There was a message on his desk that the boss wanted to see him as soon as he arrived. The boss didn’t look very happy when Jim reported to his office. The older man didn’t say anything, he just pointed at the newspaper on his desk. It was opened to the sports page, and there was a picture of a smiling Jim, holding up the trophy for winning the local golf tournament the day before.
“I just checked. You called in sick yesterday!” the boss said. “What if everybody just claimed to be sick and took off whenever they wanted to? What do you have to say for yourself?”
There was a moment of silence in the big corner office, until Jim finally spoke up, “I was really surprised to win the tournament, sir. I have never played that well. Think of the score I could have had if I hadn’t been sick!”