Thank you to a correspondent for the link to this promotional website offering workers suffering from colds all manner of unnecessary things. There are suggested out-of-office email messages (“I’m taking a BENYLIN® day or two and will reply to your email as soon as I’ve recovered!”) , recommendations for DVDs (all fairly rubbish, in my opinion) for frittering away your time until feeling better, and scripts of what to say to your boss when letting him or her know you won’t be in.

The ingredients of Benylin Max Strength Capsules are:

Paracetamol (available on its own, at a much cheaper price)

Caffeine (available from your teapot/cafetiere, where it is supplied along with warm, tasty hydration)

Phenylephrine (a decongestant; but you might be interested to read this abstract from a 2007 US systematic review of its effects; it concludes: “There is insufficient evidence that oral phenylephrine is effective for nonprescription use as a decongestant.” )

In other words, I think we should still call them “sick days”.