Sick & Alone

Gone are the days when you are happy to be staying at home for a "sick leave"... One realization when living alone... Getting sick is the last thing you want to happen.

It is so hassle to get sick in Singapore. They have probably made it this inconvenient in order for people to avoid getting sick. Back home, all you need to do is to send an SMS to your boss and tell him/her you are off for the day because of fever (or some make-up stomach pain or whatever). In Singapore, an SMS is not enough.

You need to visit a family doctor for a check up, and your sick leave will heavily rely on the doctor's prescription. The number of "days off" will be dictated by the doctor's prescription. This makes "false sickness" a lot harder in SG. You cannot file a sick leave unless you present an MC (a Medical Certificate) to the HR department. If you do not present any MC, your sick leave will not be counted.

In my case now, I have not done any lying whatsoever. I really felt like shit last Thursday so the doctor gave me a 2-day leave.... And the hard part does not stop here at all... It gets worse...

Getting sick alone means having to prepare your own food even if you want to curse the whole world for all the pain you are going through. It would also mean locking yourself up in your own room since everybody is out working their asses off (something I also wished I was doing had I felt better). It's not like back home when you can always ask the maid to just call you when supper's up so that you can take your medications... When you're sick and living alone, you actually need to do the planning too! So much for getting "rest".

Unless you find somebody who is willing to take a leave to take care of you, I guess I just need to get used to the idea that this will be my future from hereon. It's not easy, so the least I could do now is to avoid getting sick-- that is, through overdosing myself with Vitamin C starting now. haha.