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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Sick hairdresser

89 replies

YorkshirePuddingsGreatestFan · 11/03/2018 08:21

I've been going to a hair salon for years. It's close to home and I know the owner quite well now.

I was booked in to have my roots done on Thursday. When I got there, the lady who put the colour on was very quiet and not chatty which isn't like her, but I just assumed she was having a rough day or something.

When she was washing my hair, she said "oh I feel wobbly again!" and explained she had a viral bug. She said she'd been in bed the previous day with a fever, aches and pains and vomiting and she still felt really unwell.

She felt wobbly again while blow drying my hair, so I just got her to blow it straight and not style it as I just wanted to get away from her.

I started feeling sick myself on Friday night. I had the fever and pains all day yesterday so I couldn't go on a family day out I'd planned with my children. I still feel ill this morning and I'll have to cancel a mothers day meal at my parents as my Dad is terminally ill so I don't want to pass my germs on to him.

AIBU to think she shouldn't have been in work if she was still ill? I'm just upset my weekend has been ruined as it seems like I've caught her bug. I'd rather have rescheduled the appointment than be ill.

Should I message the salon owner with a friendly complaint? I'm not going to rant or bad mouth him to others - just explain what has happened so he can stop his staff passing bugs onto other customers in future.

OP posts:

ScreamingLevitation · 11/03/2018 08:24

I'm not unsympathetic, but they'll just learn not to tell customers they're poorly - I doubt they get any sick pay over SSP, which doesn't kick in for the first 4 days...

Kitchenbound · 11/03/2018 08:26

IMO YANBU. Feeling unwell with a headache or something sure take a panadol and get on with your day (depending on severity don't flame me ok its just an example). Feeling sick with a viral bug? Stay. At. Home. Tbh i just find that common decency. Why pass it on to everyone else?! I would definitely be bringing that one up with the salon just not good enough

jerrysbellyhangslikejelly · 11/03/2018 08:28

YABU. Sorry you’re under the weather but do you have proof that you caught it from her? Were you in the presence of any other person over the last few days? You could have caught it from a stranger in a supermarket just as likely as you caught it from her. It’s not ideal that she was in work but you don’t know of circumstances, maybe she isn’t entitled to sick pay and really needs the money.

LadyMarmyLard · 11/03/2018 08:31

Unlucky you got ill. There's loads of D&V bugs going about at the minute. You could have caught it off anyone.

I don't see the point in complaining, maybe the poor woman needed the money. Imagine trying to work feeling like that.

LoveEricLove · 11/03/2018 08:34

No evidence to say you caught anything from her. Not everyone has the option to take time off when sick.

rollingonariver · 11/03/2018 08:44

As PP has said, most people really can't afford to take time off. Really your beef should be with SSP not the hairdresser.

LoveEricLove · 11/03/2018 08:47

Even the NHS now tells its workers to return after being 24 hours clear of D or V due to the cost of extra sick days under the 48 hour rule.

Original poster

YorkshirePuddingsGreatestFan · 11/03/2018 08:48

She's the only person I've knowingly come into contact with who has been poorly.

Nobody at work on Thursday and Friday said they felt unwell. They know I'm immunocompromised so anyone with colds etc., will try to keep out of my way at work.

I went to a gym class on Thursday night and haven't been to the supermarket or anywhere like that in the last few days.

OP posts:

cansu · 11/03/2018 08:50

I would be v pissed off. Hairdresser involves lots of physical contact so she really shouldnt have been at work. I would definitely bring it up with owner. Maybe he should pay sick pay.

ShakeShakeTheMuffin · 11/03/2018 09:02

YANBU. Seems likely she was the person you caught the bug from. If she was vomitting the previous day then she should not have been at work!
I'm surprised at some of the responses - I know she's lost pay potentially but I know how angry people get when sick kids are sent to school and surely this is just a grown up version of that!
This has ruined your weekend. I'd be really angry and would definitely complain.

Heratnumber7 · 11/03/2018 09:04

I think you're BU. You can't keep away from sick people - they are everywhere.
And hairdressers are unlikely to get sick pay. Lots of them are self employed - they rent a chair at a salon.

GreatDuckCookery6211 · 11/03/2018 09:09

I don't think YABU no. It would be very coincidental if you hadn't caught her bug.
Hope you feel better soon.

GhostofFrankGrimes · 11/03/2018 09:13

YANBU. Particularly if elderly folk with weak immune systems use the salon.

Scentofwater · 11/03/2018 09:17

Sadly your hairdresser may be self employed and have lost out on all pay that day if he stayed at home. This month is already hard for those of us who are self employed- with snow and bad weather stopping work I can imagine someone who is paid as little as a hairdresser might simply not be able to afford to stay home. It may be a choice between going in still poorly or not being able to pay rent. It’s a rubbish position to be in, no one wants to go to work sick and potentially make others ill.

prideofaberdeen · 11/03/2018 09:27

Yanbu. I agree it's bloody hard for people who don't get sick pay, but those bugs spread like wildfire so there's a big chance her colleagues and other clients have caught it, which is also unfair.

@EricLove the two NHS trust I have worked for in the last 6m still enforce the 48hr rule.

KittenCamile · 11/03/2018 09:30

I’m a hairdresser, most don’t get sick pay and the amount of complaints you do get if sick is unreal.

I’m 6 months pregnant and live 2 hours away from my salon. During the snow storm the other week I left early as my trains out if the city were cancelled and I would have been stranded, a client who I needed to move told me ‘that’s not her problem and we all have places to be’.

You can’t win, call in sick and get scolded because everyone’s hair is more important than your health or come in and risk 1 person catching something.

StealthPolarBear · 11/03/2018 09:33

" You could have caught it from a stranger in a supermarket just as likely as you caught it from her."
Simply not true. Yes she could have caught it elsewhere but on balance of probabilities she caught it from the known sick person who stood over her for over half an horrendous continuously, rather than the supermarket cashier she interacted with for 20 seconds. Common sense.

GreatDuckCookery6211 · 11/03/2018 09:33

Not being to get to the salon because of bad weather is very different to working when you're ill and potentially passing on your bug to your clients.

StealthPolarBear · 11/03/2018 09:36

Half an hour. Not half a horrendous

LoveEricLove · 11/03/2018 09:40

pride - mine doesn't. 24 hours now.

Lovesagin · 11/03/2018 10:01

Yabu that seems a bit spiteful tbh although I feel for you that you've had to cancel plans.

Hope you get better soon.

LolaTheDarkdestroyer · 11/03/2018 11:11

Yanbu..of course she was a twat for going into work it's bloody selfish!
Someone vulnerable to illness could have caught it as well. I'd complain.

Scentofwater · 11/03/2018 11:27

Duck I think you missed my point. If there has already been loss of earnings because of bad weather they might not be able to afford any more time off. Not everyone gets paid if they don’t go into work, and for some people not being paid for a week in a month means they can’t pay their bills. Is this really so hard to understand? It’s far from ideal, and I don’t think the hairdresser got up in the morning and thought, yay I can go into work still feeling like shit and infect people.

Floopbloop · 11/03/2018 11:32

I work in a salon and as unfortunate as it is, this would have happened where I work too. Most hairdressers are either self employed so no work = no money and it's not a very high earning profession anyway, or they are minimum wage and SSP doesn't kick until the 4th or 5th day. And the salon owner can't afford to pay better sick pay in a small business. When you work in a minimum wage job you simply can't afford to take days off sick, selfish or not.

DaisyInTheChain · 11/03/2018 11:43

I think depending on contract most hairdressers rent the chair etc, so it's a big loss if they miss a day. I do feel for you, if she'd said nothing you'd be none the wiser. Hope you feel better soon.

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