Commenters in a viral Reddit thread shared their stories about sick days and feeling "unproductive" for taking a day off.
The original poster (OP), u/Pizar_III, shared a screenshot of an exchange between two people to Reddit's popular "Antiwork" forum where it received nearly 85,000 upvotes and 1,400 comments.
According to a study led by Harvard Ph.D. candidate Carly Robinson, attendance initiatives such as awards can actually demotivate students.
Researchers found that some students who received attendance awards also perceived the award to signal that they attend school more than the school expected them to, leading them to miss more school in the future.
In the screenshot, which was an exchange between two individuals, one person asked: "Why does 'calling in sick' feel like a crime?"
"They defo start programming us from primary school...awards for 100% attendance, shamed for being sick lol its hella twisted," the person replied.
Nearly 1,400 users commented on the post, many sharing their sick day experiences or unexcused absences.
"It doesn't matter why I take a sick day. I always feel bad for doing it. Feeling guilty," one user commented. "For example, wife had to be carried away in an ambulance. Feels bad and guilty for going home early. Like why should I feel like this for caring about someone I love?"
"This country is just brainwashed to work till they die, and anyone who disagrees is just an *leech* to them," another user commented.
"I still remember a girl getting held back from the attendance trip because she had six days off after her older brother died," one user recalled.
"When someone brags about never being sick it saddens me. The conditioning is real," another mentioned.
"My son was docked in Kindergarten because I was late getting him to school. At the end of the semester, they would take kids on a special field trip. I didn't realize I had been late once so they wouldn't let him go."
Other users recalled having to ask the teacher's permission to use the bathroom.
"We had a foreign exchange student in High School. One day in class he just gets up and walks out. When he came back the teacher was screaming at him in the hall," one user commented. "He said in his country they didn't have to ask to go use the bathroom. That was a wake up call."
"I asked to pee when I was in 1st grade, was told no since someone else was already gone, then when they returned I asked to go again, and was told no since it was almost recess time," one user recalled. "I peed my pants. I got bullied for peeing my pants."
"Wow, these teachers who do this should be fired. There's no excuse not to let a student use the restroom. It's ok to ask if they can wait but to deny it altogether is unreasonable and inappropriate," one user replied.
Newsweek reached out to u/Pizar_III for comment.
In another viral "Antiwork" post, a user from Europe shared an email they sent to an American hiring manager after finding a job posting on Facebook.
"Have fun in your apocalyptic dystopia, the terms you offer are disgustingly insulting," part of the email read.
In another post, a person who moved from the U.S. to Denmark described the stark differences in wages and benefits.
Another employee was praised for pledging not to "work for free" and resigning from her job.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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