I hate calling in sick. I never, ever did it in any job, most of the time, because if I called in sick, it meant letting down the team in a big way.

Unfortunately for me, I came down with gastro and the flu at the same time on Sunday afternoon, spending the night in extreme hot and cold fevers, hugging the toilet seat until the early hours of the morning. Despite this, I still went to work, much to my partner's annoyance. It took a while, but I got into the groove, and even ate some bits and pieces while I was there.

Of course, as soon as I got home again, the flu and gastro bit back, and I spent the afternoon and night tucked up in bed, sniffling, sneezing and coughing like crazy. I spent the next 36 hours bed-ridden, having made the very difficult decision to call in sick, which meant that only one Chef was at work yesterday. I'd sent her an early morning text message, and she'd replied that the Sous Chef would be in for an hour or so during lunch to help her out, so, not feeling as bad as I had before, I went back to sleep.

I woke up this morning feeling a lot better. I think my fever's gone, so it's just the headaches, phlegm and bogeys I need to deal with now. But it's all null and void anyway, because today happens to be my day off.

I guess the kicker is, I was talking to one of the front of house girls this morning, and she told me that the Sous Chef hadn't come in at all yesterday, and didn't answer his phone when they tried to call him.

That'll teach me to take a sick day.