There has been a lot of conversation this past week focused around Simone Biles’ bailing out of the Tokyo Olympics to protect her mental health. All well and good. Cue in the violins. The latest, from The New York Times, suggests all employees should take a “sad” day to protect their mental well-being.
How is this different than a sick day or a personal day? A “sad day” is when you wake up and “just know” that “you can’t do it”, says Marisa Kabas, a writer and political strategist.
If you’re among the hesitant, experts say it’s time to start thinking about how to protect and prioritize your mental well-being, especially as millions of employees who worked remotely during the pandemic start returning to the office.”-Christina Caron, The New York Times
While what one does with their personal time given to them from their place of employment is their business, The New York Times (journalism at its best) is now encouraging people to cal in with “a sad”. And, I shake my head.
half of America has been on paid vacation for 15 months.
— Farmer Tony Bruno (@TonyBrunoShow) July 29, 2021
Thank you. And for some corporations, it is like pulling teeth to get employees to come on-site to work. In fact, some are still hashtag-living-their-best-lives working in their pajamas-or-just staying home and collecting unemployment.
The NYT article sites the “extraordinary stressors of the last year and a half” as a reason to take the proverbial “sad day” or two…or three…
Look, I get it. This past year and a half has been an utter crap show. As a person who suffers from occasional depression, I understand this, I really do. There are days I feel like I can’t do it. At times, I would take a personal day or a sick day but a sad day? Not a chance.
Call it my work ethic or my Gen X lack of tolerance to utter BS. Call me skeptical and jaded. Over the past year and a half, I have seen so many people take advantage of the pandemic who have never even come down with the virus themselves. They have the fear of contracting the ‘Vid and this makes them scared and sad. And most often, “the sads” usually fall on a Friday or a Monday. How convenient to be sad and get a 3-day weekend to recoup? The New York Times, however, deems this a necessary topic of discussion. Just make sure to check the laws in your state to see what you can pull off and get away with, they say. Don’t worry, your co-workers will gladly pick up after you.
Some companies may require employees to provide documentation, such as a doctor’s note, when they use sick days, so make sure you understand what the law says in your region.”–Christina Caron, The New York Times
If we look back at other generations before ours, they didn’t take “sad days”. Our grandparents barely took sick days and mental health days when they probably should have. They pulled themselves up by the boot straps and did what had to be done. I don’t know. “Sad days” just sounds so lame-ass-skinny-jeans-mouth-breathing millennial to me.
Just take a sick/vacation day. I know this is whataboutism but my grandparents didn't take "sad days" in the Great Depression. They didn't even have a toothbrush or indoor plumbing. When I feel "sad" I think about that.
— DrK (@DrK16491496) July 29, 2021
Here’s the deal. There are people that will take the “sad day” and return to work refreshed. At risk of sounding unsympathetic, there are also people who will take advantage of this. They will come back to work, just as sad. My guess is that their performance on the regular is equally as sad, sadly. This is yet another attempt to change our language. Mental health shouldn’t be a stigma and “sad” is a state of mind, so…it should be what we’ve been calling it all along…a mental health day?
This seems like an article intended to rile people up rather than give advice.
Fact: Everyone who has a pulse & paid sick leave has taken a “sad day”. Believe that. See also: baseball & beer day, fuck it day, hangover day, ski day, beach day.
They all just called it a sick day. pic.twitter.com/WODLet1Uzx
— 🔥 Lucky Dog Hot Sauce 🔥 (@LuckyDogHotSaus) July 30, 2021
A case of the Mondays. Can’t See (coming to work) Day. I Want To Sleep In Day. I-want-to-slap-the-$hit-out-of-my-lazy-co-worker-day. Explosive diarrhea day. Call-it-whatever-you-want day. Times are tough. These days are sad and with all the doom and gloom looming about, there is no relief in sight. You have a right to these “sad days”, the NYT says so. So you do you, take those sad days and if you get fired for being too sad, file for unemployment and get paid more to stay home to stay on the government dole. This is where they want us. Sad and complacent and broken. This will for sure make our liberal law makers and media outlets happy. Screw ’em. Happy Monday and let’s get down to business!
Photo Credit: ijustwanttobeperceivedthewayiam/FlickR/Creative Commons/Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)
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Mad Celt says: Joe Biden is president and Kamala Harris is vice president. Truly a double whammy for depression.
[…] post “Sad Days” Are Coming, Says The New York Times appeared first on Victory Girls […]
Paladin says: If this limp-wristed generation had been in charge during WWII — half this country would speak German, the other half Japanese and Paladin would be a cake of soap.
SFC D says: Just remember, that when you take your “sad day”, your fellow employees have to pick up your slack. And if you take enough “sad days”, you’re showing the company that you work for that you’re really not necessary. That leads to a lot of “sad days” for you. Blue Falcons, all of you.
GWB says: working in their pajamas
I show up every day in my work clothes – slacks and a polo or long-sleeve-button-down shirt. Only thing I don’t do is wear shoes, since we take off our shoes at the door at home. (And yes, I’ve been fortunate that I was considered “critical” when the Dem panic started, and didn’t lose my job in the middle of it – though I might have – and my new contract is explicitly 99% remote.)
cal[l] in with “a sad”
I might tell my boss I feel like crap or I’m sick, or a personal crisis has erupted. But I would never say “I just don’t feel like it, today.”
And, while hitting all around it, I think what you’re articulating is the whole “feelings” bit, where it seems people are wimping out based on “feelings” rather than actually being sick. This rankles a lot of older folks because feelings was always something we got over in order to accomplish things, and actual obstacles were overcome, not hidden from. It’s part and parcel of the “your feelings don’t matter, but the facts do” worldview.
It’s part of that cycle:
Hard times make hard men
Hard men make easy times
Easy times make soft men <– we are here
Soft men make hard times <– moving to here
Scott says: This seem appropriate here:
Tmitss says: My boss gives me a hard time and does not pay me when I take a sad day.
I am self employed.
njlamer says: The NY Times predicts death and destruction under the Democrat Rule.. Snap !
370H55V says: The outcome of a feminized America.
Sam L. says: I’m a wishin’ and a hopin’ that the NYT has lots and Lots and LOTS of “sad days” MAGA sad days, too!.
GWB says: All that being said, I recalled that “SAD” is also an acronym for Seasonal Affective Disorder, which is a form of depression. Of course, real depression would probably indicate you should go to work (or something) rather than stay home.
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