Taking sick leave is a common necessity when illness strikes, yet workplace policies often complicate the process.

One sick employee begrudgingly went to the doctor for a sick note, but was in for a pleasant surprise when the doctor inflated his illness to get him even more time off.

Read on for the full story!

You must get a doctor’s note

I am a grown man, and I can tell when I am sick.

I know my body a little better than a doctor does in terms of recovery, and if it is something I’m not sure of, I will see a doctor.

But his employer doesn’t seem to show the same trust.

But my place of work has this silly rule that if you are going to be out 3 days, you have to have a doctor’s note.

So when he got ill, he knew it was going to be a big deal.

Anyway, I got food poisoning the other day.

It was the middle of the night right before I was going to go in when it started to hit, and I knew what was coming.

It was going to be 36 hours of running to the bathroom, followed by 24 hours of being super tired from not having eaten for the last 2 days and not having had any sleep for the last 48 hours.

It’s a full 3-day recovery for me.

The first 36 really are the worst, though.

Just as he suspected, work wasn’t cool about it at all.

So I called in sick on Tuesday and Wednesday and was going to call in sick on Thursday too, to get my much-needed rest and be 100% for work on Friday.

I knew this was what was going to happen.

But when I called in this morning, I was told I have to get a doctor’s note to miss this day.

It’s stupid because what is a doctor going to tell me that I don’t already know?

Luckily, his doctor proved to be on his side.

But my doctor also hates these types of rules, so she had my back.

I went to her this morning and told her what my work said.

She asked if maybe I might have had chills during my time being sick.

So I said yes.

She ended up granting him more than he even asked for!

She said she doesn’t feel comfortable saying it was just food poisoning and is going to say it could have been a stomach flu.

She’s writing me a note to be out until Monday now.

So now I have 2 days of just rest and relaxation, followed by the weekend.

Thanks for forcing me to go into the doctor!

In the end, following the rules turned out better than he could have ever hoped!

What did Reddit have to say?

A little bluntness ends up saving everyone a lot of time.

This user doesn’t think too highly of corporate culture.

But some doctor’s offices handle notes very differently.

Hearing nightmarish stories like this one make some commenters more grateful for what they have.

The policy may have seemed frustrating at first, but it ended up working out well in the end.

But it’s still a waste of time.

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.