Telling the truth is important – but it’s a thankless business | Seamus Jabour

Lying has never come easy to me. But to think how simple it would have been if I had just called in sick

I recently made the catastrophic mistake of being honest. Last year, I made the equally poor life decision to enhance my career by enrolling in a diploma for my field work. A requirement for the course was to attend eight study days each semester, broken up into two four-day slots totalling 16 on-campus days for the year. Are you following? If not, never mind, read on and I'll get funny shortly.

As a registered nurse (RN), I work on a rotating roster of days and nights, weekdays and weekend, Christmas and New Year and so on. We're lucky enough to have a system to take days off for important events such as beers with the boys and when Mum comes to visit.