I've called in sick

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I haven't been well all week. A heavy cold, but I've been in and done my best. I was in meetings with my boss all day yesterday. She never once asked if I was OK or made the kind of "should you be here?" enquiries other did, and believe me it was obvious I wasn't well. A bit anti social to be there tbh, but you don't call sick with a cold if you're well enough to work...?

I got up and showered, dressed, got as far as putting my shoes on and finding my keys then as I was about to open the door, broke out in a horrible sweat and felt the need to sit down. So I decided sod this and came back to bed.

But if my boss had shown a bit more interest yesterday I might have pushed through...

I really, really despise people who go into work with bad colds or sick looking for some kind of prize.

DH is immunocompromised and spends months every year ill because people think it's a good idea to go to work and spread their germs.

I bet your colleagues are really grateful you 'pushed through' yesterday.

Exactly.

People forget that you can give a relatively fit person a cold who will then pass it onto their seriously ill partner.

You shouldn't be going into work ill spreading infection

I understand that a sickness policy can make it difficult for people to take time off sick.
I’m staggered though that you would say a cold is not life threatening to anyone. Not to the majority of people, no, but surely in your work this can’t be said so casually and categorically?

You have a bizarrely resentful and bizarrely childlike attitude towards your boss.

(I don't mean childish, to be clear: childlike.)

You are an adult and can decide for yourself if you’re well enough to come in. Not sure how boss’ sympathy yesterday makes a difference to whether you come in today too?

Interestingly the NHS has one of the highest sickness records of all employers.
So the 'policy' isn't working, although 'stress' seems to be the reason they use for being away.

Given the shortage of staff in the NHS it's a hollow policy because what do they intend to do if someone is off sick more than twice in a year?

And a nurse should understand the consequences of a cold for vulnerable people. Old and ill people die from chest infections- that start with a cold.

Of course I know that, I just pop on a mask if I have a cold as anyone else would. I don't ring in sick. And thats what most of the staff I work with now do.
I don't make the policy, I just follow it.
I worked in a Nightingale during covid, I don't need you to tell me about anything to do with that. I was in a hospital. Staff on non ICU covid wards had a paper mask and a plastic visor for protection, so they all caught covid too, from the patients. And vice versa. What's your point? Did you think I didn't know that.

This, finding an increase in this with many new staff these days, expecting spoon fed for everything and fawning and celebrating for just doing the bloody job!!

She never once asked if I was OK or made the kind of "should you be here?" enquiries other did

But if my boss had shown a bit more interest yesterday I might have pushed through...

Well, ok then. That's her told 🙄

Do adults really take time off for a cold? Where do you all work where that's acceptable? Do you keep your children off school every time they sneeze?
I am a SAHM now but up to last year I worked in childcare. As a team most of us either had a cold or were recovering from a cold (because at least one child always had a cold). We'd have been closed 90% of the time if we'd all phoned in sick with a cold.
Having said that sweating and feeling like you need to lie down is a bit different. So I think you were reasonably to phone in sick today. You can't expect your boss to guess how you feel. If you felt really unwell you should have said. Generally though if it's just a cold why wouldn't you go to work?

We have to get approval to WFH when ill, its only really allowed if you are in recovery or have a sniffle. This was brought in because my colleagues were WFH when they were extremely unwell (heavy colds etc) and management were concerned for our wellbeing. To be honest, if you are too sick to come work then you shouldnt be WFH either, you should rest up.

Totally irresponsible of the company, particularly in retail where you are public facing and potentially coming across hundreds of vulnerable people every day.

I would be complaining, informing the union if there is one, and/ or trying to get a group of colleagues together to campaign against that ridiculous policy. If I could, I would be finding a new job.

And I still wouldn't go into work coughing. You could infect someone who is really vulnerable and will become seriously ill.

Thank you for what you did then, and for what you continue to do.
I'm surprised that given this experience you aren't encouraging those who can, to avoid spreading viruses to others, to try and stop that nightmare from happening again.
I'm truly sorry that the NHS is so broken that its staff continue to be used and abused in this way.

She never once asked if I was OK or made the kind of "should you be here?" enquiries other did, and believe me it was obvious I wasn't well.

But if my boss had shown a bit more interest yesterday I might have pushed through...

Are you 17 and your boss is actually your mum? If not you are very unreasonable to expect this level of interest about your cold from your boss and then stay off purely because she didn't fuss over you! Presumably she thinks you are capable of deciding if you are able to fuction properly and doesn't need to mother you over a cold, snotty or not!

Clearly most of you have never worked in retail or care, where you are told you affect your residents, and staffing levels, and try to be convinced to going in.
or shops where you are told affects their ability to open or not .
Never done office type work

NotBloodyGivingupYet thank you.
I do of course encourage anyone ill with a cold, to avoid spreading germs. By wearing a mask, washing their hands regularly and using disinfectant rub etc. That is all that is required, they don't need to ring in sick.

Wipe out your whole workplace. Nice one.

These are the correct procedures to follow to ensure no cross contamination in my hospital.

If you’re sick stay home. I find it very selfish when sick people come to work and make me sick, all for the sake of powering through.

So either you were ill enough that you wanted your boss to acknowledge that you still came into work soldiering on or you weren't particularly ill 🤷‍♀️

You can’t win with sickness. Just remember that it’s probably the same people, posh right wingers, who both whinge about you going in with a sniffle and about the huge ‘loss of productivity’ caused by people taking time off ill. That and the ‘40% of sick days are Mondays and Fridays’ joke.

A rule of thumb which someone told me years ago and has served me well with colds is that if you feel your temperature is going up and down then it’s time to call in sick. The sweat comes from the same cause as temperature fluctuations. A few days and you’ll be fine!

This thread is brought to you by...capitalism; striking the fear of God into workers since the 17th century.

Get a grip and stay at home.

Have you been living in a cave since 2020? We just went through a pandemic, where distancing yourself from other people was essential when you had the lurgy. That mentality needs to live on. I am going on holiday next week and I wouldn't appreciate somebody sick being in my presence because they are scared of upsetting their master.

Once you have shown up to work, no boss will fuss over you because you have turned up unwell.
Once you up, dressed & present at work, they assume you are well.
I myself have made this mistake once with pneumonia, once with severe tooth abcess, the flu and after a tooth removal. Should not of gone in them 4 incidents of unwellness.
Use your sick leave when needed. Hope you feel better soon.