sick.  I did that once when I was 17, and I felt terrible about it.  Haven't done it since.

[MoustacheDArgent]

I did this back in August, called in sick.   Then I decided not to go back.  Had been there 9.5 years and treated poorly.  I think with my rentals and my side business I can get by.  It wasn't my intention to quit, I just woke up and couldn't make myself go to a job I hated.