To refuse to touch my work computer

[TellerTuesday4EVA]

Just found out that a colleague I job share with came into work yesterday (Tuesday) despite having a sickness & diarrhoea bug Sunday afternoon through to Monday evening. Last week she had all 3 kids off school with the bug at different points & her husband also had two days off work. So it's obviously contagious.

I just think that is so bloody selfish. We use the same desk, telephone, chair etc & I've now convinced myself I'm going to catch whatever the hell it is (norovirus has been in local schools so highly likely it's that)!! I've got so much left to for Christmas before breaking up on Friday & if I now end up catching it it will probably spears through my own family over Christmas week.... I'm actually incandescent with rage!!

The worse of it is that it's actually really quiet at work so would of been no hardship to anyone if she hadn't come in.... AIBU to fuck off home & refuse to touch anything??

Update. I started writing this at 9am and didn't hit post... bottled out of going home so I'm still sat here at work spreading her germs all over myself 😡

I’ve had my hands removed and replaced with Brillo pads. If you prod me in the belly button, disinfectant sprays directly out of my mouth. And I’m fine!

Just keep washing your hands and be careful about touching face , eyes , mouth etc .... virus’s only last a day ( I think) on surfaces

I've never disinfected a computer or phone in my life. Just the occasional swoosh with a slightly damp cloth or a duster.

Clearly I am a slattern.

No, strangely enough I don't believe that I have some mysterious superpower of that nature. I think I don't get sick because I've allowed my body to build up its natural immunities.

Which is fine for you, but if you don't wash your hands often and don't clean items other people will touch, you could be spreading the germs/viruses and causing other people to suffer. You can still pass nasties on even if they don't affect you personally.

Dettol all-in-one is very good, spray onto a tissue and wipe keyboard. Smells nice too.

You know when I got constantly sick. When I became a mum and a small person started sneezing in my mouth and coughing in my eyes, man alive now I get sick.

I don't know whether to throw up or cry - best contraceptive I've ever read

OP, I'd also be annoyed and yanbu to want to go home. This is my second year of working fully for myself instead of in a big office and this year I've been healthy all winter - at work I was off what felt like every five minutes because of the brave, soldiering on of sick contagious people who dragged themselves into the office to feel smug/appease shitty bosses and gave us all their germs...

I did get whooping cough last Christmas which wiped me out but was from a friend's child not from work

If I was employed in the same workspace as @Spacebowlisback no routine tasks would be undertaken just tummy pressing even after the HR disciplinary proceedings. Just press scoosh, press scoosh all day long.

I think you’re being a bit dramatic. Bugs don’t live all that long on surfaces. Even so, just wash your hands before eating. Or wipe down the equipment, I’m sure there are some cleaning supplies somewhere in the office.

Surely there’s some cleaning products in the building.

Tell me OP, who’s job is it to clean to the chair and equipment or should it just be condemned now?

Another vote for dettol wipes I used them all over my classroom when I was teaching. Yes, they are antibacterial but they will clean the area too which would help against viruses. It must have worked as I was rarely off sick with bugs and always had high attendance among the children.

The telephone sanitisers all left on the B Ark!
But everyone left behind got wiped out by a disease contracted from a dirty telephone.

Burn the computer, keyboard and mouse and get new freshly packaged ones instead.

Norovirus lives on surfaces for days, it’s the ultimate virus, it takes 7 viral particles to make you sick. There is enough particles on the head of a pin to infect a hundred thousand people, this is why noro spreads so easily.
Bleach/diluted bleach is the only thing that kills it.
And I can certainly agree with a pp that if you’ve never had it you don’t have the FEAR but if you, your children, your husband, your mother, father and elderly grandmother all suffered it’s symptoms over a 5 day period you would indeed take steps to prevent it ever happening again. Granny and youngest child ended up on fluids in hospital.

OP as long as you wash your hands before you eat you will be fine. The germs won't magically jump inside you - you have to transfer them yourself.
If you don't wash your hands before eating, then yes you may well become ill, however you will never know if it was from ingesting your own germs or germs from the computer.
Just wash your hands before eating.

"I think I don't get sick because I've allowed my body to build up its natural immunities."

ah, you weren't the child who was constantly at the hospital then

No. Pneumonia when I was two, tonsils out at a time when it was routine, that was about it. Had measles, chicken pox etc (pre vaccination days also), all dealt with at home.

Just don’t lick the computer, mouse etc

Which is fine for you, but if you don't wash your hands often and don't clean items other people will touch, you could be spreading the germs/viruses and causing other people to suffer. You can still pass nasties on even if they don't affect you personally.

Who on earth said I don't wash my hands often or clean things???? I'm just not obsessive about antibac wipes over everything before I touch it, and I'm realistic about the fact that you just can't avoid bugs out in the big wide world.

I've never anti-bacced anything in my life, and get nothing but a mild cold maybe once every 2 years. Bloody hell, people really wipe down their computers! Life's too short. Never had a sickness bug either.

I'm a nurse, the infection prevention team drill it into us all about cleaning our work spaces before and after we use them. 3 years ago nearly every member of staff came down with norovirus, it was hellish. We also have 2 patients who are Cdiff carriers... so yes, I clean down my computer before I use it, and wash my hands... a lot.

Viruses won't live on plastic keyboards beyond mere minutes. Ditto a mouse. More chance of catching something when you turn off the tap in the work toilets as no one ever cleans the taps between hand washes and so will be a build up of all the crap (literally) accumulated every time someone turns them on / off after going to the loo. Ditto toilet door handles.

I never use anything other than a quick soap and water wash of my hands and am never poorly.

How about this keyboard protector? Wipe both sides after use, keep in your bag or locker.

People who wipe down the computer. Do you also wipe down the chip and pin machines which must be much worse.

I use my elbows.

You're not sat by the chip and pin for 8 hours, perhaps eating, touching it extensively, so not really sure on that comparison. I'm guessing those saying about you being over cautious haven't worked in an office where someone gets the lurgy and everyone goes down like dominos.

I hot desk and never 'wipe things down'. I have had a 5 day minor cold in the past two years. I put this down to my immune system being made of iron due to my clearly 'unhygienic' practices.

We are meant to be exposed to germs. It's stops us from .... getting sick.

I see us smug 'never sicks' have made our point already. Didn't RTFT...

Agree Naked, I’ve never even considered wiping down my (shared) computer at work, we are very slack about cleaning as well - very small team, our (well, mine!) responsibility.

But I very rarely get ill, neither does my DS, when he went to playschool, nursery, school etc I was constantly warned ‘he’ll come down with bugs, he’ll pass them onto you’, no he didn’t .

I do think some people are neurotic about ‘germs’, my DSIL insists on getting out the anti-bac before and after every meal .... she and her family are always going down with bugs. .