Weddingbee boards

The thing is, your sick days are for just that - illness. If your sick days and your personal days are all out of the same pot, it doesn't make any difference. If they're not, then technically you're committing fraud by telling your company you are too ill to work when you're really shopping.  Depending on how strict they are about that, you can lose your job.

I'm lucky in that my company doesn't mind me taking an extra hour at lunch, or leaving an hour early for a vendor meeting or to run some errands, as long as my work gets done on time.  That does mean that sometimes I meet with the florist at lunch and then have to come in on Saturday to keep a project on schedule.  But a big part of the reason that my boss is so flexible is that I'm just honest with him - I tell him that there is an appointment that I can't schedule evenings or weekends, and he's very accomodating.  I am sure that if I lied to him about my time, he wouldn't be such a nice guy anymore.

I would really encourage you to try to be honest with your boss.  Maybe it's possible for you to take a day without pay, or to borrow against future vacation.  Maybe as long as you only have to take a little extra time at lunch, or leave a little early, they are willing to look the other way, as long as you run it past them ahead of time, and the work still gets done.  It's not that hard for your boss to plan around you being gone a day when he knows ahead of time.  It can be really hard on him, and on your co-workers (who have to do your work when you're not there), when you just call in that morning to say you won't be there. 

Technically, if you read your employer's policy, it's generally fine to use sick time for a doctor's or dentists appt.  Also in most states, under the family leave policy, your employer must let you use sick time to care for an immediate family member who is ill.  So jma19, your boss is not actually cheating - the policy would also let you use sick time to care for a sick child, to take a parent or spouse to chemo or to care for them after surgery.  Just deciding that you're too stressed about non-work stuff to go in is a different thing, and I do know several people who've gotten "caught" out golfing or skiing when they were supposed to be home with a cold or strep.  Funny, both of them got no raises last year, and complained like crazy.  Trust me, your boss knows, unless he/she is an idiot.  If your co-workers have to cover for you, they know too.  It will come back to haunt you one way or another.  Hopefully not when you need an extra day or two for your honeymoon, and your boss is looking at your absentee record for the year and trying to decide whether he feels like you deserve a little slack or not.