Work colleague is an absolute knob

[Singlebutmarried]

I work in a small office (enough separate rooms for each staff member so distancing all good)

I’ve been WFH since the beginning of March as I’m immuno compromised.

Colleague messages yesterday saying someone that they have been walking with has tested positive, they have taken a test and should they stay at home til they get the results.

Erm. Yes.

There’s no guidance on NHS England for contact with a non household member, there is on NHS Scotland which advises isolating for 14 days even if negative due to potential incubation period.

Twat colleague has tested negative and is now back in the office.

It doesn’t affect me at present, but it bloody will do if he does have it and takes down the rest of the office with him.

He’s a total dick isn’t he.

There’s nothing I can do about it either, he just doesn’t want to work from home.

But how can he infect you if you’re WFH? He tested negative and you said the office was good for social distancing. I think you have to accept that he’s done nothing wrong (although he does sound like a dick aside from this).

I don’t understand your concern. This was someone he was “walking with”? If he maintained 2m distance at all times then he didn’t have contact with that person.

Why would you follow the rules for Scotland if you are in England?
Erm, because they're sensible.
The alternative would be to have a day out at somewhere nice - Barnard Castle is pleasant, I hear - just to make sure my eyesight is ok...

I don't understand the rush to get a test before the incubation period of 14days has passed? You could still develop it after the test - being tested doesn't give you immunity.

How did your colleague get a test if he had no symptoms?

@marnie76

He can’t infect me. Which is great, but his whole attitude has been crap throughout this whole thing.

Beginning of March he was coughing and spluttering and joking that he hoped it wasn’t CV.

That’s when I started to WFH, he’s consistently not been socially distancing and mixing with multiple households (he trips himself up regularly when the did your have a good weekend discussion happens in our catch up calls).

He refuses to work from home even though he can (as we all can) l, and I suspect this is due to his not being able to do the job he’s employed to do. He can blag it in the office as there’s an awful lot of ‘can you remind me how....’ type questions.

My worry is that he will infect the rest of the team, who have all been following the guidelines.

@ArgumentativeAardvaark because he’s been socialising with someone outside of his household who has tested positive.

Sounds like you dislike him (quite possibly understandably, he sounds like a dick) and you're looking for any reason to jump on him.

Is the coughing exaggerated? Because prior to anyone knowing what coronavirus was, coughing on a colleague intentionally would surely be grounds to get sacked? Why on earth wouldn't you report that?

If actually he had a cough in the office and made a joke about hoping it's not coronavirus, then again it's not the crime elf the century.

I'd gently suggest that your annoyance towards him is clouding your judgment

You sound like a nightmare colleague the way you talk about him

Actually, his deliberately coughing over an immunocompromised colleague would be deemed as a breach of Equalities legislation. He's deliberately singled out a colleague with a Protected Characteristic and then taken steps to, if he is unwell, to endanger her health and in any case threaten her as a direct consequence of her immune status.

He's not just a nightmare colleague, he's acting illegally and HR should have had words with him long before now.

There's coughing on someone intentionally because they're immunolocompromised (which is outrageous) and coughing in their general direction, which is rude generally but has no malice.

Some people are rude, some people have worse personal hygiene than others. But that's very different from the people who are facing prison for intentionally coughing on people whilst infected with CV.

He sounds like a prick, but he has not done anything wrong in this particular case. The guidance is that if you test negative and are not displaying any symptoms it's back to work as normal. We have been doing this across 21 offices (key workers) since March and it's not been an issue.

It wouldn't affect you anyway as you are working from home you just don't like him.

• immunocompromised

@savehalloween I do dislike him, the two years we’ve worked together I’ve had to ask him every time he’s ill to stay away from me, he likes to not cover or catch coughs and sneezes as a rule anyway.

He’s also got an amazingly short temper (does a lot of ‘bulking’ at the gym) which I suspect is steriod linked. I don’t like being in the office with him by myself.

It’s also small stuff like I’ve explained how to do a particular process on a weekly basis, yet he still can’t grasp it.

He’s not a very nice person.

@heyblaby. My trust won't even test me. I was exposed last week. The patient wasn't suspected but tested positive. I expected to be sent home, along with the others who'd been in contact. But no. It's been completely ignored.

@argumentativeardvark. You can book one online. I did because I was exposed, work won't test me and my mu is flapping.

He sounds really annoying OP
unfortunately as I understand once you’ve tested negative ur expected back to work- I’m nhs & this has been the case.
Seems strange why he couldn’t of just walked on the side of caution & wfh for 14 days as u are able to do so. Is he lonely & enjoys others company & able to wing it? Selfish guy

single he definitely sounds insufferable as a colleague. I can see how the current situation would amplify that

I am frontline nhs.

We wouldn't have even been tested for this and certainly wouldn't be able to isolate for 14 days.

@Toddlerteaplease can you not book yourself a test online? Your experience is very different to everyone I know both working for the NHS and general public who have all easily accessed tests when needed

Yes. I discovered you can. And had it done yesterday. I'm not impressed by the mangers reaction to the whole thing.

If people keep their distance in work I don't see a problem. He's tested negative (so far), and probably kept a distance from the person with whom he'd been walking. Presumably your colleagues travel to and from work and are at some risk already unless they use their own car.

Why are you so incensed about this man? I get you don't like him but you are working from home right now.

The NHS send people back to work straight away if they test negative, the point is to negate the need to isolate and be out of the workplace for 2 weeks. He is acting in line with guidance, it's sort of the whole point of testing, although most likely not 100%.

@Toddlerteaplease book a test online, if you try in the morning they should have home ones too (although process does take a little longer)

The trust I work for has been brilliant with testing staff, but then I am in the NW Nightingale so I suppose they can't afford to not be spot on with it, I imagine it's not representative of the wider NHS.

@Toddlerteaplease apologies, just seen you already know about the testing.

Enough drama. Report him for his ongoing cavalier attitude regarding your health. Do it before you go back. There should be plenty of time for someone to have a word with him. Nobody should be coughing deliberately on anybody else, ever. That's not a COVID thing.

I don't think he's done anything wrong re COVID. He's been for a walk and was hopefully adhering to social distancing. You don't know whether he was, so you can't be upset with him for not doing. He's back at work, where social distancing is being adhered to. He's tested negative. You're expecting him to follow guidelines for Scotland when he's in England.

I believe the adv given is to be able to go back into the office after testing negative as long as you have been symptom free for 48 hours prior to going back into the office