Pulling a sickie takes planning

Everyone's a slacker

Stress is a genuine reason to take time off work, but there are many less noble reasons - including an inability to get one's lazy bones out of bed and sneaking off for an interview with another firm. However, there are still many loyal employees who love their job and will only ever consider slacking off once in a while as a self-awarded bonus for all their hard graft.

It doesn't matter whether you're a star employee or not, everyone pulls a sickie sometime. Most of us only get about twenty paid days off a year, with a few bank holidays thrown in, so conjuring up an extra day here and there is well within the realms of possibility.

Ellie Jones, 31, ran her own theatre company for three years and found people management infuriating: 'I had to sack my stage manager because, in her first week, she blagged two days off, saying she'd got gastric flu, which was rubbish. I caught the dopey cow in the local Burger King scoffing a mountain of onion rings.'

A moral dilemma: to blag or not to blag?

So, the moral of the story so far? If you're going to pull a sickie do it in a professional manner. It will also help if your story is tighter than Peter Stringfellow's leather pants. And keep well away from the vicinity of your workplace or you might just get caught out.

Lastly, whether you love or hate your job, pulling a sickie is like chocolate - it's only there as an occasional treat. If you binge too much you could well find yourself completely stuffed.

Have you got any amusing sickie stories? Successes or failures? Tell us about them