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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
Buyitinbamboo · 10/10/2019 13:36

I think people say they have flu because if you say I have a bad cold people think "oh it's only a bloody cold, you could work", when in fact a cold can be awful

Damntheman · 10/10/2019 13:38

People say they have the flu because when they say they have a cold everyone is all "pff it's just a cold, stop being pathetic". I mean.. yes it's annoying, but a solid head cold is definitely reason enough to need to be in bed for a couple of days of work and people should be able to say they're suffering greatly with a cold. They can't though, as it'll get questioned, so they say flu.

underground76 · 10/10/2019 13:44

I also find this a bit irritating ... but I suspect people phone in sick and say they have 'flu' because they know that a lot of employers seem to think it's fine to work with a horrendously bad cold. You can feel like absolute shite with a bad cold and not really be in any state to do a day's work, but some bosses are dicks and would think 'a heavy cold' was not enough reason to stay off work.

I'm quite lucky where I work because the culture in general is quite good around sick leave etc, and my boss is pretty good about that kind of thing in general, but I think some people exaggerate symptoms because they worry their illness won't be taken seriously as a reason to need time off.

MsTSwift · 10/10/2019 13:50

To be fair occasionally a cold can knock you for six.
Dear god I had flu once dh too. We were so ill. I had to give our baby to my uncle neither of us could look after her and he was the only person in the family able to step up

Candymay · 10/10/2019 13:51

I’m totally with you on this. Flu is a terrible illness which can even be fatal. I have had it several times in my life and it is awful. I felt near to death. Once was in 2008. I still remember how terribly Ill I was.

I have also known people to take a day or two off work with ‘flu’. Drives me mad. It’s often at times that the country isn’t even experiencing any flu.

MsTSwift · 10/10/2019 13:54

Candy on my worst day I wanted to die. I have never felt so ill except when I got a proper kidney infection. We were in bed a week we weren’t right for weeks afterwards dh had 2 weeks off work

HoldMyLobster · 10/10/2019 14:11

Flu can be awful, or it can be quite mild.

My stepsister died of flu.

My daughter had flu last year (diagnosed with a test by a doc) and just coughed a lot. She didn't have to go to bed, she was able to sit up and carry on with her schoolwork. But because she had a flu diagnosis she was not allowed in school for a week.

Original poster
Vilanelle · 10/10/2019 14:34

It's not even just about the people ringing in sick with the flu. It is the girl sat next to me claiming to have it. She doesn't. So why not just say cold?

OP posts:
GrandmaSharksDentures · 10/10/2019 14:39

It is very possible to have flu mildly, it is also possible to carry & pass on the virus whilst having no symptoms yourself. The only way of knowing if you actually have flu is to have a swab taken

Stressedout10 · 10/10/2019 15:46

Whilst flu can be very mild, dr says I had aussie flu (had bloods done for something else) I still say it was a mild cold (yes I know blood tests are right) . I had "real flu" in 92 dam near killed me , and I guess that it tainted my view of flu anything less than deaths door is just a bug or maybe a virus.
Oh God I just realized I've turned into my mum 😱🤣

CharityConundrum · 10/10/2019 16:03

@M3lon Just FYI - I am listening and agree! The thing about the coil is fascinating, but it may be a lost cause because apparently those who sit near a colleague potentially misdiagnosing themselves are those who suffer most in all this! Grin
On the plus side, I did just book my flu jab, so this thread has come as a timely reminder of that.

FannyAnne64 · 10/10/2019 16:31

I'm currently suffering from a horrendous cold right now and yesterday was supposed to be my first day at at my new job. I dragged myself in but I must have looked and sounded pretty awful as they sent me straight back home again. Ordinarily I would have stayed home but felt it wouldn't go down well ringing in sick on my first day. As it happened one of the ladies I'm going to be working has a condition where she has to try to avoid coming into contact with anyone with contagious viruses etc so that was the deciding factor for sending me home. Ironically I started my last job with a raging cold. The swines didn't send me home on that occasion though which was probably an omen of how they treated their staff.
Anyway, for what it's worth I think people with nasty colds should stay away from work for obvious reasons where possible.

bluebluezoo · 10/10/2019 16:36

It sounds better though doesn’t it. Ringing in sick with a cold is a over dramatic. Flu makes it seem more serious so the absence is justified.

Like when people need “extra strong” antibiotics. No, you just need a different one to bog standard penicillin because it isn’t very effective on the bacterial infection you have.

CharitySchmarity · 10/10/2019 23:01

I don't think I've ever had flu, unless it's true that you can have it so mildly you don't realise you had it.

I've never really felt ill because of a cold either. I normally just get a runny nose (and I know I'm not allergic to anything so that's when I conclude that I've got a cold). The only time I had to take time off because of a cold was because I'd lost my voice (my job at the time involved using the phone a lot). On reflection it may not have been a good idea to go out to a place where you have to shout to make yourself heard during a cold.

Obviously I would take time off for colds if I was told I had to because there was someone around with something wrong with their immune system. I'd also sympathise with anyone who did feel so ill they needed time off. I just don't experience colds that way myself.

I do tend to assume that people haven't got flu if it only lasts for a couple of days but I think sometimes they genuinely believe they have. There are also whole countries where people routinely use the equivalent word for "flu" to mean something a lot milder than we would use it for here.

M3lon · 11/10/2019 00:03

charity its definitely possible to have flu so mildly you don't really notice it!

In other news these things alternate....we go through phases where the human population has had a lot of rounds of flu and it become less severe because of it...meanwhile something else is knocking us for six....then we get on top of that and whooosh the flu is back killing people....

there have been times in history when small pox wasn't a big deal. It would be a catestrophe now because no one has gotten any immunity recently!

steff13 · 11/10/2019 01:42

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

We don't use it here in the US, so it always sounds very odd to me. A cold is something you have. It's not something you're full of.

WiddlinDiddlin · 11/10/2019 01:58

Meh, flu or cold, if you are contagious, stay the heck away from me and if that means you stay home from work, do it.

Some of us, me included, could genuinely be finished off by a nasty cold, serious chest infection or influenza.

To be honest, the people who claim they have the flu when they have a cold annoy me FAR less than the people who 'battle through' and go to work in an environment where they will be in close contact with others, and spread their nasty germs around.

Last time I got actual flu, that was nearly six months of my life in bed (flu and congestive heart failure do not mix well!)

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