When I got up for work this morning, I briefly thought about calling in sick.  Then I remembered that it was Wednesday, which is IDTT day, and if I missed today’s IDTT along with the rest of the day’s scheduled appointments, I was going to be out of compliance with my due dates.  Also, Sean and I are going to Minneapolis next week Thursday and Friday.  If I called in sick today, I would only have two days this week and two days next week to get two weeks’ worth of work done.

So I made myself go to work, and I thought my symptoms were under control until I was five minutes into IDTT, and involuntarily my nose started dripping.  I had to dash to my office to grab a box of tissues while the rest of the committee waited.

When I got back, Dr. Y said to me, “I’m going to tattle on you to Dr. A for coming to work sick.  You should have stayed home.”  Dr. A is our program supervisor.

“I had to come to work,” I said meekly, while blowing my nose and coughing.  “I had all this paperwork to turn in, and we had team today, and I didn’t want to put all the work on you.”  Dr. Y is my back-up colleague, and if I had called in sick, he would have had to serve as today’s team leader and then have to see my scheduled appointments for me.  “Besides,” I added.  “Today is the fifth day.  I spent the last four days sick.  I should be at the tail end of it.”

“Go home,” he said.

(For the upcoming punchline of this story to have a little more context, you have to know this previous story about Dr. Y.)

We finished IDTT by 9 AM.  I went back to my office and called my supervisor.  She didn’t answer the phone, so I left her a message.  “Dr. Y is threatening to tattle on me, so I’m tattling on myself.  I came to work sick and I probably shouldn’t be here, so I’m going to try to see all of my patients this morning and then I’m going home.”

I didn’t get all my work done until 1:30 PM.  Just as I was logging off my computer and clearing my desk, Dr. Y came by my office and said, “You’re still here?”

“I’m leaving now,” I said.

“Go home and don’t come back until you’re better,” he said.

“Love you, too,” I said.