I don’t like this question.
My Dad is of the boomer generation and not only that, a farmer. So I was raised to believe that hard work was the end-all, be-all of life. Work hard. Don’t rest, unless you’re nearly dead. Work work work. Days off are for wimps, sick days are for even bigger wimps. Push through. Don’t sit around. Don’t do something unless you’re going to do it right.
I took all this with me as I entered the workforce. Even with three young kids, working fulltime doing shift work. I didn’t call in sick, like ever, to a fault.
Of course if one of the kids were sick I’d stay home and take care of them but not myself, not if I could help it.
When Bella-Lena and Taz were very small their daycare person was on vacation for a week so I had to find alternate arrangements, which was a difficult task.
Now, looking back, I think why didn’t I just talk to my boss and explain the predicament I was in, no childcare. Or why didn’t I just call in sick, at least for a couple of days.
But no, that wasn’t something I would do, I worked hard and didn’t miss work. So I sent them to a different daycare that week, a lady I didn’t even know. I was just happy to have found someone to watch them.
She baby-sat them all week and at the end of the week they were more than happy to never have to go back to her house. They said she sat in a recliner chair while they played downstairs and she did a lot of yelling at all the kids there. I so regret that.
When my marriage was ending and I was going through one of the worst and most stressful times of my life, I still went to work everyday. I shouldn’t have. But I did. Because, well, working hard no matter what, is just what you do. I recall being sick a lot during that time, colds and flus. Due to all the stress my immune system was worn right down. Yet I didn’t rest. And in fact I had to pick up a lot of overtime to pay the bills as I was now a one income household, me, and I was going to provide the kids with anything and everything they needed or wanted.
Now that I’m older and wiser I no longer live by these rules. I worry about me and my family more than my employer. As an employee I am and was, replaceable. I was too stupid to realize it when I was young. Kids always come first, before jobs and especially before the work hard and only wimpy people miss work attitudes.
I really don’t care if people view me as a hard worker or committed to my work. There are more important things in life.
bloom.planted.north 
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