Just got shouted at in a coffee shop for coughing in public 🥴

[wildgreyocean]

I know I’m not being unreasonable here but I just need some reassurance! I was in a coffee shop after popping to the shops and got a tickle in my throat. I’ve had a cold all week but nothing too severe. I coughed and next thing I know an old man is shouting at me that I’m being selfish and should be self isolating at home, and “don’t I know the NHS is on its knees?!”

AIBU to think this is a total overreaction to a cough?!

If you continuously call into work with a cold when you can work, you’ll be sacked. No matter what the documents online say. Use some common sense.

This has gone way off the topic of the thread now. I mean I know threads develop and sometimes responding to one poster leads to something else etc but this is ridiculous.

It’s about a man calling OP out in a cafe for coughing, when OP, although having had a cold she had got over, was WELL. Not ill. What has taking time off in the nhs when ill got to do with it? Obviously you can be off if genuinely ill, and not off if you’re well. OP was in the latter category at the time of the cafe incident. OP would be well within the bounds of reasonableness to make the point, if she hasn’t already, that if she was well enough to work she’s well enough to go and get a bloody coffee and sit at a table on her own in a cafe. I don’t know why we’re bickering about nhs sickness policy.

That’s quite a selfish attitude

And you are talking absolute bollocks. OP has taken the time to explain about her malformed turbinates and to share the opinion of her ENT specialist. It is you who is thoroughly out of your depth.

Companies should allow people to WFH if they’re unwell but feel well enough to work . Obviously if they’you’re really unwell then rest In bed & don’t work / call in sick

Yes you can. I was

But lots of jobs don't allow WFH or you can't do the work from home. Teachers, retail staff, frontline NHS staff are just some examples of people who have a be in work. There are the people who get colds etc more often because they are surrounded by people all day. They are also the ones who will get moaned at by the public for being off sick (and for being in work ill).
I really think for colds and coughs we need to crack on and deal with it. No-one wants to be ill but we've survived colds all our lives.

It makes me laugh when the so called answer for everything is to work from home. I could not move patients or equipment from home.

Seeing as you can't " catch" a chest infection most likely

You do realise that not everyone can WFH? Talk about living in a bubble.

Of course you can catch a chest infection! Chest infections are highly contagious when viral, via droplets etc when a person sneezes or coughs; and also can be infectious if bacterial.

Pneumonia, tuberculosis, bronchitis, Covid, colds, flu. All contagious.

You usually " catch" the cold/ flu but only in some people does it goil to the chest and become a bacterial chest infection

It's a good question though.

kids of examples on this thread alone about people coughing that are not contagious.

i am asthmatic which is triggered by the cold weather. Can have a cough for weeks if not longer in the winter.

its important to be aware bugs are easily transmitted by people who are asymptomatic not just people with symptoms.

I get worried hearing coughing in public esp on public transport, but that is essentially the nature of public spaces!!
Also I am a hypocrite as coughs always take a long time to shift completely for me - like 6 weeks+ or a couple of months. Often have no symptoms and feel completely fine and suddenly the cough is upon me and sounds absolutely dreadful, maybe as little as once a day but it sounds bad. But I can't stay at home and have to commute... and although it sounds dresdful it can't be contagious for months!
No one should be shouting at other people full stop.

But once it has gone to the sick person's chest, it can be caught by anyone else via the sick person coughing or sneezing! Jesus.

Yep. And a lot of that hysteria was manufactured: the govt were forced to surrender their Whatsapp messages about "frightening the pants off the public". And "one hour a day" was never a rule: Michael Gove improvised it on the spot during an interview, and it quickly became gospel, especially on Mumsnet. The mask mandates were an easy way to see (literally at a glance) who was naughty or nice.

I don't doubt the virus existed, and was dangerous to some people. If the govt had been more calm, measured, sensible and consistent about the whole thing, I would have taken the virus, lockdowns and masks more seriously. But because the govt's approach was so chaotic, hysterical, damaging, completely refused to admit that lockdowns caused massive damage, and actively silenced anyone who tried to point this out, I couldn't take it seriously. The massive U-turns, practically on a whim. "It's nothing to worry about" one day, then "you must stay at home" the next. "Masks are worse than useless" one day, then "mandatory for just about everything" the next. "It would be inhumane to cancel Christmas" one day, then it is cancelled the next day. Naughty Boris wouldn't stick to the script, and it was obvious from his body language that he didn't believe the words his handlers made him recite, so everyone was confused. These inconsistencies are even referred to in a speech in the House of Lords. And then, as far as I am concerned, the bloody parties were the final, definitive proof that the govt knew a lot of it was bullshit, as they were not worried about killing their grannies.

And one shop had this shrine to Saint Boris. I didn't buy anything from there after it appeared.

I agree with him. I think it is really selfish to sit in a coffee shop coughing. I totally understand going out for the essentials but not that. If that were me I’d wear a mask and grab a take out. Old people, mums with babies etc feel justifiably vulnerable to flu and Covid type bugs this time of year. I get quite annoyed with people out who obviously have a rotten cold and are sharing the germs, it just isn’t considerate. He shouldn’t o f shouted at you but he is right.

Yanbu. I too get symptoms that linger (post nasal drip etc) and you shouldn't be calling in sick for a cold!

I dont think business will survive if people refuse to work and start self isolating for colds.

The comments on this thread are batshit crazy.
its a cold and it’s winter.
everyone seems to be vulnerable since 2020, we’ll stay in then !!
people need to go out and people need to work!
Do you honestly think people working in retail and hospitality don’t work with a virus? Because they absolutely do!
I could not phone in sick with a cold, I would work as I don’t get paid.
if an old man shouted at me for coughing and started going on about the NHS, I would have no problem pointing out that one of the things bringing it to its knees is that people are living longer and need more care !

But many of us coughing don't have a cold. I cough a lot because of my asthma. But I know it's asthma and not a cold

I just meant companies where wfh could be possible .

i understand many jobs can’t be wfh .
But if those that can do then, it would reduce the amount of spread of germs & sickness to others including those who have to work in person with the public

it could also help employers and the economy with less sickness absences.

It’s just common sense and courtesy in my eyes: Keep your germs to yourself if at all possible.

HRTWT but have read op's
You have post nasal drip and coughed because of this - it probably sounded phlegmy and infectious. But it wasn't. The old boy didn't know that, presumably he is worried about catching flu (may have underlying chest issues) and shouted at you because it sounded worse than it was and he was feeling vulnerable. I don't see any big deal about either of your behaviours but I'd probably have a tad more sympathy for him.

I wonder how many people have a cold rn and how we’d function if everyone took some pp advice and stayed home.

@Lifestooshort71then the old boy should have gone out at a quieter time and not the last Saturday before Christmas.