Actually sick , and just feel burnt out and need a day off .

- i work a govt job where I have paid sick credits

And I never quite understood what they mean by it

I feel like it's kinda a gray line between the employee being entitled to them , but at the same time if you called in and made it obvious you weren't actually sick...you could be called out and spoken to in theory.... Not that I heard ..it much in my particular job.


*** and I'm not saying be some slack employee who takes every single day off they can ... I'm talking about maybe once a month at most when you are feeling stressed / tired/ drained etc and need a single day off just to refresh and get away from the 9 to 5 office job

Bump

I have a job where if I take time off, my workload won't go away, instead it will pile up. This will usually result in overtime later and since I don't get OT pay, it's not really worth using unless I really am sick and cannot work.
If you can use it without having to work OT to make up for it later, then take it. All employers, public or private, are always looking out for their own interests, not that of their employees, so take whatever you can get while you still can.
Don't admit you're not sick though. Either act like you are or at least use it to go to the doctor's for an annual or the dentist or something health-related.