A problem of living right next to school is driving past the other workers on your thirty mile round trip to the doctor's surgery, or bumping into the head's PA while shopping for such comfort food staples as beans that are baked, or spam.
A delirious look or some fevered waffling are rarely enough to distinguish you from the customary low conversational skills of the average educational professional.

Do non-vocational jobs cause this amount of occupational guilt over absence?

Please excuse a short hiatus while I get on with being ill.