NEVER CALL IN SICK

BY DAN MILLER
(originally posted June 2, 2005)

I'm thinking Congress should designate every June 2nd national "Come to Work Sick Day".

Just a few lines down, I'll remind you why.

I know we all feel miserable from time to time.... but it's a terrible gamble to stay home.

For me, there's the nagging fear that -- when I come back -- the boss will say, "You know, with your unexpected absence, things went incredibly well.... better than ever, in fact.... so, we're gonna make some changes."
Yikes!

When I was in school, I actually made it through two or three school years with no absences.
Sure, it was always tempting to feign illness and sit home watching Arthur Godfrey on TV.
But an insecurity of a different sort kept me trudging to class.

Always teetering on the brink of academic disaster, I knew in my young heart I might never recover from falling behind on lectures and tests.

Anyhow, here's my reminder of why you should never call-in sick at work.

On June 2nd, 1925, the long-time first baseman for the New York Yankees, Wally Pipp, requested a day off because he had a headache.

The manager said, "sure, take the day off", and Pipp was replaced that day in the line-up by a reserve named Lou Gehrig, who then started the next 2,128 consecutive games for the Yankees.

Wally Pipp was traded to Cincinnati.

I rest my case.

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