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'd agree if it was someone coming in with a D&V bug but coughs and colds are commonplace minor illnesses. It's actually a good boost to the immune system to have a cold a couple of times a year, it means if you get something worse your body will be better at fighting it.

My boss would go loopy if people took sick days or cancelled client meetings to WFH just because of a runny nose and sore throat. We'd be expected to take some paracetamol and crack on. Like another poster, when my kids were nursery age I had back to back colds for a couple of years and WFH wasn't a thing then. I'd definitely have had the sack if I was off sick every time. Schools say kids are expected to attend with minor illnesses (but not D&V).

It's also worth noting that people are usually most infectious just BEFORE their symptoms show and during the first day. Many is the time I have felt fine first thing and been sneezing and streaming in the office by lunchtime. Obviously I don't breathe over people and warn them to keep their distance but I wouldn't rush home immediately.

People have got so prissy about colds since covid.

I can count on two hands the number of days I took off 'sick' during my working life - you went in unless you were bedridden and it wasn't a tragedy if others caught your cold. People are pathetic nowadays - taking days off for minor ailments. Just get on with it.

I live alone and wouldnt be able to afford my bills if I went off sick everytime I had a cold. Would also likely put my Bradford points into investigation. I do how ever carry sanitiser and use everytime I cough/blow my nose. I have antibac wipes in my drawer also.

I literally had a conversation today about this with a friend who has a sick child. Of course it’s awful to deliberately spread a vomiting bug or something like that but usually by the time you are actually properly unwell you have been out and about that day or the child has already been in school or daycare. Sometimes you might feel a bit “off” and for me that’s just usually a cold that leaves me a bit drained and obviously I carry on as normal with a cold but then there are the rare times when it turns into something flu like where you feel really unwell.

Yanbu OP. Most people are incredibly selfish and don't give a monkeys about anyone else, as we saw during COVID.

As I said in my op, I understand not everyone can take time off which I get. My point is if you do come in whilst unwell then take precautions like staying away from people, using sanitiser, wearing a mask, not coughing on people etc etc.

In my particular scenario the person was practically bragging that they were feeling awful but had come in any way (again, despite often working from home for no reason at other times) and continued to potter around, stand close at break time, cough all over people. She kept passing me things when I knew she’d not washed her hands even after I said please just leave it and i’ll grab it. I just think all of that was quite inconsiderate

I can see this from both sides to be honest.
I can understand it's frustrating if someone is spreading colds etc. In an ideal world people would stay home if unwell.

However, and perhaps this depends on your job/workplace, but sometimes people have little choice.

For instance, I am a teacher.
The school I work in has a draconian sick policy. If someone is off 3 times in 12 months they get called to a HR meeting and are given a formal written warning. Not happened to me but I know others it has happened to.

Then, if I am off, I have to set cover work early morning, making sure it's something my classes can access without a subject specialist. My classes miss out on their normal lesson and time is tight with exam groups.

I'm head of department so my job doesn't stand still which means I would return to a pile of things I need to do.

Honestly, it's easier to go in and drag myself through the day!

Ask your manager if they will issue an instruction that staff are to stay home when ill.
Their response will tell you whether it's your unwell colleagues or your workplace culture you have an issue with.

So now you re on a hôtel on a 2 week holiday spreading your germs all over the place?
...yeah. Some people are bloody annoying
😭🤣

It's not unreasonable to expect others to show some consideration when they're evidently sick and contagious. Have people learnt nothing since Covid entered our lives? The least they could do is wear a mask, what's wrong with following the Japanese way of dealing with contagious illnesses? They are so much more civilised and polite but Brits seem to look down on such things and show little concern for those who might be immunocompromised.

One of my dsis previous employers used to send people home if they stepped over the threshold with an illness and threatened with a disciplinary if they returned before they were fully recovered. Sickness levels actually reduced because employees were not passing on infections to each other.

If you have more than 3 instances of sick leave in a year you get put on a disciplinary route where I work. I get more colds than that a year and come in when coughing (as do a lot of colleagues). I’d rather not be in.

Masks don't prevent colds. Read the box for confirmation. Why get mad at the individual and not the company for making people feel they have to come in ill or be written up, or or other negative implications? Is this a test balloon to see of masks can be reintroduced? No dice.

That’s not actually how it works for everyone. Some people’s immunity improves, others worsen, another subset (I don’t recall).

Additionally, not everyone can brush off illness that easily. If one has other health issues it can be really rough. I tend to catch everything, and become really unwell whenever I get sick, however my partner is as normal.

I hate it when people call others babies when they have no idea what it’s actually like for some people.

Inconsiderate colleagues that happily infect everyone else when they have the option to wfh are extremely selfish.

I had a manager pre Covid that stipulated wfh if you were ill to prevent infecting the whole team and causing more illness. Another company post Covid also encouraged the same.

I agree with you OP!

Obviously people should make the reasonable efforts open to them to keep germs to themselves. Work from home if you can, wear a mask and/ or at the very least cover your mouth, put tissues in the bin, open a window etc.

This is what we should have learned from Covid even if some people seem to have bizarrely drawn the opposite conclusion!

YANBU. It's selfish, gross, and often dangerous, particularly for vulnerable people. It would be much more sensible for people to be strongly encouraged to work from home or stay off work/school when sick where possible, or to wear a mask if not. That would likely lead to less time off in general due to less spread of illness, and less strain on the NHS.

"but for arguments sake in a worse place she could have easily worn a face mask"

Even during COVID there were plenty of people who refused to wear masks, and literally said asking kids to wear them was child abuse. It was pretty common for kids to be sent into school having tested positive when they should have been in isolation

It's now government policy that we be regularly reinfected with coughs colds, the flu and COVID in order to maintain "hybrid immunity"...

I have no option to work from home and unforgiving bosses. In my situation, I could forgive your colleague for coming in. But if home working is acceptable and encouraged where you work then she is definitely being unreasonable.

Masks might not completely prevent colds, but wearing a good-quality mask, such as an N95, can still significantly the spread of respiratory viruses (if worn properly of course). If someone is unwell, wearing a mask helps protect the people around them by limiting the amount of virus released into the air. They can also offer some protection to the wearer by reducing the chance of breathing in infectious particles from others nearby.
There is plenty of reliable information available online from respected organisations such as the BMJ and the CDC for anyone in doubt.
I agree that employers have an important role to play. Encouraging staff not to come into work when they are ill, and allowing people to work from home wherever possible if they are well enough to do so, would help create a healthier and more considerate workplace for everyone.

It’s unfair that other people get infected but unfortunately people have to work when they’re unwell or they can’t pay their bills.
Things should clear up a bit. I have it too at the moment it sucks.

Try running a medical room in a secondary school. Parents send their kids in, knowing they are highly infectious and say ‘ try your best, but if you feel worse, go to the school nurse’.
So I see 50-60 pupils a day. When I phone home, requesting the student gets collected, they are then often sat with me for an hour. I have no windows and a rather fetching carpet. It’s been vomited on many times.
And I have not had a day off this academic year….

But it's ok for others to be off that you've infected who also have bills?

Totally agree when it comes to sickness and diarrhoea but for coughs and colds I do think you just have to get on with it. There's so many employers who will give you a disciplinary for having just two days of absence a year, I personally always have more than 2 days of coughs/colds per year.

It may not be from her…pretty much every holiday I get from work, I would come down with something after a day or 2…when I relax or switch off from work, that’s when I seem to be most susceptible to bugs. It’s like my bodies knows when I am working I need to be “on” but when not working, it lets its guard down and I end up with a cold or migraine or some other annoying ailment! Usually get over it quickly though!