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.

We’re actually staying in a villa, and as it’s early in the season we’re the only people in the 4 villa complex. So I’m staying in the villa until I feel better, as is the considerate thing to do. The people who work here rely on not being ill in order to earn enough to sustain their families in the off season, I would not be selfish enough to pass anything on to them

Like who? Just because I understand that a vast majority of the public cannot stay at home when they’re ill. Where did I say that I was infecting people? I know better than most people how infections infect anyone who is immunocompromised. My DS is congenitally immunocompromised hence the reason why I have this shitty cold, mind you, he gets it every week, this is my first time this year. So can’t complain but I don’t know expect society to shut down, or parents to keep there sick children home when it’s mild, so my child can have a full week in school without catching something.

Ah someone who has drunk deep from the well of RFK.
sadly immunity is so much more complex than this; and even if it were true (it isn’t), anyone immunocompromised can’t “fight off” an infection, so it depends on your sense of whether it’s worth trying to reduce the risk to the most vulnerable in society.
as to the original question, I like the approach in Japan, where it is considered polite to wear a mask in public/work settings if you are unwell (to reduce the risk to others). It’s just common courtesy and a shame it’s been politicised in the West.

Oh the reason you wear a mask if you’re sick is to reduce viral shedding.

its a thing.

It’s tricky..,I used to be with you on this one, and I pretty much barricaded myself and my toddler at home from September - November last year because he started nursery and we both were constantly ill, but after two months I realised that we can’t stay in forever…we’re still both sick, it’s just one of these things with a toddler, but unless anyone has a fever or aggressive stomach bug, life goes on.

Are you cancelling your holiday then OP to avoid spreading the germs?

Can’t colds be spread for up to 14 days?
Employers definitely wouldn’t be impressed with everyone isolating for every bug or illness

But I do wish masks had stayed and become more of a norm in busy places like the tube etc.

And if she had phoned in sick no doubt management and colleagues would have been slagging her off. I don’t disagree with you, people should be allowed to stay off when they’re ill but unfortunately due to poor work culture and some people genuinely not being able to afford it, many of us do haul ourselves in. I suspect she’d have rather been home in bed too.

This 100%. In not going to wear a face diaper ever, ever again and no corporate intolerance for colds and the neuroticism from others is going to force that on me. I have PTSD from covid and never, ever again. Jobs need to let the sick stay home or those in fear of being sick stay home. Never again.

Again, as I have already mentioned, as soon as I started with symptoms of a cold I agreed with my partner that I would stay at the villa until I’m better. So yes, I’m doing my best to avoid spreading germs

So, you have PTSD from Covid; but you consider anyone else, who doesn’t want to catch Covid is neurotic - even though high risk groups can still die from it?

We’ve both got Covid at the moment, and I knew from when it started, it was Covid not a cold; and I’d never had it before. It’s been 10 days for me, and 7 days for DH. We are getting worse not better. We are both over 65; and he’s got cardiovascular disease and heart failure, putting him in a higher risk group. He is struggling with his chest.

Considering we both still work, I can’t see how productive people can be, feeling this exhausted anyway; and if this was spread to everyone in the workplace, what would the net effect on productivity be?

I feel like people are missing the addition I made which is that our employer actively allowed wfh and this particular colleague already works from home very regularly, so it wouldn’t have been an issue for her to do so whilst unwell. I understand not everyone has that luxury but it feels as though common courtesy has gone out of the window. As well as this, not only did she come in anyway but she was coughing without covering her mouth, passing things without sanitising her hands etc etc. all things which are much more likely to pass something on

I have a cold at the minute I have had for a week. I had various coughs, colds and chest infections throughout winter. You can’t just be off everytime your under the weather you’d get the sack

illness spreading is just part of life.

it makes me laugh when people with house of school/ nursery children who take public transport to work accuse someone in their office of giving them a cold- how close are you getting to them?! Didn’t we alll learn from Covid the types of exposure you need to pick these things up?

I can work from home whenever I like but I really have situations which are better dealt with in person- interviews, appraisals, meetings with senior stakeholders, collaboration on projects, reviewing documents , presentations. The illness and these events don’t always align!

we’re not all just sitting at a laptop tapping away with it making no difference whether we sit at home or at a desk for 8 hours

All I did was consider others. Your lectures on that won't phase me. I'm never doing it again. My MH was so bad and still suffers so , as I said, the sick and those fearful of getting sick, should stay home. Businesses should be blamed for lack of protocol that makes this impossible and not individuals. The whole divide and conquer thing isn't working, anymore.

I get chemotherapy every three weeks and work on a supermarket checkout. I don’t expect people to stay at home if they’re feeling unwell, people have to buy groceries and work and it’s completely unrealistic to expect people to stay at home every time they have a sniffle. The only thing I wish is that people would cover their mouth when they cough - most don’t.

And all the people and crew on the plane you went on?

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.

She should have stayed home but why do you keep catching every cold?

You can’t control other people’s actions so have a look at how you can bolster your immune system. I’m in a huge office where people are sometimes ill but I don’t catch all their colds.

I am not paid if I call in sick. I am not the only one.
I have savings for exactly this but not all people have.

She has a sore throat today, she’s been on holiday for a week. How could she predict she would catch the cold?

Coughs/colds are perfectly normal to spread, and in fact it's better for your immune system if you are exposed to them. That includes flu/Covid who for most are mild illnesses and those with compromised immune systems are vaccinated against.

However people who spread norovirus are utter pondscum. I went down with this 2 weeks ago, had to isolate in the bedroom as DH is waiting for a heart operation and I was terrified he'd get it, and missed a whole week of work (run own business) so it had a financial impact too. I'm diabetic and it hit me for 6, I can still only tolerate toast/porridge and feel horribly off colour even though I'm not contagious.

Yeah right 😂

consider your own immune system as well, are you doing everything you can to make sure you’re as robust as possible in that regard?