Pinga - it seems that you have always worked in a salaried position, your pay cheque came regularly monthly or bi-monthly, and always for the same amount. You do your job. Sometimes you are so busy that you barely have time to go to the bathroom, let alone coffee breaks or lunch; other times you have slack times, when you can catch up, do some rearranging of your work space or routines, even socialize a bit with your fellow workers. If you know you have to have sick time off - scheduled minor operation or treatment - you put in extra time/effort ahead of time to get things ready. If you unexpectedly have to stay home - cold, flu - your work piles up until you get back. Or you work from home. Most of my life I worked in such a situation.
But a good many workers do not have that privilege. They work shifts in stores, restaurants, call centers, fish packing plants. They get a schedule every two weeks setting out their hours - or they are called and expected in within an hour. They get paid for the hours they work. Not available - no pay cheque. Too many 'sick days' - and they are not scheduled or called. But phones have to be answered, customers waited on, fish filleted and packaged, potatoes picked, etc. They can't be done ahead of time, or put off until they are feeling better. I've seeen peoeple drag themselves off to work when they should be tucked in bed - and yes, they were sometimes contagious.