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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

"I am full of flu"

42 replies

Vilanelle · 10/10/2019 12:45

AIBU to be really pissed off with staff ringing in sick because they have the flu, only to return to work a couple of days later after experiencing a cold.

I would estimate that 90% of people who say the have the flu, actually just have a fucking cold. I am feeling very irate today, and my colleague is grinding on me, telling everyone she speaks to on the phone that she has flu. Absolutely no ill symptoms other than a blocked nose.

OP posts:

PenelopeFlintstone · 10/10/2019 12:47

I don’t even like the expression ‘full of cold’. It makes me cringe.

thecatsthecats · 10/10/2019 12:47

She obviously feels unwell enough to take the day off.

A bad cold can be really shit, and knock you out completely. Everyone in our office has been off at some point in the past few weeks.

I could not give a shit if they say flu or a cold.

NoSauce · 10/10/2019 12:48

Yanbu at all. I’ve had flu 3 times in all of my life and all those times I was floored for weeks, couldn’t get out of bed and felt like I was dying. A cold is not flu. As I say to my husband when he says he’s got flu but has a bit of a sniffle

ThreeLittleDots · 10/10/2019 12:48

YABU as they're using 'flu' as a colloquialism rather than 'influenza virus'. Like when people say 'stomach flu' for gastrointestinal viruses...

Or if this is lighthearted then of course YANBU, people shouldn't be so stupid!

Dodoluded · 10/10/2019 12:49

YABVU just be grateful they aren’t in the office spreading their germs.

Aragog · 10/10/2019 12:50

It's actually really hard to know if you have flu as it isn't always a horrid illness, especially certain strains. Also a heavy cold can be just as debilitating as flu.

It's a fallacy that if you have flu you can't move from your bed. Like most other illness there are different strains and people can be affected in different ways.

Unless you've actually been tested you don't really know.

tisonlymeagain · 10/10/2019 12:51

YANBU in being annoyed when people claim they have 'flu' but in reality just having a stinking cold. If they've ever actually had flu they wouldn't be using it so lightly. It's bloody awful, and takes weeks, not days to get over.

BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz · 10/10/2019 12:52

Depends. I've had flu previously (once) and a few bad colds. My flu ended in pneumonia.

I've recently been off with flu again. Absolutely not a cold - no blocked nose. Aching from head to toe, unable to do anything but walk to the loo then back to bed. Temperature sky high but freezing. Couldn't have the light on/read/do anything apart from take painkillers and sleep.

It lasted 5 days. but was absolutely flu.

M3lon · 10/10/2019 12:52

YABU. I've just listened to someone at work banging on about how fed up they are with people calling in sick with colds/flu/whatever....utterly dull and pointlessly judgemental.

People only feel the need to upsell their illness because of the self-appointed sick police who will be demanding to know details of their viral load and be inspecting for signs of shirking the moment they return....

M3lon · 10/10/2019 12:55

Oh and people can stop with the misinformation about 'flu' being different and a wholey awful experience too.

As with ANY VIRUS, the symptoms will depend more on your prior exposure than on the actual strain. Some colds are far worse than some flu exposures, especially if you've had a related strain recently.

I had the bloody swine flu when it was big news and didn't even know it wasn't a cold until it caught picked up in a random test for something else.

Flu =/= debilitating sickness
cold =/= no problem get your ass into work.

Too sick for work = too sick for work.

Stressedout10 · 10/10/2019 12:58

Ha my dd used to claim to have flu whenever she had a cold and a cough was always chest infection until she really caught the flu and then caught a real chest infection shortly after.
I think for some people until they have actually had flu they truly believe that they are that ill and can't imagine just how much worse it can get

ThreeLittleDots · 10/10/2019 13:03

Thank you M3lon that info is really useful, and I hope others read it and take note because I agree, the just wait until they REALLY have the flu! sounds so ignorant when you know better!

EdtheBear · 10/10/2019 13:08

I'm another who thinks it minimises the seriousness off actual flu.

M3lon · 10/10/2019 13:12

ThreeLittleDots · 10/10/2019 13:13

GettingABitDesperateNow · 10/10/2019 13:14

I get annoyed as well. I had flu one Chridtmas, felt like I was dying for one week and was mostly in bed the second week and still recovering for a third. A colleague took a day off for the flu and was back the next day. I understand a cold can make you feel awful and I understand at the start of an illness you dont always know what it is. But if you're out of bed the next day and back in work, to say you had the flu for a day is just wrong! And makes those who have genuine flu look like they are milking it as it perpetuates the myth that it's a mild one day illness

NoSauce · 10/10/2019 13:16

You might be “too ill to work” with a cold but it doesn’t mean you have flu.

M3lon · 10/10/2019 13:17

Can't we just accept that 'too sick for work' can cover a vast spectrum from 'have a cold and can't work' up to and including 'in hospital on life support'?

Who are the real sympathy whores? The people who feel they have to exagerate to not face sour looks from the sick-police when they return, or the people who need to reserve a little gold badge with ''really very sick indeed' for themselves for when they are off sick?

Maybe if you stopped assuming people where shirking and minded your own bloody business, people wouldn't need to lie to get you off their backs?

M3lon · 10/10/2019 13:18

three we need to get off this thread...god knows there is an endless supply of people who don't understand the first things about flu, including the fact it can be a mild to the point of not noticing it experience.....we can't change them all.....

formerbabe · 10/10/2019 13:19

I've had flu.. it's hell on earth.

I currently have a heavy cold...I feel like absolute shit... luckily I'm a sahm with school age dc but I don't think if I did work, I'd be able to right now.

ThreeLittleDots · 10/10/2019 13:21

Agree M3lon - was about to post wondering how many people have actually had their 'flu' or 'cold' viruses actually tested and analysed, but I can't be bothered... Off for a

M3lon · 10/10/2019 13:24

Or I might stay and post interesting 'flu' facts...like the protein structure of the injection mechanism has a hidden coiled coil in it, that people could detect using computational algorithms...but wasn't present in the crystal structure. It turns out it only emerges under the right pH conditions that are encountered near a cell....then it turns into a puncturing tube that the viral genetic code can enter through!

Fab huh?

ThreeLittleDots · 10/10/2019 13:29

Oooh!

GettingABitDesperateNow · 10/10/2019 13:31

You might be “too ill to work” with a cold but it doesn’t mean you have flu.

Exactly. I've also had mild flu (bird flu) and recovered within the week - I've had bad colds that were worse. I still think if you're only odd work for one day and have a streaming nose it's much more likely to be cold. So why not just say they've got a virus if they're not sure? Why insist on calling it a flu when it's more likely to be a cold? There is overlap in symptoms but they're not all the same

M3lon · 10/10/2019 13:34

getting 'I have a virus' is indeed a better way to go...but on the flip side why do the people complaining on this thread care so much which virus someone has? Unless you happen to get it tested no-one knows anyway!

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