The Art of Chao Keng

First of all, can you remember when is the last time you took an MC from school/work?

From: http://news.omy.sg/News/Local%2BNews/Story/OMYStory200912101408-111715.html

本地员工为骗病假单　装病花招多

有人在网上指出，服役期间是拔智慧牙的最佳时期，不只可以到全国牙科中心“廉价”拔牙，还可以趁机拿病假休息。有网民就“分享”了他的经验，说他在服兵役期间，一共拔了4颗智慧牙，医生给了他10天的病假。之后，他因为牙龈疼痛，结果，前后获得超过2个星期的病假。

其实，除了拔智慧牙之外，上班族“骗取”MC（病假单）的方式还真是层出不穷，例如：去看医生时，假装胸口痛，因为胸口痛可大可小，所以，医生一般不敢“小看”胸口痛，都会开病假单让病人可以回家好好休息。

此外，一些常见的“骗MC”手法包括：告诉医生自己被失眠困扰多时，精神很差，继续工作会有危险等等，医生通常是无法证实的，为安全起见，多数都会开病假单让病人回家休息。

另外，也有些很“专业”的“骗MC”手法，例如：告诉医生，自己腰酸背痛，可能是要感冒了，这种“感冒前症状”，医生是检验不出的，但感冒前最需要的就是休息，所以，多数的医生也都会开病假单给病人。

家庭医生刘志华受访时表示，有些症状如头痛，是比较难辨别真假的，身为医生有时得相信病人。“以我的经验，我发现，一些在职场上遇到问题的员工，才会找借口‘骗MC’，那些工作得很开心的人，却是相反的，即使生病也不愿意拿病假。”

As for myself, I can't. Not even during NS. But that doesn't mean I didn't fall sick within that two years. Unfortunately (or not?) illness struck just right on my block leave after BMT, probably due to overeating haha. On other days, a good sleep was able to miraculously cure any discomfort.

Plucking wisdom tooth is indeed a good way to earn yourself a series of medical leaves. (I didn't have enough wisdom to have one sigh...) Therefore many NSFs would choose to have theirs plucked during the service. With no responsibility, and with no worries of being sacked or pay deduction, taking such long leaves is nothing but an event to celebrate for.

With so many sudden death cases (eg. collapsed and died instantly while running) in the recent years, the authorities cannot afford to take any illnesses lightly and hence will tend to allow small symptoms to pass for an MC. Is "even if you are sick, you must return to submit your MC to the office" a thing of the past?

As the number of such death cases increase, doesn't it make abusing the system much easier? Does this constitute to some kind of 幸灾乐祸, or 为民牺牲?

The doctors too have a hard time as well. Besides diagnosing their patients, they have to play a mind game as to whether the illness is serious enough to issue an MC or not. If they don't issue, they might be sued should anything happen to the patients. If they do, they might essentially become an accomplice of MC abuse. To be safe, most will decide to trust their patients anyway since there is nothing to lose. It's just a matter of principle. Would you rather jeopardize your career for the sake of your personal beliefs?

And thus, the poor doctors are forced to close one eye, or even both, whenever a typical chao keng patient visits. Unless there is a 100% sure way to diagnose a sickness, such abuse will continue to go unchecked.

It's all up to one's integrity I guess. If you find yourself deceiving the doctor for MC, it's time to do yourself (as well as your fellow colleagues) a favour and quit your job, and seek better pastures.