sick time

Two hours in the shift, the flu I knew my body had been keeping at bay finally won out, and by 8pm I was racked with chills and body aches.  For the first time as a boss, I began to call other supervisors to see if someone could relieve me.  Fat chance on a Saturday night.  I let my guys (it was an all-male crew) know I was sick, and I spent the rest of the shift at the post, working on admin.  My only foray out of the station was a shaky drive to 7/Eleven for a Mountain Dew Slurpee to soothe my throat.

The one call of significance was a door of a residence that was kicked in while the residents were home.  Fortunately, it was before the illness hit, and I was able to respond.  The shift was able to handle the normal domestics and suspicious person calls throughout the night without adult supervision. At 0600 I let the incoming watch commander know I would not be in for the shift that night.  I later learned that they used three different supervisors splitting the shift up to have it covered.

Anytime a police officer calls in sick, it affects far more than that one person.  Exponentially so when it is a supervisor.