To think it's pure selfish to come into work full of cold barking every 2 minutes

[lilly423]

AIBU to think if your full of cold and coughing non-stop then you absolutely shouldn’t come in to work and infect everyone else? It’s pure selfishness. Colleague sits on desk attached to mine so very close to me and we share a phone. She gets paid to be off so I’m really pissed off if I’m being honest that she’s come in coughing and spluttering germs all round. I’ve got plans for over the Christmas and if I catch this because of her selfishness then it will ruin it for me. I told her she shouldn’t he here today and she just says she’s not as bad as she has been … certainly doesn’t sound that way and I’m saying it for the benefit of other staff.

buy a face mask and pointedly wear it?

Also worth mentioning that it's very quiet in the office and absolutely no reason why she would need to be here.

I agree, but lots won’t.

YANBU and I write this from my bed having caught a horrible bug from a colleague who did exactly the same - martyred herself by coming in when she was clearly infectious. I'm really cross as I've lost two days of Christmas prep and have missed a couple of drinks/lunches that I was really looking forward to. It's such selfish behaviour.

Ask her to go home and certainly don't use the phone without antibacterial wipes etc. Hope you don't catch it.

She was probably infectious before she was coughing and barking. If she practises decent hygiene and feels up to it I don't see why she shouldn't be at work.

Pretend your sick yourself and go home. That or make a point of wiping every thing down before you use it.

Well, I’ve had a cold and a barking cough for the last five weeks. If I’d taken the whole period off sick then I’d be on a formal warning by now. Sometimes it is just one of those things that comes with working in an office.

Sometimes you can cough for weeks after having a cold. She wont be infectious.

I am a TA. The class I am mainly in has the worst attendance in the whole school and so the children are under daily pressure to attend despite coughs, colds vomiting etc. As a result I am fastidious about hand washing binning tissues etc. Last week one of the children coughed right in my face and covered me in snot and spit. I actually gagged. I am now flat out with a horrible cold and MIL arriving for Christmas in three hours. I wish to goodness people would keep their bugs to themselves.

Depends on how strict your work is. Regardless of whether or not you get paid sick leave, if you have "too many" sick days (however that's defined) you can still be given warnings or called in for disciplinaries. I remember once I was called in for a meeting with my manager at the Co-op because I'd had the misfortune of breaking my wrist a couple of weeks after having a vomiting bug. I was literally sat there in my cast whilst he told me I'd been off too much (about 4 days, all told).

Personally I think if you're ill you should stay at home but some workplaces take a very dim view of that train of thought and believe you should always be in unless you're basically in an ambulance.

She might be worried it looks suspicious AF to call in sick the day before Christmas Eve?

So if you had a cold/cough for a week or more would you take unpaid leave for the whole time? Most people don't phone in sick with a minor cold/cough.

She has only got it over the weekend so still infectious I believe. My manager is very reasonable and laid back. They wouldn't find it an issue as manager has been off them self with it recently. She has had no sick leave since she's been here and everyone can hear how awful she sounds.

You can't win with cold really. If you take time off, you're soft, if you come in, you're selfish 🤷

It's not easy to be off with colds, though. My workplace is different from yours - no sick pay, back to work interviews and measures taken if you're off more than twice in six months.
Most workplaces you can't win - people don't want to be infected, but the culture is to soldier on and if you don't show up people whinge.
Plus taking 23/12 off sick looks like skiving.

I’d be very unimpressed with my team taking time off for a cold.

I wouldn’t myself.

I’d not be coughing on people but it’s not really an acceptable level of illness to be off with IMO.

Try being a primary school teacher, you get tidal waves of flu spores blasted at you every five minutes of the winter term from 30 little bodies then spend two weeks over Christmas in bed with gastric flu. 🤒🤒🤒🤒

You're just as likely to pick up germs going out and about. If she'd come in with D&V it would be s different matter - that's completely unacceptable. I wouldn't have taken time off for a cold unless I felt incapable of working.

YANBU

I'm in bed with flu, I assume thanks to a colleague coming in last week with a temperature and insisting on shaking my hand to say Happy Christmas.

some people can't win.
you moan if they are off for just a cold
yet you moan if they come in to work with said cold

disinfect the phone
wash your hands.

Coughs are really difficult to get rid of, I've known people to have horrendous coughs for 3 weeks in total. She might feel okay in herself and it's just a nasty cough. Does she cover her mouth when she coughs? Bin her tissues? Sanitize her hands regularly? If she doesn't then YANBU to as her to do so but you're being a bit U being mad that she came into work because she had a cold.

This time of year most people have got colds 🤷🏻‍♀️

It’s a cold, of course your to work with a cold!

Yabu. No way would I take time off with a cough and a cold. And I would feel terribly guilty if I had planned to work over Christmas and then phoned in sick.

It's nothing to do with whether you get paid or not.

If you have a good work ethic, you turn in for work if you feel well enough to go in.

I see both sides of this. Sometimes when you have a cold, even through the coughs and sneezes you feel basically ok and well enough to work and it can seem a bit lazy to take the day off. On the other hand, you worry about spreading infection.
I don't think it's fair to say your colleague us being selfish. Quite possibly she is at work because she's feel bad taking the day before Christmas Eve off and letting everyone else take up the slack. I always feel bad about taking days off sick, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. Maybe you could say something along the lines of "You don't sound too good. I'm sure if you needed to head home early for a bit of a rest we couls all manage fine here".

Also we have air con in the office and one of the older women is constantly sweating and putting it on which to me is gross as it blowing the germs round even more. She's going to be up here this afternoon and put it on I can almost guarantee.