Managers who enforce arbitrary sick day policies are asking for trouble.

So, would you do if your manager insisted you show up to work while still sick with the flu, just to satisfy his three-day limit? Would you fight back to get your way? Or would you show up at the office and let him see for himself?

In the following story, one employee finds themselves in this exact situation and ends up infecting almost the entire office. Here’s what happened.

Have to come into the office with the flu? Ok.

About 10 years ago, my employer didn’t have a sick leave policy; it was at your supervisor’s discretion.

One year, I got the flu and was in bed for several days. On the third day, my supervisor called and said I had to come into the office the next day.

I explained I have the flu, look and feel terrible, and was still very sick. He said no excuses and no exceptions, his policy is 3 days max.

The president of the company was not impressed.

So the next day, I went into the office and the president of the company said, “Jesus, why are you here? You look terrible. Go home.”

I explained that I had to see my supervisor since he said I had to come in. The supervisor sent me home after the president told him he had to.

The next week, about 75% of the staff in that office were out with the flu for the week.

It was a quiet week for me.

Wow! That sure spread quickly!

Let’s see what the fine folks over at Reddit think about it.

This person’s company is very understanding about sick days.

Here’s someone who knows all about the flu.

It didn’t take long for them to change the policy here.

What a great leader.

Staying home was the right thing! Hopefully, that manager learned an important lesson after all that.

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.