Took a few days of "mental health" sick leave while I was working, but always stayed at home. One supervisor went to check on one of his employees, and he had just returned home from somewhere; said it was a good thing the manager didn't touch the hood of his car, but of course he could always say he went to the drugstore. Another one went to an employee's apartment and hammered on the door, but she wouldn't open it; let him know the next day she didn't appreciate that. Where my wife worked there was no sick leave, and they were subject to discipline if absences were "excessive", so I always told her to go in, barf on the manager, and then leave, but she never did that.

Obviously better to take a vacation day if you can if you are going to do something away from home.