I've found it really interesting to see the differing employer tolerances for sick days in various workplaces/professions.... and this thread has been on my mind a lot over the last few days.
It brought to mind a message board post that I ran across a few weeks ago on the Veterinary Information Network (primary database & discussion board for vets). A practice owner had posted that he had a 'great vet' who had left work early due to migraines twice in the last six months. There is no mention of any other missed work days, just two days that she left early. The responses were pretty evenly split between a) it's no big deal, as long as it isn't happening more than once every few months, b) it's not a dealbreaker IF she goes to a doctor and starts a treatment program of some sort for the migraines so that they become less frequent, and c) fire her either immediately or the next time it happens.
In a previous job about 5 years ago, the owner and I were both sick on the same day. This was one of those rare days where I would have called in sick (thus making 3 days in nine years) - I had a fever of 102-103 and was generally miserable, lightheaded, etc (probably the flu, but I don't remember). When I called him to tell him that I wouldn't be making it, though, he was home sick with a stomach bug and couldn't leave the restroom. Closing the clinic was not an option (I don't know why, when there was an emergency clinic right down the road, but the veterinary profession is weird like that) and so we determined that I was the "less sick" person. I spent all day laying on the couch in his office with a glass of water and a cool rag on my forehead, the receptionists turned away all but the sickest appointments, and I had the staff members bring those pets back into treatment for their exams so that at least I wouldn't be exposing the clients. (If it was an easy visit, they did all of the client communications. If not, I talked to them for the bare minimum time necessary to convey what was necessary, and did so while standing outside the exam room.) I don't remember if any of the staff caught it or not, but that was just stupid. Why did we not CLOSE THE FREAKING CLINIC? Yes, the clients with sick pets would have had to pay $100 to be seen at the 24-hr clinic instead of $40 to be seen at ours, but so what? That was how it was on the weekends, anyway, so why not for one day during the week? Insanity. Just insanity.
Now, I get that migraines aren't contagious (which seems to be the emphasis on this MMM post) and are hard to prove to others, but I still think this thread, combined with recently seeing that migraine thread, combined with remembering the story above has kind of hit home what my husband has been telling me for years - that the veterinary profession is nuts and I need out :) FI is too far away (15-20 years), so I've been considering a career change... and this thread may have just given me another nudge in that direction.