There's this weird thing with the dutch and sickness. They really do seem to take the piss. Because companies are insured with your health insurance, they get compensation for when people are ill and they lose productivity...therefore there aren't any limits on the number of sick days you can take. As long as you are really ill of course. Well there was this flu thing around this last month, practically everyone has come down with it, I noticed that the other nationalities had 1, maybe 2 days off. The dutchies on the other hand took from 3 - 5 days off, and one particular person (and I guess he'll have to forgive me if he really has been that ill) has had about 6 days off.

In the UK you have to have a doctors note for that amount of time off, and a pretty serious reason for needing it. And then every time you are ill after that for the year it's dodgy because you already had over your 5 days.

It just seems to me that they use their sick days a little loosely, like something they're entitled to if they feel just a little bit under the weather.

I was ill one day, went back into work yesterday (granted feeling a little bit worse for wear, but not too bad), because I wanted the option of going out last night. And I was ok, seem to have pushed it out of my system.

It's just amusing how for such a stout and healthy race, at the first sign of illness, they seem to cave in, either that, or they really do take the piss - which also seems odd for a nation that's all to do with 'fairness' and 'sticking to the rules'. How bizarre is that?

My two-pence for the day on dutch foibles.