To be so fed up with people spreading illness?

[pookie29]

All last week there was a woman floating around work saying “ooh I feel awful today but I still came in” she was hacking her guts up everywhere and generally did sound unwell.

I’m now on a two week holiday and today my throat is sore and I’m very achy. This sort of thing seems to happen to me all the time! My one time to relax and I feel like crap because someone else is so inconsiderate.

AIBU to think that if you’re ill then you should stay off work? If you really really have to be in then you should try to avoid people where possible and wear a mask etc.

I have 2 kids under 5. I'd be off ill from work from September - March if I did that. They literally bring home a bug every other week.

Even if you have the option to WFH, most employers don't like you abusing it and it tends to be held against you come review/promotion time.

As someone who has two immunocompromised people living in my home, YANBU. People are so very stupid & selfish.

Are you going to totally isolate yourself while you’re on holiday from work? Or are you going to get on with things?

I know it’s unpleasant when people cough etc but I think people are scared to be off sick too often. I think if everyone went off sick when they felt ill in my team we would never have a full team at work.

Hope your illness doesn’t last long and you enjoy your time away from work.

People who go around other people in when they are ill are terribly selfish and inconsiderate.

Some employers need to get the blame as they are funny about people being off sick or working from home when contagious.

But no excuse for sick people who go spreading their illness in shops or socially etc.

Would she have been paid in full for being off with a minor illness? If not, there’s no way I would lose pay to save someone else’s holiday if it meant I’d be short if I could physically get in.

If yes, you have a point.

Of course you're being unreasonable. If everyone stayed home every time they had a cough or cold, they wouldn't have a job to return to!

YANBU. I sit opposite a woman who seems to catch more colds etc than others, and who also practices performance presenteeisim. She also sits near the window and won't allow us to open it to get some air in/let the germs out, because she's in a 'draft'.

I thought we'd all learnt from COVID about respecting the fact that others might have babies/elderly family etc, and to be mindful of that, but no.

Yes we have an excellent sick pay policy, as well as flexible working. To add, this person often chooses to work from home for no reason (which is allowed by the company) but this week she came in even feeling awful!

another addition is that she did similar at Christmas but was more unwell and went home early, I coincidentally got the flu a few days later! I was off for over a week and so was she!

On one hand yes, it is really annoying catching colds that other people bring in on the other, it is how our bodies build immunity.

People are such big babies these days. It's annoying when that happens, but maybe focus on bolstering your immune system.

I thought we'd all learnt from COVID about respecting the fact that others might have babies/elderly family etc, and to be mindful of that, but no.

We learned that bugs and germs are part of life and we cant all stop.

Well, if you only get statutory sick pay you might not be able to afford being off for anything but a serious illness.

I agree OP. It is so annoying especially when it impacts upon your holiday time. Been there! That said, my employer always took a very dim view of people taking time off for illness. I guess it also depends upon whether an employee is paid for absence. Not everyone can afford to take time off. As you said though, if the infected person had worn a face mask and kept her distance from others where possible, this would have gone some way to decreasing the risk of spreading it to others.

Will you be self isolating for the rest of your holiday then? Wouldn’t want to ruin anyone else’s break.

It is frustrating and I try to keep my distance from the infected person and wash my hands more. I will WFH if I’m well enough to work but don’t want to pass anything on. I can do that in my current role. In my last two jobs, I was “customer facing” so I was either in work or off sick. I couldn’t be off every time I had a cold or sore throat.

It’s a shame about your holiday but you’re being unreasonable about this.

I hope you're going to isolate yourself on holiday OP seeing as you're not feeling well.

People definitely shouldn't be coming into work if they are throwing up!

I think if you can work from home when you are feeling rubbish then that option should be used rather than coming into the office. But work places not like people being off for colds/ coughs and it can lead to a disciplinary!!

however we had a colleague at work who’s daughter had d&v Sunday and Monday and was going to come into work Tuesday but Monday stomach was churning but was going to see how she was, we told her not to come in as we have 2 of us going away over half term and definitely want a sickness bug on long flights or in general !

Yes, I have told my partner that i’ll be staying in the villa until I feel better.

Alot of people get ill on holiday as the stress hormones are not keeping the illnesses at bay. Or they catch something on the plane. Or in the airport.

Ha, this… If everyone hid away whenever they got a cold, the country would come to a standstill.

I thought the one plus about COVId was that it raised awareness about how illness and disease was passed on to other people. And generally speaking people took on board the need for washing hands and not to cough and sneeze over other people.

But now we are back to people not bothering to cover their mouths when coughing, sneezing over peoole, wiping their noses with their hands, picking their noses in public, and generally behaving in an absolutely gross way with no thought for the germs they are spreading. I don't even want to think about their hand hygiene.

I don't work but i've walked out of a couple of shops recently because in one the assistant was absolutely loaded with the cold and was sniffing and coughing over the stock. And in another a customer was sneezing away without making any attempt to use a tissue.
I dont understand people's attitude to spreading germs.

This is my gripe I think. In my workplace it’s easy to WFH, but for arguments sake in a worse place she could have easily worn a face mask, been considerate of her coughing, opened a window etc. I appreciate that not everyone can take time off work, but surely the above is common courtesy?

I would keep face masks in the drawer, and wear them at work for the week leading up to your vacations. You can explain to everyone who asks that you are fed up of holidays and weekends being ruined catching viruses from colleagues.

You think those of us with asthma and similar illnesses are big babies because we don't want someone's cold? For you it's mildly irritating. I had to go to my GP because I was struggling. I was struggling to even walk the half mile to the surgery. They usually last a good 3 weeks