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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:
woodchuck99 · 26/02/2020 13:14

her cold a cold

IntermittentParps · 26/02/2020 13:31

I absolutely hate the way one group (people who are well) is treated vs the other (people with chronic issues).
I don't get who is 'well' here though. Confused

I also really don't get the competitive illness on this thread: 'I go to work when I've got a leg hanging off'; 'Well, I go to work even when I've been declared medically dead...'
and the attitude that if one person's work makes it impossible for them to take time off sick, everyone should be subject to the same. Why so resentful of people having a 'perk' that you don't have? The OP or anyone else having more common-sense sick policies doesn't make any difference to you or your workplace.

JustInCaseCakeHappens · 26/02/2020 13:39

Alsohuman

It’s not. Flu completely knocks you out, it weakens you to the point whereby just crawling to the loo takes all your energy. There’s no miraculous act of willpower that can mitigate it. The urban myth is saying you’ve got flu when you’ve got a nasty cold virus.

No, it does not knock you out, it CAN knock you out. It's not even about willpower.
Some people have been feeling better with the flu than others have with a cold. Unless you have the medical proof that someone has or hasn't got the flu, you can't just decide by looking at them.

You haven't got that super power yet I am afraid.

Alsohuman · 26/02/2020 13:42

No I haven’t. And you don’t understand what flu is.

JustInCaseCakeHappens · 26/02/2020 13:46

Alsohuman
I am sure you will claim to be a top consultant Grin but you are talking nonsense.

You might need to educate yourself about flu and its effects... Good luck Smile

Alsohuman · 26/02/2020 13:48

The nonsense isn’t coming from my direction. I’ve had flu twice in 50 years and numerous colds. I know the difference.

Original poster
sunfloweryy · 26/02/2020 13:55

Sorry but if you knowingly go into work with the flu then you’re extremely selfish. You might be in good enough health that you can ‘soldier on’ but the person that catches it from you could be old/have a compromised immune system/be pregnant etc.

OP posts:
nonsensicalmess · 26/02/2020 13:58

I usually manage to not to pick them up from my children and public transport by just not getting to close contact.

My goodness, I find it much, much easier to avoid close contact with work colleagues than I do with my own children or on packed public transport!

Devlesko · 26/02/2020 14:01

yes, flu is terrible. I was in bed for two weeks, lost half a stone and thought I was going to die.
Only had it once, you can't get out of bed with flu. Too many self diagnose my gp said, and mostly just a bad cold.

Sofonisba · 26/02/2020 14:02

It's true that different people can have varying responses to the flu. But if you know it's flu and you're just experiencing mild symptoms, you'd really be a dick to go into work, since many people who would catch it from you wouldn't be so lucky, and could end up in bed for weeks.

That's bad for productivity, so even the capitalist pigs would agree with me here.

curlsnotfrizz · 26/02/2020 14:06

yes, flu is terrible. I was in bed for two weeks, lost half a stone and thought I was going to die.
Only had it once, you can't get out of bed with flu. Too many self diagnose my gp said, and mostly just a bad cold.

not everyone is terribly I'll with flu.

JustInCaseCakeHappens · 26/02/2020 14:08

The nonsense isn’t coming from my direction. I’ve had flu twice in 50 years and numerous colds. I know the difference.

here we go Grin

copperoliver · 26/02/2020 14:09

Maybe message him back and say I know that it's good not to have to much time off, but if you have a really bad cold it's not fair on everyone else to come in as you could make them Ill, that why I'm working from home, not just for myself but for everyone else's sake too. X

JustInCaseCakeHappens · 26/02/2020 14:10

Too many self diagnose my gp said, and mostly just a bad cold.

what about the people who have been tested and were showing next to no symptoms? How does that work then?

TheresGonnaBeARain · 26/02/2020 14:10

I f*ing hate it when people do this - turn up ill and contagious then expect a medal for their amazing feat of endurance.

Firstly, you will most likely get better more quickly if you just take a day or so off and rest, rather than drag it out for weeks.

Secondly, keep your coughing, sneezing, explosive shitting arse away from us non-ill people. It’s SO selfish, yet people seem to wear it like some badge of honour and expect misty eyed admiration. They usually go on about it constantly too, to make sure you’re definitely aware of their sacrifice.

GO HOME.

OP you are not being unreasonable, your colleague is a twat.

woodchuck99 · 26/02/2020 14:14

My goodness, I find it much, much easier to avoid close contact with work colleagues than I do with my own children or on packed public transport!

You don't sit next people on public transport for that long and if they do cough or sneeze I move. My children know to be careful not to infect me if they have a cold. The only time it's difficult to avoid it is if I have to sit next to somebody at work or in a small room for a long period of time.

woodchuck99 · 26/02/2020 14:17

The nonsense isn’t coming from my direction. I’ve had flu twice in 50 years and numerous colds. I know the difference.

You have probably had flu more than twice 50 years. The other times the symptoms were mild and you decided it was a cold! Whether it is a cold or flu virus depends on virus, not just the symptoms!

ClientQueen · 26/02/2020 14:20

Cold with a v sore throat or loss of voice I stay home as I can't do my job

MinkowskisButterfly · 26/02/2020 14:48

If we took time off for colds my husband and kids would never be at school or work (dh can't work from home and 3 absences triggers a disciplinary). So YABU.

4amWitchingHour · 26/02/2020 14:54

People who come in to work with a cold when they can work from home are twats. Every time I've been ill over the past three years it's been catching something from someone at work, when they could have kept their germs at home. Selfish and more about their image than anything else.

If you can't work from him it's a slightly different story, but still shit to come in to work properly ill and infect everyone else - much more disruptive for the business as a whole

maa1992 · 26/02/2020 14:57

I work in an office and hated going in with a cold, especially because I use the phone a lot and contacts would say "oh you don't sound very well"... but work pays the bills no matter how crap I'm feeling

VivaLeBeaver · 26/02/2020 14:58

@sunfloweryy

Yes, I've never really had a job where I can work just as effectively from home so it's never been an option. I used to be a hcp, the nhs sickness policy is fairly harsh and you are very much expected to come in with a streaming cold even if caring for vulnerable patients.

I now teach so pretty much need to be in every day.

So yes if I had the option maybe I'd wfh. But personally I wouldn't take 2 days off for a cold like previously mentioned. But I don't judge people who do, I appreciate we do have different immune systems. Some people might genuinely need the days off but I do think some people take the piss.

Dontdisturbmenow · 26/02/2020 15:04

There's cold and cold! Some people just have a bit of sniffing and coughing, some people end up with sinusitis and feel lousy.

As for not going to work so not to contaminate others, that's another matter. My 2 colleagues both came to the office with a cold 4 days before I was due to go on very nice holiday I didn't want to be poorly for. So they took precautions, and I did too, washing my hands everytime before I touching something they might have touched. Sure enough, I didn't catch it. The company would have made a loss if they hadn't come in that week.

Littleninja1 · 26/02/2020 15:13

Why do so many people feel the need to shame others for getting ill and taking a sick day? Genuine question. Can't understand that attitude at all.

It's in our work policy that working from home when suffering from minor ailments is fine. We all work from home frequently anyway. No idea why you'd choose to do a commute and spend all day with colleagues if you can avoid that and rest more. If you don't have that option and are in a job where calling in sick isn't going to hurt anyone or be seen as a mark on your moral character (as the posters on this thread see it as) then why not? Sleep is the best thing for recovery and you'll be better and more efficient sooner. Coming into work sick seems very old fashioned to me Smile

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