Dog Community

WHY do people insist on going to work sick

Posted : 1/21/2007 9:37:22 AM

and sharing their condition with others?? It just makes me SOOOO angry!

First my co-worker insisted on being at the office the week between Christmas and New Years despite having a raging case of the flu and vomiting all over the place. She had personal days coming but had already scheduled the time off and didn't want to loose out on her long weekend. So she sat there sick and exposed me as well. Naturally when I got it, she was taking her personal days so I was stuck there sicker than a skunk. The office HAD to be opened and I was the only one to cover for her.

Now, for well over a week she's been spewing her cold germs all over the place. Geeze, take a day or two off and get better instead of infecting everyone else? Long about Thursday I started feeling tired and achy...by yesterday I felt like I was coming down with it, and today it's full blown. Same as hers...enough mucus to fill the super bowl, since I got up at 6 I've gone through half a box of tissues already (I think the the musinex is helping to break it up) but how one human body can produce so much SNOT is beyond me...it's all in my head luckily, BUT, when I try to speak, I get little squeaks and nothing else. So I will HAVE to miss a days work if my voice doesn't come back. Not a thing I can do either in sales or in the office if I can't speak. And I don't have any personal days coming yet. Crap. And worse, I exposed my Mom to this stuff. Dang it anyway. Oh, and of course the viral load triggered yet another blasted shingles outbreak......

STAY home when you are sick.....the rest of us don't need to catch it too.

End of rant.

boneyjean

Posted : 1/21/2007 9:58:51 AM

I couldn't agree more. There are three of us that work in my office. I always threaten my boss that if she or the other girl come in sick, I am taking one of that person's personal days b/c I don't want to get it...that or I will just work from home since I do have that ability. She agrees and usually won't allow either of us to come to work when we are really sick but of course my boss doesn't follow these same rules since the business is at her home. Sometimes I have to send her to bed though.

glenmar

Posted : 1/21/2007 10:05:12 AM

Dang it, I don't NEED to be sick right now. I got over her darned flu, had a shingles outbreak because my immune system was depressed, started feeling human and BAM, now the cold AND the shingles. And the meds for shingles are expensive and rather hard to swallow with a swollen throat, I can feel the fluid behind one ear drum......I'm gonna be majorly sick because SHE wouldn't take one of her danged personal days to contain her germs. Really ticks me off. We are a very small office, just the two of us. I CAN do most of her job if she's out. No one else can do mine. [:@]

Michelle

Posted : 1/21/2007 10:14:06 AM

I've always felt that way too. Unfortunately I had a supervisor once that was "hardy farm stock" and felt you should go to work even if death was knocking at your door . . . he could wait! That was a difficult time as I was pregnant and sick a lot. Feel better!

gayle

Posted : 1/21/2007 11:40:01 AM

i hate when sick people needlessly expose others! i hope you feel better soon, maybe keeping some airborne tabs in your desk might be a good idea,
http://www.drugstore.com/products/prod.asp?pid=76905&catid=23932&trx=PLST-0-CAT&trxp1=23932&trxp2=76905&trxp3=1&trxp4=0&btrx=BUY-PLST-0-CAT

cakana

Posted : 1/21/2007 11:42:03 AM

It is one of my biggest pet peeves too and I'll actually say, in a not so nice way, "maybe you should've just stayed home and rested and if I catch what you've got, I'm not going to be happy" [:@]. My boss is one of the worst and I'll tell him to stay away from me if he's hacking and coughing.

Sorry you're having to deal with this Glenda. I'm sure the additional stressors in your life are making you more vulnerable to catching whatever comes your way. Maybe stick some latex gloves and a face mask in your drawer and put it on when the sick coworkers insist on coming in [

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glenmar

Posted : 1/21/2007 11:49:23 AM

Ya know, anytime I say anything she tells me she can't afford to miss work......and I CAN? She at least HAS sick days...she just wants to save them for personal days so she can play.

I actually keep some lysol wipes ON my desk and wipe my phone every time I go in since she often uses it. She typically interviews in MY office when I'm not there because she has to do it in private and it's easier to hear the door from mine than from the conference room. And, I DO keep and use the latex gloves for anything I might have to touch that SHE has touched. We do drug screens so there is no shortage of those. The only thing I don't use is the face mask......

What really sucks is that my oldest sister is in town...she pretty generally avoids me, yet today of all days she called to invite me out for a b'day dinner. I so hope she doesn't think that I'm putting her off or making something up to avoid her.

Sigh.....cough, sneeze, blow (again)...................

Debbie R

Posted : 1/21/2007 12:00:52 PM

Oh God, I agree, it drives me crazy!! Especially in my business there is no reason for the sales agents to come in if they are sick. If they would just stay out the first two days and possibly see a Dr. by the time they came in the infectiousness would be down a tad.
Because of the lupus, I have now asked to be given a phone call if they are sick and I will work from home.
Bosses are starting to get it though, that by having sick people come in you are paying for an unproductive person and the potential of losing your whole work force, if they catch it.
What I 've been doing every morning when I go in is washing all the kitchen surfaces w/ Lysol w/ bleach, luckily I have my own office so no one uses my phone or PC. But I make sure never to touch my eyes, nose or mouth. And I wash my hands a lot.

Xerxes

Posted : 1/21/2007 12:47:03 PM

I had a case of the nasties right before christmas. I took off two days because of it. But the nasties still didn't leave and even though I still felt horrible, I came in.

Why? My boss didn't exactly believe that I was sick-after all the two days I was off were in the 70's and beautiful. I went to the doc and the doc said "viral" so there was nothing that I could take to make everything go away.

I did, however, carry a can of lysol around and sprayed everything I touched.[

]

meilani

Posted : 1/21/2007 1:31:34 PM

As much as I would love to stay home when I'm sick, I can't afford to stay home sick. Because the way my hours are, I don't qualify for sick time so if I take off, I don't get paid. I can use my vacation days but the only time I do that is when I'm really deathly ill. Another thing is, if I or anyone else takes off on a days notice, the pharmacy is screwed. Finding coverage is extremely hard and it's damn near impossible if you call off the same day. We're already short handed and when a person takes off, that means the wait times for a prescription turn into 3 hours or even worse.. unless it's for anti-biotics or pain meds, you'll have to come back the next day. Then again, considering we work in a pharmacy and are constantly exposed to stuff because of our customers, if we all took off when we are sick there wouldn't be anyone to work in the pharmacy. [

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huskymom

Posted : 1/21/2007 2:02:59 PM

I agree that in a perfect world, no one would go to work sick. Unfortunately its not always possible to stay home. BF's work only allows him to be absent from work for 10 days in a year. Last year in May he got the flu and used up almost all of his days. 3 weeks later he used up the last 2 when DS got sick and I was out of town. So for the rest of the year, if he was sick he had to go, or he would have lost his job. He was also put on corrective action for missing one other day when he tore a ligament in his shoulder, while at work. I figure there must be some law against this but apparently since he signed something saying he would only take 10 sick days or whatever, there is nothing anyone can do about it.

At my job, if I don't go for my scheduled shift, my boss has to work a slam, that is, from open to close of the mall. 9-9, by herself, with no breaks, and no bathroom. Going to the bathroom requires shutting down the whole kiosk and locking everything up. Putting away anything on the counters and locking the till down. And since most people are jerks, they will ask if you are closing and even if you tell them you are just running to the bathroom, they still ask to see something. Also since I am on mat leave, my boss got to hire another person, but not till I left.

espencer

Posted : 1/21/2007 3:58:58 PM

I have been at work when i'm sick even with fever, but never with something that can be shared to others

glenmar

Posted : 1/21/2007 4:02:40 PM

Guys, I understand that sometimes it can't be helped going to work sick. Heck I was sick as heck when I HAD to work to cover her PLAY days.

But when SHE makes applicants who come in sick LEAVE because she "doesn't need whatever you've got" it's a little hypocritical of her to expose THEM to her germs, and me as well.

sl2crmeg

Posted : 1/21/2007 5:27:32 PM

How about when people drop their dogs off at day care, and the dog is COVERED in fleas?

Sorry, OT, but it happened TWICE today! [:@]

dogslyfe

Posted : 1/21/2007 5:38:09 PM

I have always been one to stay home and NOT share my germs... but we don't get sick days. You just stay home if you're sick. Last year I was sick a LOT, and got in trouble (I had the flu, pneumonia, and MONO for doG's sake)... so this year I'm bringing me and my germs to work every time and MAKING them have to tell me to go home. After I've sneezed on them.