Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think it’s grim to come into work when you have a cold?

170 replies

sunfloweryy · 26/02/2020 08:59

If you can easily work from home/take the day off sick?

I’ve been off work with a particularly nasty cold for the last couple of days. I feel better today, but still not great so I’ve logged on from home to work as I’m still coughing and sneezing.

Colleague has just sent me an IM to see how I was and told me he’s got a cold too but he’s been in office. He was trying to make me feel guilty for taking time off for sure, and it’s bothered me!

He has form for coming in to work when he’s ill, coughing and sneezing all over the place and we hot desk so it isn’t even possible to contain him to one area. I get that the world can’t stop for colds, but surely common sense dictates that if you are able to work from home or take some days off you do so? Especially with this coronavirus going around!

AIBU?

OP posts:
Iwantacookie · 26/02/2020 09:26

Colds can make you feel as if you've been hit by a truck. So I can understand you staying off for that. If it's just generally an annoying cant stop nose running then yabu.
Or if you work with food. Nothing worse than seeing a waiter all snotty puts me off my food

MakeupSyrup · 26/02/2020 09:27

Some people have no choice. They go to work or they lose money.

JustInCaseCakeHappens · 26/02/2020 09:27

He was trying to make me feel guilty for taking time off for sure
are you taking the day off, or are you genuinely working from home?

If you work from home regularly, and he doesn't end up with more work in the office, I can't see why he would be bothered .

If you are "working from home" only when you have a cold or can't be bothered to do anything - like people who save on childcare that day Hmm - then YABU

JustInCaseCakeHappens · 26/02/2020 09:28

and the teams which allowed people to work from home had drastically lower sickness figures than the ones who encouraged their staff to come in and spread the sickness around.

but interestingly enough, teams who employ contractors and self-employed staff have even lower sickness figures than PAYE employees. Puzzling Grin

Davros · 26/02/2020 09:29

Should amend the thread title, it's not clear

Original poster
sunfloweryy · 26/02/2020 09:29

I suppose it depends on the severity of the cold also. I’ve had a few where some lemsip have knocked it on the head entirely but this one I’ve been completely floored with some real nasty chest pains and nothing seemed to touch it. I always try to stay out of other people’s way if i can tho, it just feels more courteous. Fully appreciate that not everyone has the flexibility I do to WFH but my colleague certainly does!

OP posts:
nettie434 · 26/02/2020 09:30

I think it’s totally reasonable to work from home if you can Sunfloweryy. Of course, some people don’t have that option and have to struggle on but I personally think that it’s better to work at home than go into an open plan office and sneeze, cough and splutter over everyone.

shinyredbus · 26/02/2020 09:30

Yikes it’s a cold. Not Ebola. If you just wanted to work from home just say. No need to feel bad about it - like you say, if you have capacity to fine.

LolaSmiles · 26/02/2020 09:33

The world would come to a halt if people stayed off for a cold.

Some colds are just the snuffles and splutters. Assuming people have good hygiene then they should get on with it and go to work.

I've got a bad cold at the moment and it's turned into a chest infection. I've had it for a fortnight. If I'd been at work then I would have called in sick because my symptoms would prevent me doing my job.

What I don't understand is people who martyr themselves so won't take paracetamol/cold and flu/cough syrup/cough sweets/sudafed/lemsip etc but complain about how awful they feel.

duebaby2 · 26/02/2020 09:33

Haha I used to have a manager who said leading up to the Christmas period and during it, the only excuse to not come to work was if you were on your death bed. But it was a company who needed staff and sales to make it through the seasonal period. There was no oh I've got a cold I'm not coming in to work, because you'd just get fired. Vomiting or diarrhoea or serious injury was the only other exemption that you could stay off work for.

The only time I've taken off work that wasn't serious was when I couldn't stand because I was so dizzy and thought it was not safe to drive. So staying at home with a cold is silly really

Sofonisba · 26/02/2020 09:34

So everyone piping up with "not everyone can work from home" I have to assume are being willfully obtuse

Welcome to AIBU!

CatkinToadflax · 26/02/2020 09:35

I’m coming to the end of having nearly 3 weeks off work. I’m due back on Monday. I have severe asthma and am recovering from the most vile, brutal chest infection, ear infection, labyrithitis and inflamed lungs. Every time someone else has a cold, I have an extreme reaction (though am not usually this ill for this long!). I totally don’t expect other people to tiptoe round me and take time off with their sniffle, but I’m giving the example here that a cold for one person can be a heck of a lot worse for another person. I’m lucky to have amazing colleagues who try not to sneeze on me! Grin

Sofonisba · 26/02/2020 09:36

Should amend the thread title, it's not clear

If you can easily work from home/take the day off sick? is literally the FIRST line of the OP. It's only unclear if you reply without reading a single word of OP's original post.

Cookit · 26/02/2020 09:38

I suppose it depends on the severity of the cold also well yes exactly. I’ve taken time off for colds that have floored me because I’ve been in a bad way and working was too difficult. That’s maybe 10% of colds.
Your colleague obviously felt strong enough not to take the time off so I don’t think he was BU to go to work.

I know you said “if you can work from home” but the title doesn’t say that and you are basically saying it’s grim to go to work with a cold, which is a fact of life for most of us half the winter.

gamerchick · 26/02/2020 09:39

Meh, if you can get it..... I wish I could work from home.

Neverenoughcoffee · 26/02/2020 09:39

Lots of companies use the Bradford formula
3 absences of a day off here or two days there could easily lead to facing disciplinary processes.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradford_Factor

CarolineIngalls · 26/02/2020 09:42

I am home with a cold/cough today. Normally I would push on, but one of the secondary schools in our city just returned from a ski trip to Northern Italy and everyone is jumpy as hell. People who haven't been anywhere and are healthy are self isolating. It makes for some funny parenting whats apps as parents who are going bonkers are furious the rest of are still letting our kids play football.

I didn't want to add to anyone's anxiety with my cough when I can work from home. It is really nice to have a quiet day to catch up, I'll probably get more work done.

dreamingbohemian · 26/02/2020 09:42

If you can work from home why wouldn't you? Why does everyone want sick people in the office??

We've lived in Germany the past few years and the attitude here is the complete opposite, people get upset if you come into work ill! It's very easy to get signed off for 3 days, even with a cold. Yet somehow the country doesn't fall apart every winter, it still has higher productivity levels than the UK. My family is ill so much less here.

Obviously not everyone in the UK can work from home but it would be great if it were easier for people to stay home when they're ill.

Original poster
sunfloweryy · 26/02/2020 09:43

@JustInCaseCakeHappens today I am genuinely working from home but I’ve been off for the last 2. We both work from home once a week due to lack of office space meaning we don’t have a desk/computer guaranteed every day.

OP posts:
IntermittentParps · 26/02/2020 09:43

I know you said “if you can work from home” but the title doesn’t say that and you are basically saying it’s grim to go to work with a cold, which is a fact of life for most of us half the winter.
Since when did every pertinent thing have to be encapsulated in the thread title? Is it beyond you to read the first line of the OP's first post? Perhaps you struggle with reading comprehension?

OP, it's perfectly sensible in your circumstances to stay at home. No one really wants to watch and listen to their colleagues sniffling/hacking/blowing their nose.

GlitteryUnicornSparkles · 26/02/2020 09:44

Colds are the worst. I can put up with a lot but colds and sore throats are horrible and make me feel dreadful. I still drag my arse in because working from home is not an option for me but IF working working from home is a viable option that they allow and you are actually doing some work then yanbu, I’d do it if it was possible.

SpottyShoeBow · 26/02/2020 09:44

I would be out of a job if I took the day off for a bad cold. My last one lasted 6 weeks. It WAS grim, but I have to work.

IntermittentParps · 26/02/2020 09:44

Oh, and your martyr colleague can piss off. Ignore him.

WinterCat · 26/02/2020 09:44

If you can easily work from home/take the day off sick?

WFH = YANBU
Sick = YABU

WorraLiberty · 26/02/2020 09:45

If you can easily work from home/take the day off sick? is literally the FIRST line of the OP. It's only unclear if you reply without reading a single word of OP's original post.

Yes but it's the 'take the day off sick' that's confusing. I'm not willfully misunderstanding that (just in case anyone thinks I am).

Working from home and taking the day off sick are two different things where I work.

Swipe left for the next trending thread