… to be mad at ill colleague?

Are your employers REALLY, like genuinely ok with people being off with a cold? If they really really are, then yes your colleague should have stayed home, but if not then, if she doesn't feel bad, in is where she should be. Plus I very much doubt all the parents keep their kids off for every sniffle.

Unless your work sickness policy allows you to stay off for every slight illness then people will come in. You have no idea whether this illness came from her you could of picked it up from anywhere. Who knows maybe she got it from someone else in work should she then get in a mood with them? Sorry unless your gonna live like lockdown you have the risk of picking up germs wherever you are. Imagine how it is for teachers , doctors etc ??!!

I would be annoyed too.

At the same time, this colleagues behaviour does suggest that some issues to me. Maybe, this is a colleague who feels unable to turn off, even when warranted. Are they an under-performer and thus feel that they don’t deserve the time out? Does this colleague need to prove that they are a hard worker and dedicated to the cause? Maybe you don’t know, as you are not in on their 1-1’s or appraisals. Maybe they are scared of losing their job and have considerable pressure at home / financially?

The Martyr syndrome you sort-of acknowledge, may be coming from a place of anxiety or insecurity.

I mean do you think the majority of people who come in with colds do so for the absolute love of the job? Because they’d far rather be treading the office carpet tiles than curled up in bed?

No. It’s because money. And pressure. And employers who don’t get it.

Colds are a part of life 🤷🏻‍♀️ Christ, what has Covid done to some people?!

We have this with one of my colleagues. Spends the entire shift complaining how ill she is, but refusing to go home. And inflict her bad mood on the rest of us.

I feel like I live on a different planet to MNers. Since when don't you go into work with a cold? In my world (not that I like it this way) if you can walk/talk, you go into work.

If I called in sick because of a cold I’d get told to take something and come in anyway.
we don’t get sick pay. Ssp is £18 a day 1

people wait 3/4/6 months to see me and the bosses are extremely unwilling to cancel my day as it costs them £££. And they’d get complaints from patients.
so I come in anyway. Even though I work with vulnerable people

We've been told if we are ill and can work then to WFH to avoid germs spreading, which I did last week. If I had to go into work and had germs then I would wear a mask and wipe down surfaces and keep distance if feasible, there really is no excuse not to do small things like this.

Currently we also get full pay if sick, but yes before WFH was a common thing I did go into work ill as you don't even get SSP until day 4 so it's 3 days unpaid which is a serious financial dent.

P.s. i would say I'm a mayrtr too, work when not feeling great a lot of the time but actually have no respect for people that are regularly off ill. From HR people I've spoken too it's reasonable for 2 x sick occurrences a year so what - a week off ill per year before performance evaluations etc

So, management should have stepped in and TOLD them to go home.
Why didn't they?

The lack of consideration some people show when ill drives me crackers. I honestly thought all of that ‘I’ll just soldier on’ bullshit was done with covid but here we are again.

it starts with school tbh - the culture of perfect attendance being the holy grail, as if someone I has any control over when they get ill - properly boils my piss 😂

This. In the UK we’re usually only swabbed if we’re seriously ill, but in countries where people can see a doctor and get swabbed for mild illness it is documented that flu can be very mild or even asymptomatic. In the UK, people tend to use the word ‘cold’ for minor illness, and ‘flu’ to tell someone they’re really ill, when in reality colds can be severe and make you feel horrendous, and flu can be mild.

And this is utter bollocks too. Jumping on the ‘have we learnt nothing from Covid’ you can have flu mildly and asymptomatically.

Yabu, you work in a school. There are germs everywhere. If you wanted a germ free existence this is a very strange choice of job. You cannot be sure that you even caught the cold off your colleague.

@CowboyJoanna a cold is one thing, flu entirely something else. You have obviously never had real flu. It is totally different from a cold. With flu, you cannot walk across the room without effort and you dread needing the toilet as you don't know if you have enough energy to get there. You are either shivering uncontrollably or boiling and every part of you aches. It is nasty and can be fatal for some people. There is no way that you could work with flu and you can be absent for quite a while. This is why enlightened workplaces pay for their employees to have a flu jab each year.

I really thought the one positive lasting thing from the pandemic and lockdowns would be people being a bit more sensible about spreading diseases around in the name of presenteeism.. obviously not 🙄

YANBU, I hate people coming in when sick. At my work, which is hybrid, we explicitly tell people not to come in if they have cold symptoms, yet stil they come

I go into work with a cold. I'm suffering with my 3rd cold in 6 weeks! If I stay off with every cold, I'll never be in work between October and March.
However, I do bin my tissue and sanitise my hands each time I blow my nose, I stay at my own desk and advise anyone who approaches my desk that I'm germs and contagious.
Your colleague is fine to attend work if they feel well enough to do so but they should be considerate in their hand hygiene and keeping their distance from others.

I hope you feel better soon xx

YANBU to be annoyed with pants hygiene when colleague came in with a cold.

I think YABU to be cross generally that colleague came in with a cold though. Schools encourage us to send kids in with common colds, so think it's reasonable your colleague went in.

I'd be pretty pissed if my team called in sick every time they got a cold. As long as they chuck their snot rags in the bin and aren't spluttering in faces, I am in the camp that thinks you just crack on with a cold. Keep any D and V far away though!

It's easy to complain about an ill person coming but we have no idea of their circumstances.

The workplace sickness policy might have something to do with it.

They might already have taken sick days and face disciplinary procedures if they off again. We have no idea.

However, they should be really mindful and try not spread their germs all over the place.

Here’s the issue. If you ring in sick for a cold you are seen as staying off work unnecessarily. This can result in absence triggers being met or loss of pay. You are expected to work because it’s just a cold. So when I have a cold I go to work. So do my colleagues. As a result of my colleagues cold recently I had a bad cold which developed into a chest infection. But out of 3 of us not one sick day was taken. If everyone had days off with a cold productivity would be way down. The average adult has 5 colds a year. So yes, it’s annoying when you catch a cold from someone. And I totally feel your annoyance. But it’s also not really practical to be off sick when it is just a cold.

Colds can make you sweaty and pale

Common colds can be passed on before symptoms even start! You could have caught it before her spluttering at work!

If she's well enough to get dressed and commute to work, she's probably fine to work.

Most likely she's just one of these 'oh I'm so unwell, look at me types' who crave attention.

Her hygiene sounds grim, but that's a separate issue and you could also have picked this cold up from anyone.

Not even a GP would do anything for a virus in a healthy person, we just have to ride them out as naff as they make us feel.