It may be inconsiderate, but often, it's not entirely the person's fault, either. At my work for example, calling in is basically asking to get in trouble. Getting a manager to let you miss one day is like pulling teeth(they tried to get me to come in a couple days after having EYE SURGERY, despite that I was specifically forbidden by the doctor from doing ANYTHING afterwards for 3 weeks). Now, I had doctor's approval so there was nothing they could do, but if I come down with a cold or something, even a bad one, I *might* be able to get them to let me miss 1 day, but if I need more than that, I have to schedule a doctor's appointment and get them to write me a note saying I indeed needed to miss work. So basically, I lose money by missing 2 days(or 3, no guarantee the doctor will see me that day), and then I lose MORE money by having to pay the doctor. If I'm feeling that bad, I'll do it, but for a lot of people, they just can't afford to miss the extra time or lose the money, so they come on in, especially with the managers either implying if you don't work it will affect you negatively in the future(sure, they can't fire you for missing a day or 2, but they can "forget" to schedule you next week) or trying their best to guilt you into it(guilt doesn't work on me, if I'm sick, I'm sick, you can tell me how hard it will be to find someone to cover for me all you like, and I'll just say that's why you're a manager, you can handle tough situations like that).