I pretty much have to call off work today, but the question is what to say to the administrative assistant regarding why. Do I be honest and say I need to take a personal day? They might not be too understanding of that, considering it’s last minute. Or do I lie and say I’m not feeling well? I mean, it’s not entirely a lie, since I do have anxiety about the long commute on the busy highway.
They are well aware of my illness; it became necessary to tell them when I had to miss the last couple weeks of the semester around this time last year (hospital stay). They have been very understanding of my illness. Also, we are allowed one paid sick day per semester.
The reason I need to call off is that I am going to be waking up at 5am tomorrow for an early morning job interview. When I teach I don’t get home until around 10pm, so it would be probably 11 or 12 before I get to sleep. I need to be well-rested and sharp tomorrow morning. There’s also the fact that if I don’t take a day off at some point this semester I am going to get too far ahead in lecture, to the point that I will finish the entire textbook before the semester ends.
Thoughts? I’m leaning heavily toward saying I’m not feeling well.
Tell them you need to take a personal day, for if you tell them you’re not feeling well, and you get the job, you lied to them.And guess what kind of reference they’ll give prospective future employers about you? Not good.
My references are already completed for this job application; my references from the college already completed the online evaluation of me. I suppose I could just say that I have something going on that I need to take care of. You don’t think that would look bad?
You may be right; maybe I should go with that. I’m going to give it a little more thought, maybe send an email in another 20 minutes or so, since I’m afraid I’ll say something wrong in a phone call. I normally email the department’s administrative assistant rather than call when I need to miss due to illness.