Would it look unprofessional to take a hot water bottle into the office?

[riotlady]

Hi :) I’ve been off for work for a week with food poisoning and desperately need to get back into the office. D + v has mostly settled down (was still throwing up yesterday so working from home today) but I’m still getting terrible pains in my stomach and back. A hot water bottle is helping a bit. I really need to go into the office tomorrow to do some work that can’t be done from home- would it look really unprofessional if I was sat at my desk with a hot water bottle on my tummy? I work with a lot of older gents and a natural assumption might be that I’m having period cramps

If you are made to be embarrassed by male colleagues who think you have period cramps, the problem is the male colleagues.

I’m surprised you even need to ask.

Of course it’s ok to take in a HWB. Women will be asking permission to breathe next

Can't someone send the stuff to you? I'd be bloody pissed off if you came into an office I was in when you were still ill from a D&V

My office is freezing and I've used microwave wheat bags, hot water bottles and a blanket scarf in the office before to keep warm. I'm not the only one and it wasn't uncommon to see people wearing a coat and gloves in the office in winter before they bought additional heaters for us.

I've worked in lots of other offices where people have used HWBs and wheat bags for period cramps, joint aches etc. Especially people who were waiting for a specialist chair. I don't think it's unprofessional.

I would be inclined to WFH though if you're needing one for an illness as opposed to period cramps for example. If it was me I'd be worried about being sick in front of everyone!

Unfortunately not, I don’t work for the police but a related area, so all docs are sensitive and can’t be taken home. It will need to be typed up onto a spreadsheet and then I’ll be populating the rest of it from databases, so once I’ve gone in and done the initial type up I can do the rest from home.

Doctors have called me back and I’ve got an appointment at 3.45 so we’ll see what they say.

One of my colleagues always uses a hwb. No one bats any eye

However she also wears knitted slipper boots in a professional office environment and for some reason this really pisses me off!

HWB is fine

In no way is this a good idea.

I used to do this for a few days every month - cannot work through period pain without it! I put it against the back of my chair and lean against it - it's not obvious and I have a blazer over the back of the chair so it's pretty hidden. Thank god for wfh!

Absolutely don't go in, that would be unprofessional not your HWB!

I have a hot water in my desk all the time, loads of lasses have them, i wouldn't worry xx

I've sent people home from work for looking like shit, and throwing up. You have no idea (clearly) how unprofessional it would be for you to go in. Also I love your 'I worked with vulnerable children so it was 48 hours then and when I go back tomorrow it'll be 36' so not 48 then..

It's unprofessional to knowingly go into the workplace when sick.

If you think you're well enough to go in when you're clearly not, you can call a colleague in between bathroom visits and explain what work needs to be done.

Fine to take a hot water bottle in and if you’re really worried about how it would look you can get those heat patches which go under clothes and are very discreet.

Not fine however to go in if you’re still throwing up, but if it’s been 36 hours with no symptoms I think that’s okay considering it was food poisoning and not a bug/ virus.

Well to be fair, I don’t work with kids anymore!

Obviously I wouldn’t want to make anyone ill, but I think 36 (closer to 40) hours clear post food poisoning that nobody around me has caught is probably ok. You can’t all honestly tell me you’d take close to 2 weeks off for food poisoning- every “how many sick days” have you had thread on mumsnet is full of people who’ve only taken 4 days in 10 years.

I will see what the docs say though and if they think it is a bug I’ll stay away!

Not at all - though you could buy one of these microwave bottles nowdays. They might be a little more discreet.

When I last had food poisoning, I didn't work for 10 days, 2 weekends ,1 bank holiday and the rest was a working week. I knew when I got to work that I was still slightly tired and low, but had no symptoms for 72 hours. Food poisoning can be terrible, so I wouldn't feel guilty about staying home. Better to go back when you are on top form than struggle and maybe make mistakes.