I'm doing these Monday Work Blog Posts, but I think today I'm calling in sick from that. Just for today.
Some people say "call out" sick. I always said that, but where I am, people never say "call out." They say "call in." So I've started to say "call in" instead, but it still seems weird, because you're calling in to say you will be out? So I just say, why not consolidate and elide? Skip to the relevant preposition.
Still, I call in now. I don't call out. It's too confusing, I use the local terminology. When I say "call out" it's like, they expect me to utter a sharp cry while I'm doing it. That would be somewhat more demeaning than the circumstances require.
Anyway, I feel fine. I'm actually going in to work. I'm only calling in sick to this Monday Work Blog Post thing. Part of work is occasionally, coasting a bit and maybe sandbagging on your obligations, only to work like a maniac catching up later. That's just part of being a good worker and managing your efforts.
Shoot. But that makes it sound like next week's Monday Work Blog Post is supposed to be some real impressive stuff! Like I'm going to sweat hard over it, working late to make up for this present malingering.
We'll see. I'm not making any promises.
Some people say "call out" sick. I always said that, but where I am, people never say "call out." They say "call in." So I've started to say "call in" instead, but it still seems weird, because you're calling in to say you will be out? So I just say, why not consolidate and elide? Skip to the relevant preposition.
Still, I call in now. I don't call out. It's too confusing, I use the local terminology. When I say "call out" it's like, they expect me to utter a sharp cry while I'm doing it. That would be somewhat more demeaning than the circumstances require.
Anyway, I feel fine. I'm actually going in to work. I'm only calling in sick to this Monday Work Blog Post thing. Part of work is occasionally, coasting a bit and maybe sandbagging on your obligations, only to work like a maniac catching up later. That's just part of being a good worker and managing your efforts.
Shoot. But that makes it sound like next week's Monday Work Blog Post is supposed to be some real impressive stuff! Like I'm going to sweat hard over it, working late to make up for this present malingering.
We'll see. I'm not making any promises.
Comments
And usually, people don't even like to phrase it as "I will be out," they usually call in sick to say they won't be in that day. You say "out" and you're accentuating the truth of the matter, that you will be out of the place they need you to be. You might be getting unluckily close to saying "out of work"! :o You don't want that. So I encourage calling in (how thoughtful of you!) to say you won't be in (oh, that's too bad) to work today. (We hope you feel better!)
Now school, unless you're on Ferris Buelleresque thin ice, you can have your parent call in to say you'll be out sick, so you can at least revel in the deliciousness of not being there. But the parent still has to call in. The school won't hear if Mom or Dad just calls out. "You're sick AGAIN?!" ;)
"Call in" and "call out" can both mean things that have nothing to do with work or absenteeism. It still makes way more sense to me to say "call out" when you are telelphoning work to say you will be out.
Still, I think using it as a verb is pretty unusual, especially compared to the other option. You get 27,600 Google results for your "call outs" sick, with a first page that includes duplicates/results with the same information sources, pages where it was used as a noun and "calling in sick" was the verb form, and also unrelated results like doctors making house calls "call-outs" for sick children. Whereas for "call in" sick, you get 1,630,000 results, the first page of which all look on-point---except for that Lehigh Valley band!---and discrete.
Anyway, 'til I got to Cali I'd never considered anything other than "call out", because that was the only phrase that was ever really used. Nobody ever really said "call out sick" I don't think. Probably that's part of it - laziness. "Call in sick" is three words. "Call out" is two. "Call in" is just kind of ambiguous! :-)
The typical usage would be "Angel called out." But that dude was constantly calling out. He didn't last long.