Sick leave, or the improper use of sick leave, has given supervisors "fits" for as long as it has been around. Back in the early nineties, I served as a board member for one of the schools on our reservation. I remember a meeting we had with the teachers over teachers' benefits. I had just quit teaching a year or so earlier, and I NEVER called in sick. Sick or not, I made sure I was in the classroom every day, so I was shocked when I heard a teacher say, "We are entitled to 10 days sick leave a year, and I do not see nothing wrong [with] using them." I immediately replied, "Many of our students miss 10 or more days a year, and if you insist on using your 10 days of sick leave, it will mean our students will miss out on at least 20 days of instruction." But, my words didn't make any difference with the teacher. She apparently used her sick leave whether she was sick or not - to the detriment of our students.
Using sick leave for anything other then because you are really sick is dishonest. Dishonesty is also known as lying. My friend and business associate, Annmaria, always says, "if you are going to go lie about one thing, you will probably lie about another." Following Ann's logic, we can predict that a person who lies about sick leave will probably lie about other aspects of his/her job as well. Will he/she lie about the hours at work? Will he/she lie about the reasons he/she was late or missed work?
Without realizing it, Ann came to the same conclusion about lying our Dakota ancestors came to - lying is evil and tends to spread. Our Dakota ancestors believed so firmly that lying was evil, they put a liar to death so the evil would not spread further. Furthermore, our ancestors knew that "lying" was not just confined to telling a fib to your friends. It had to do with the way you lived your life. A lie here, a lie there ... dishonesty in one situation leads to dishonesty in another. Pretty soon your whole life is nothing but one big lie.
A Dr Scott Peck wrote a book titled, People of the Lie: Hope for Healing Human Evil. Dr. Peck's belief and our ancestors' belief was basically the same. Lying is evil, and the person who tells lies needs to be dealt with in a firm manner to protect the rest of society. Like our ancestors, Dr. Peck realized lying was more than fibbing once in a while. He said everything you do, from your job to you relationships, to raising your children, requires honesty. If you were dishonest in one of these areas, the evil would spread throughout all the other areas of your life.
My point is, next time you lie about using sick leave, remember, it can be an indicator that something is seriously wrong with your honesty, and/or life.
Using sick leave for anything other then because you are really sick is dishonest. Dishonesty is also known as lying. My friend and business associate, Annmaria, always says, "if you are going to go lie about one thing, you will probably lie about another." Following Ann's logic, we can predict that a person who lies about sick leave will probably lie about other aspects of his/her job as well. Will he/she lie about the hours at work? Will he/she lie about the reasons he/she was late or missed work?
Without realizing it, Ann came to the same conclusion about lying our Dakota ancestors came to - lying is evil and tends to spread. Our Dakota ancestors believed so firmly that lying was evil, they put a liar to death so the evil would not spread further. Furthermore, our ancestors knew that "lying" was not just confined to telling a fib to your friends. It had to do with the way you lived your life. A lie here, a lie there ... dishonesty in one situation leads to dishonesty in another. Pretty soon your whole life is nothing but one big lie.
A Dr Scott Peck wrote a book titled, People of the Lie: Hope for Healing Human Evil. Dr. Peck's belief and our ancestors' belief was basically the same. Lying is evil, and the person who tells lies needs to be dealt with in a firm manner to protect the rest of society. Like our ancestors, Dr. Peck realized lying was more than fibbing once in a while. He said everything you do, from your job to you relationships, to raising your children, requires honesty. If you were dishonest in one of these areas, the evil would spread throughout all the other areas of your life.
My point is, next time you lie about using sick leave, remember, it can be an indicator that something is seriously wrong with your honesty, and/or life.
