To be annoyed by what I call 'Workplace Martyrs'?

[SapphireSeptember]

Because I'm feeling rather cross right now! The ones who come in coughing and spluttering everywhere (for fuck's sake, cover your mouth!) and looking like death warmed up. "Oh, it's only a cold!"
Reasons this annoy me...

1. I work with two people with compromised immune systems. One of them is a WM herself, and made herself really ill by coming into work when she shouldn't have, resulting in a hospital stay. Still hasn't learnt, and still comes into work when she's really ill.
2. Someone I know is currently undergoing radiotherapy. If I get a cold I have to avoid them, because I don't want to pass my germs on.
3. Yes it's only a cold, but colds make me really ill for some reason, and I'm sick of taking time off work because they won't.
4. Where we work requires both handling food and dealing with customers, a lot of whom are elderly. They don't want your germs either.
5. This notion that they're the only reason the place is still running. I'm sure it won't fall down around our ears if you stay in bed for a couple of days. They also like to inform everyone that they haven't been off sick in ages, as though those of us who have are guilty of some moral failing.
6. I blame this lot for my current cough/sore throat. Flanges! If I get properly ill I am NOT going to be happy.

I’ve been in the office this week with a shocking cold cough and hot / cold sweats. Nice. If I call in sick I’ll get a disciplinary as it would be my third absence in a rolling year (2 days virus last February and half a day hospital appointment last December). So in I go. If companies use the Bradford scoring system and take action when people have had 3 separate days off in a year, then they can’t blame employees for coming in sick. Particularly when they use absence scores when looking at redundancy during restructures.

deirdre you make really good points about hygiene, but depending on your job it’s just not always possible to be that vigilant. If you work with the public you are often a sitting duck. I’m a lecturer, and share lifts with students as well as colleagues, often so many people packed in you can barely breathe. In classes it’s not feasible to nip out and wash hands after every cough. Right now, between staff and students, no-one would ever be in a class, everyone would be in the toilet! Add to that the numerous times a day when a student uses my pen, or I use their laptop to show them something, the circle just goes on. I should have shares in Kleenex!

Too be honest different ppl are affected differently with colds you need time off then you need to decide for your self. I've seen ppl who can handle themselves when they have cold and I've seen ppl who literally are dying in hospital because they have taken soo much drugs that their body can't cope. It's your body you know it better than us. Think and decide for your self

I think a lot of it depends on the culture of the workplace too. I've been working for the past 15 years and for context have spent about 12/13 of them in places that very much frown upon time off even if you are practically dying. However, I have spent the last 2/3 years in places where people take time off at the drop of a hat and where the other places I worked would have slapped you with disciplinaties etc, people have 6+ instances of illness a year and it seems quite normal, nobody bats an eyelid. I'm not a martyr but I'm lucky in that I'm very rarely ill anyway, so for people who are always off sick it's really infuriating having to pick up their work, particularly when they are taking 2 days off for a sniffle and stuff like that....
But imo, if it's the sort of nasty cold that really does wipe you out awfully, and you're going to be snotty and spluttering everywhere stay home. Otherwise half the office will be out and that sucks in terms of keeping up with work. If it's just a common cold, come in ya big wuss

YANBU mild symptoms ok, otherwise stay home, recover & keep ur germs to yourself!! Some are more vulnerable, as you say working with immune compromised or frail elderly. False pride never to take a sick day & risk your own & others health (which u refer to in your OP) but of course there is a balance.

If working form home is an option then people with bad coughs and colds, tummy upsets too should stay home and work. If missing work means you will not get paid and working from home is not an option then most people will go into work, even if they feel like crap, and pass their germs on to colleagues. Selfish yes, but everyone has to have money to live. If you work in an environment with air conditioning then the germs get spread around all areas.

If you work in a place that handles food would that not be a breach of health and safety/hygiene standards?
I wouldn’t be want to accept food from someone with a cold tbh. Especially not good I’d just paid for.

I agree with you Sapphire. These WMs pass on their germs to others with nary a thought of how it can affect them. An entire department can come down because of it.
A few years back we had one such who passed on a very bad cold virus to everyone (including the boss) and months later one of our workers was still suffering.

I can well understand the need to soldier on but it can be taken too far.

I can't stand it when people act like martyrs about anything at work, coming in when they are sick and letting everyone know about it or working long hours, just shut up about it. Posting on Facebook that they worked '12 hours today', working 12 hours means you actually worked those hours, not got up at 7am and got home at 7pm. Why is this something to be proud of anyway. I work long hours and would love not to!

However, the issue with taking time off for a cold is a tough one. I'm rarely sick but when I do get a cold, I get a COLD! They always develop into bacterial infections requiring antibiotics. I get one without fail every four years and they FLOOR me. I'm talking fever, debilitating headache, no sleep, nausea, zero energy, horrible body shocks, aching muscles. Sounds like the flu but doctors tell me just a REALLY bad cold. I do come into work as I work in the sort of industry where one has to put on a tough exterior and just 'get on with it', but I will always have to take one day off as the symptoms are just too severe to do the commute into the City. I had one in the summer this year, summer colds are worse than winter colds and it was an absolute shocker

I should say that I come into work with this awful cold because my boss insists I do. I would happily stay at home. I think it's selfish to spread awful germs around but I don't have much choice

Yabu, I have 3 kids aged 5 and under and we all seem to pass the colds back and forth amongst each other no matter how careful i am to manage the germ spreading. If I was off work sick every time I had a cold I’d spend the whole winter off sick. Also, my last cold lasted well over a week, I’d then have to get a doctor to sign me back to work, which would result in my having to waste a gps precious time for a common cold.

I hate blanket sickness policies. I once worked for a supermarket. I threw up one evening shortly before work, not knowing at the time whether it was start of d&v or just something I’d eaten not agreeing with me I called in to the absence line. Had a call back from manager saying that I had to go in or it wouldn’t be authorised. (I told him where to stick it - I hadn’t had any sick leave previously so I knew they couldn’t do more than give me a warning). It wasn’t d&v but I did vomit again later - which would have been over their checkout if I’d gone in...
Same supermarket told me I’d breached policy by my daughter not calling in sick herself after a tonic-clinic seizure. She was known by them to have epilepsy, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise. I explained that post-seizure she would normally be incoherent for a few minutes, then go to sleep. If they wanted her to call In herself it would be in an hour or so, I was being polite and giving them more chance to ring round for cover if needed. I could hear the cats-bum mouth expression being pulled as they said they’d accept it “just this once”.

My husband works with a guy whose daughter has a severe illness and compromised immune system. It's pretty much the policy there that if you're ill - even with just a cold - you stay home rather than passing your germs around. Luckily it's a role that can accommodate home working. It's a pretty full on workplace but this rule hasn't harmed their productivity one little bit. It's a shame not all employers can be this flexible.