AIBU if you have a cold, stay at home...

[kateskates]

... and don't bring tour germs into work. Everyone at my DHs office has caught a cold and are sneezing and coughing. My three month old DS has caught it. :(

Most of what I've seen on Google about the Vicks on babies feet thing, just says it doesn't work.

This article is interesting though and explains how the claim came originated.

'Claim came originated'? No idea how that happened, sorry

OP...I assume your DH bought the cold germs home ? Did he take time off with a cold ?

I've had 4 rotten colds one after the other since mid November. If I had taken time off I'd have lost my job. It may in fact be in danger now as I've just been signed off with a lower respiratory infection and they are not impressed. People can't afford to be off with colds.

YABU. I don't get sick pay and as a single parent cannot afford to take time off for something so minor. Yes, it's horrible when your baby has a cold but people have bills to pay.

Unless I have D&V or physically cannot move then I'm coming to work.

Wait til your kid's at playschool/toddler groups/reception stages, then your DH will be the one going to work with all the diseases your walking talking germ factory brings home.

squoosh how did they work with shingles? I couldn't move!

I don't think an ordinary cold necessitates staying home.A really nasty virus is different.Just days before Xmas we were invited to friends for a meal,another friend came and walked in saying I'm not sure I should have come feeling like this,he looked really rough,and I was seated next to him.DH have been ill on and off since,all through Xmas and even now I'm back at work -self employed so no option -I'm wiped out.OK there's a lot of illness out there,and maybe we would have got something anyway,but I've been pretty seething he brought his bug out with him.And this has followed on from several nasty colds and conjunctivitis courtesy of DGD starting nursery.

DD recently had some strange bug where she felt so sick she couldn't concentrate, but hadn't thrown up and didn't have a fever, so school said she had to go in, she said that afternoon that she hadn't been able to do any work because of the nausea, what a waste of a day when she could have been in bed resting.

I'm confused EvilDoctorHogmanayDuck, does your child's school act like they're the ones who can make the decision for a child to go in or stay off sick? Why do they think that? It's your decision as a parent who knows the child and how they've been/may have sought medical advice etc.

Not again.

If everyone stayed at home with a simple cold, the country would shut down. See how happy you are when you can't get a bus or a train or your drs/dentists appt is cancelled and your kids school is closed.

Apparently, it's an unauthorised absence if I keep them off if they haven't got D&V or a fever. Then I get a shitty text. The last time DD was off was a Monday, and school couldn't say anything, because she was in a different city, and there had been no trains the previous day.

Many years ago my kids school librarian had had enough of getting sick multiple times over the school year and made a point of teaching the kids basic hygiene.

She taught them:
Cough or sneeze into the crook of your arm instead of your hands.
Wash your hands after blowing your nose.
Don't touch your nose, eyes or mouth with unwashed hands and don't touch your nose etc and then touch other things!

My adult kids and me still follow those rules. My dh doesn't. He gets sick much more than us.

I'm kind of with the op on this. People should keep their germs to themselves. Though I know it's not practical to stay off work every time you get a cold. Some people can get a cold and NOT pass it on to others because they do everything they can to not pass it on. Others can be a bit disgusting and probably unaware that sneezing without covering your mouth etc will likely pass it on to someone else.

Your dp needs to maybe up his hygiene game a bit?

I'm immune compromised and every time someone brings a sniffle into work, I catch it. Usually it turns into a chest infection/bronchitis/pleurisy etc. The last cold I caught left me in bed for days with a fever of 40ºC. It was hell. A couple if years ago I had an ear infection that lasted a month.

I always end up having to see a doctor, they always give me antibiotics "just in case" and I'm constantly on disciplinary measures at work for sickness (NHS - non patient facing).

But I need to work. Despite chronic genetic illness that resulted in me needing the transplant and subsequent 9 operations that means my immune system is compromised, the DWP don't consider me ill enough for benefits. And it like to keep working as long as I can really.

My last ditch attempt to keep my job will be asking for home working solutions. I've been off work this winter as I had yet more surgery to keep me healthy, so I've been kept either in sterile conditions in hospital side rooms or holed up at home. I've only had a very minor cold brought home by DS, but we got through it as he knows to bin tissues and wash his hands when he's ill.

Unfortunately illness is the way of the world. I wish we could make sick people stay home because they don't get in trouble for coming in sick, but I get in trouble for catching things that hit me harder than most people. It's on me though to find solutions, not up to the rest of the world to protect me from germs.

sqoosh It depends where the Shingles was. My DD had Shingles a number of times and she was allowed to continue going to school as the spots were on her torso and covered by clothing. She went to a SN School and the school nurse had checked with Public Health who confirmed it was fine as long as the spots could not be touched by others unprotected.

Actually I'm just trying to imagine the MN outrage during the Summer, if flights and holidays were being cancelled, due to the pilots having a cold.

Added anger if they happened to be male.

The cries of "Man flu" "Man up" and "Man child" would be deafening

RavingRoo
Hospital staff can’t work with patients when they have colds though - half my family is in the nhs (paramedics, nurses, consultants) and if they have a cold they do non-patient duties. Most trusts also insist on them having the flu jab.

They can and do work with patients regularly.

My son is a firefighter, the only concession made for a cold is avoiding BA if possible.

People can't stay off work for colds. It's not realistic.

And no-one can force you to have a jab btw, they can only advise it

Rachie as I said earlier. RavingRoo hasn't responded. DS1 is in hospital right now and a few of the staff have colds. Maybe he's lying RavingRoo?

EvilDoctorHogmanayDuck
Rachie as I said earlier. RavingRoo hasn't responded. DS1 is in hospital right now and a few of the staff have colds. Maybe he's lying RavingRoo?

How is DS1 Evil?

Its bull that NHS don't work with patients when they have a cold. Its sad really, since it would clearly be beneficial all round. I wish they didn't have to!

My Mums a nurse, my Dad and Brother were Police, my other brother and son are firefighters, my sister is a social worker. None of them get to take time off with a cold. The jobs are just too stretched, too much to do, not enough staff.

27 Rachie. I stated that in my earlier post too, but I don't think RavingRoo's reading posts that contradict her.

Sorry, didn't read it properly. He's very tired, his new meds don't seem to be working very well. I'm just happy he's still alive, when he was diagnosed at 5yo, they gave him a prognosis of 10 - 25 years. Thanks for asking.

My dsis previous employer had a policy that if you tried to come into work with anything infectious you were sent straight home and told not to return until you were well on a threat of disciplinary for trying to attend work when not well.
Much more enlightened policy and their sickness rates were low because viruses were not passed round the office!

I Work for the nhs. Being ill a third time in a rolling year triggers a disciplinary procedure.
If I took time off every time I had a cold along with all other illnesses I would be on a final warning probably by now.

I hate people who carry on like martyrs, spreading germs, just stay at home and get better.

I hate people who carry on like martyrs, spreading germs, just stay at home and get better

tough. Stay at home, get better, great. Also get fired. No thank you, my salary is more important to me than your issues with my cold.