Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards | need advice on handling nutso supervisor

On Monday at our staff meeting, our supervisor asked us not to be sick. Yes, really. Okay, so I wake up this morning before my alarm even goes off with an awful sore throat (and I've had one on and off for over a month, so I figure I better go to the doc this time, right?). I drink a couple glasses of water and don't feel better, and I wait a few minutes and don't feel better, so I call my supervisor at home at 6 a.m. to tell her I'm ill. And she says she has such-and-such board meeting at 11:30 and she missed the last one because I was sick (I've had 1 1/4 other sick days for abdominal pain and two doctors' appointments for the same reason) and she had to sub in my room, the implication being I shouldn't make her miss this one, too. Well, geez, is it really my fault she doesn't have any substitutes to call and so she has to sub for me? Come on! I have a doctor's appointment, but it's not till this afternoon, so I'm home all day. But I can't just baby myself without feeling sooo guilty for missing work! She does this every time--when I missed my other full day, I didn't call till 6:30 'cause that's when I got out of bed, and she said that if I'd called earlier, she'd have gone in to work at six so she could get her work done before covering for me. Um, yeah, but I wasn't awake at six.... When I went home sick two hours early, she accused me of having a panic attack (no, apparently what I have is an ulcer...I wonder why!). I swear, the woman is nuts. This isn't the first time I've dealt with a crazy supervisor--I had one last summer who might actually have been worse in some respects--but this is my first full-time job. I can't afford to lose it--I need the insurance--obviously!--and I actually really like what I'm doing, when I'm well and not irritated with my boss. I just don't know how to handle her. I think she thinks I'm a hypochondriac, but if she talked to my co-teacher and the parents of the kids in my class, I got asked like three times yesterday if I felt okay (no). Ergh! I'm just at the end of my rope! Is there some Dear Abby or Miss Manners way of dealing with a situation like this? 'Cause it's all new to me.

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