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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To find this selfish and inconsiderate?

65 replies

SuiGeneris · 03/11/2013 06:28

We have just been away on holiday to visit my family. PILs came out at the same time, staying in separate accommodation. They were invited for various meals and came round, but halfway through the first meal it transpired FIL had an upper airway respiratory infection that was bad enough for him to have taken paracetamol and other medicines before coming.
I am cross that he did not volunteer this at all and made no attempt whatsoever at limiting the chance of infecting those present, which included a little baby, its carers, carers for a very elderly and fragile person and four asthmatics (two of whom are young children). He knew all this, knew he had a temperature and knew he should have been more careful because when I asked him exactly what he had (so that we could provide the right medicines) he muttered something about not being welcome.
Now 80% of those present at that meal are ill! AIBU to think he should have been more considerate, not kissing anyone and staying away from the children at least?

OP posts:

HomeIsWhereTheGinIs · 04/11/2013 18:58

I can see your point about the kissing, but yabu about the rest I'm afraid. People get sick, and symptoms often linger. You know superflu that you're always reading about? It's going to happen because none of us are ever exposed to germs any more. You can't reasonably expect everyone with a sniffle to lock themselves into a cave. The economy would collapse overnight for a start. I remember having the tail end of a cold at a dinner once (group of about ten of us in a restaurant). One friend was pregnant so I sat at the opposite end of the table and was then subjected to an hour of loud, "concerns" being voiced by another friend's dp. "Do you want me to put my coat next to you to shield you from the germs" sort of thing. Truly irritating, especially as the friend in question didn't care.

Justforlaughs · 04/11/2013 19:04

I'm just confused about why Pil came over for several times but it transpired during the FIRST meal that he wasn't well. If OP had that big a problem why didn't she say anything then?
Hand on heart I wouldn't visit my elderly relatives if I had a cold, but if I had travelled abroad to visit people then I would.

Heartbrokenmum73 · 04/11/2013 19:06

Same goes for the idiots who come into work coughing and spluttering germs everywhere instead of taking a day off.

Who takes a day off work for a cold??? You sound like the kind of person who would then complain about people taking the day off for a cold.

YouTheCat · 04/11/2013 19:07

Some of us don't get paid if we don't go in to work.

Heartbrokenmum73 · 04/11/2013 19:08

Yes, and the thing is if you only need a day off, then it's obviously only a bloody cold to begin with!

freyasnow · 04/11/2013 19:18

I would not be impressed by the kissing thing, but then I have odd attitudes about kissing according to others on MN. The rest is silly. I am an asthmatic and I just accept I will get colds. If your child is so severely asthmatic that they cannot risk catching a cold, I honestly don't know what the solution is. Do you home educate?

anonacfr · 04/11/2013 19:41

Ok I must be an anomaly then. I never get a fever when I have a cold. I feel like shit and I lose my sense of taste for a few days but no fever.

CrapBag · 04/11/2013 20:03

YANBU.

He was being selfish. I don't care that people think 'oh its just a cold' on here and are being hysterical saying you can never go out in public again. That is different from knowingly coming into close contact with people who suffer breathing difficulties, particularly when they are elderly and very young.

My cousin wasn't feeling well (didn't state what, just said she felt ill) when my DD was a newborn. I didn't want her near DD, however my nan and aunt made me feel like I was being utterly ridiculous and kept looking at me and saying things until I gave in, against my better judgement. All because cousin wanted to hold a fucking baby. Yep, DD got ill straight away. Ok, she wasn't really bad but a newborn with a cold is horrible when they can't breathe properly as they don't open their mouths to breathe. I was fuming.

Original poster

SuiGeneris · 04/11/2013 20:44

Ok, so a variety of opinions. I am afraid the argument that goes "you never go out then/cannot wrap in cotton wool" does not work: strangers in the supermarket do not hug kids or sit next to them for hours- and it was the hugging/kissing that annoyed me, not the turning up.

And to those who ask if there is more: yes, I guess there is. PILs don't really understand some illnesses, eg asthma. They have known for over 10 years that I am allergic to certain things and yet pretty much every time we go to their house I am ill. Once it was so bad all three of us were ill and they got offended because DH tried to improve things by hoovering a bit.

And yes, of course we are all vaccinated for flu, hib, pneumonia etc. And DS goes to nursery so we catch things from there too. But that's unavoidable. Being kissed by people with nasty colds should be avoidable if they are considerate, though.

OP posts:

APartridgeAmongThePigeons · 05/11/2013 03:01

Wow op, i guess "old man" doing what he feels like trumps ill baby

Who says he's old btw? Because he is a parent? My dad is 50 and my mother 48.can they do as they like too?

YouTheCat · 05/11/2013 07:15

How soon after the contact were you ill? You might all have been brewing a cold anyway.

Original poster

SuiGeneris · 05/11/2013 22:36

YouCat: between 5 and 7 days.

OP posts:

DoubleLifeIsALifeOfSorts · 05/11/2013 22:47

Oh it is frustrating and especially if you know what can happen to your children/ you/ vulnerable adult if you / they do get ill.

Sparkletshirt · 05/11/2013 23:47

YANBU. Mil, who never gets ill, invited us over for Shrove Tuesday, which was nice and thoughtful. She looked awful and told us what a dreadful few nights she'd had and it turned out she had laryngitis (i think that's what it was). Dd was in bed for 2 weeks and wouldn't eat, she's always been skinny and she lost a lot of weight. She'd always been a warm baby as well but her hands and feet are always cold now. I have no idea why she couldn't just cancel, it wasn't a booked holiday like your in laws, it was just pancakes for crissake. Your in laws could still have come on holiday without going out to dinner and infecting everybody else.

Saying that, we all have that 6 week hacking cough at the mo and dh just made himself very unpopular going into work, but things are so bad at work that no one dare take a day off for fear of being singled out and moved to a diff dept and job they don't like.

DizzyBlonde80 · 06/11/2013 00:43

Argh I hate sick people who put their feelings before a babys health. Yes family, I am looking at you!

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