How would you feel about this?

[StormyLovesOdd]

I work in a large open plan office, I have a bit of a cold and a really bad cough that I can't seem to shift. When I cough I know its loud in our quiet office but I can't help it and if I try and stifle the cough it just gets worse. Once I start coughing I find it hard to stop and I try and go to our kitchen and have a drink of water until I have it under control again.

My boss has just taken me to one side and said people are starting to complain about my coughing and saying they can't concentrate on their work. I know my coughing is loud and annoying, its not nice for me either but what am I supposed to do about it? Every time I have to cough now I feel like people are tutting and talking about me.

Boss suggested I sit somewhere else in the office until I feel better., am I right to feel really pissed off about this? Its just a cough not the corona virus, I catch it in a tissue and bin it. The more I think about it the more annoyed I feel.

Pps get well soon 💐

I find sucking a boiled sweet helps suppress a cough. Maybe keep some handy for when you feel it’s about to start.

You've not been cast out of the fold, that's a bit dramatic.

Simply you've a loud frequent cough which is disturbing the working environment, simply move yourself off to a different area until you recover and have some consideration for your colleagues.

That would really annoy me sorry. It pisses me off when people cough near me in general (I’m talking proper coughing not a little cough) - there was a woman in a cafe the other day with a small child who had a terrible cough/cold and was spluttering all over the place. It really annoyed me - she should’ve been at home and I think it’s really selfish and unfair on other people.

I have had this problem for years: it starts with the cold and then I would be coughing for weeks afterwards. If you have been checked for chest infection and it's clear, I would strongly suggest you get Sinus Rinse Kit from Boots. Got recommended this by a nurse at my GP surgery, when I saw her for something completely different, and it really works! You have to rinse your nose and sinuses, and using it is not as bad as it sounds. Try it. I sed to suffer with persistent cough for years, but now I don't.

'Only a cough' can be a lot more to anyone with a weakened immune system OP. Being around this would make me so anxious and I bet it's annoying regardless.a

If you're paid sick leave why did you go in? I would be moving elsewhere in the office and trying to treat it with medication as a minimum. Ideally work from home.

Bluntness 100 -

"You've not been cast out of the fold" , that's a bit dramatic."

I was attempting to be lighthearted here, I'm not that much of a drama queen honestly

Ihavechangedmyname2manytimes - thanks, I'll pop into Boots later and try this, nothing else works, believe me I've tried everything over the years, it just takes me ages to recover from a cold.

I don't understand why you wouldn't just sit somewhere else.

I hate sitting elsewhere, it feels like I've been cast-out of the fold

But the fold are finding your cough distracting to the point they've spoken to the manager who has spoken to you. You said you feel people are talking about you each time you cough so you know they are bothered by it even without your manager speaking to you.
If you have these coughs for 'weeks if not months' yabvu. Keep water near you so you don't have to have a full on coughing fit, trek to the kitchen and get water before controlling the distraction. Try to work from home a few days.

Sit somewhere else!

Airwaves chewing gum

I sympathise, because I've had this damned cough for six weeks, and the only bright side is I'm not currently working, so don't have this problem!

However, I know I'd be driving everyone nuts with this, hell, I am at home, I sound awful, so I'd be more than happy to sit elsewhere so as not to be feeling awful that I'm distracting and bothering my colleagues.

I would love adopting a meeting room as my office! Make yourself comfy in there, take a drink etc.

After a while you can start inviting people into your office for a chat and officially make it your own. Move a couple of plants in and ask for some drawers for your things.

Do because you don't like sitting on your own, the rest of the office has to cope with being disturbed by your incessant coughing possibly for weeks.

How is that them being unreasonable?

Sorry op you feeling like this 💐

Keep a water at your desk also like the other comment said-
A low dose of codeine helps but wouldn't take it for longer than 3 days as it's additive and can cause constipation.
Probably best to see what the underlying cause is too.

All the best.

Weeks? Fuck no wonder they’re moaning... Imagine apologising on every call for ages about the person in the back hacking up a lung. It doesn’t sound professional even though it can’t be helped.

If a drink helps keep a bottle at your desk instead of doing a bloody mini marathon to the sink every time too. Tyrozets? I think they’re called really worked with tickly coughs. Get a check up make sure you don’t actually need an inhaler or something to break it up a bit.

I would be ringing in sick tomorrow, fuck em!

Why are so against moving to another area so you're not disturbing others? Then you can cough when you need to and not feel bad. I don't understand your hesitance ?

So you are being upgraded to your own personal office.

Grab it op, grab it with both cough covered hands and get settled right in!

Then once it settles and they start hinting at getting it back just doing the odd small cough and complain at the kettle that your feeling like you a bit funny you think you might be "are coming down with something"

I would sit elsewhere for the time being but also no one should have a cough for weeks in end. If you are quite mucusy with it then remove all dairy from your diet for now, don’t drink or eat any thing either hot or cold - stick with a temp as close yo your bodies normal temp as possible. Have food and drinks which are as close to your bodies natural ph as possible. Orange juice and coffee are not good. Extremes of temp and ph make your body over produce mucus. Try a spoon of apple cider vinegar 3 times a day.

Hope it clears up soon.

I'd go and work where your boss has suggested, it's his decision and you need to go with it. Get some cough meds if you can, it's so irritating when somebody is repeatedly coughing and they don't do anything about it if they can - I can't take any cough meds but if I could I work to keep the peace in the office.

If you have a cold, never mind a cough, it's the decent thing to take yourself away from most people as much as possible.

You can usually have a cough for months

I was always told if you have a cough for any longer then 3 weeks then doctors is necessary?

I’m not going to lie having someone constantly coughing around me would drive me mad if I was trying to work. It annoys me if I have a cough myself

I have a work colleague who apparently can’t blow their nose never have since a child anyway when they have a cold it drives every one mad when they are sniffing non stop, it gets to the point I actually end up in bad mood! Luckily this doesn’t happen to often! If they were sniffing months on end I would not be held responsible for my actions!

Work somewhere away from others please op it’s not that they are being unkind to you your colleagues are struggling to work in a work environment because of you. That’s not fair. I would also be taking a trip to the doctors as no cough should go on for months.