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thanks, office mate. really. I needed this drippy nose and headache. and that pleghm? oh yeah that’s good stuff.
You look disgusting. You feel disgusting. WHY do you come to work? What’s more, why do you come to work and infect others?
Just wait. Next time I’m the first one with a cold, I’m licking your phone.
This article appears in Jul 24-30, 2008.
17 Comments
Yeah, that sucks. I think a lot of employers put too much stress on thier staff to show up for work even when they’re sick. It’s a shitty way to run a business, but sometimes the boss just doesn’t care if you’re not feeling well, not to mention the risk of passing your germs onto your coworkers.
two words: antibacterial gel. smeared on your coworker if neccessary.
You are exactly right poop! Working in a Call Center is alot like working in a day care with snotty nosed kids running around… Once one gets it, they ALL do!! Not good times
If management didn’t make heroes out of the employees who show up to work on the verge of death, then maybe absenteeism wouldn’t be such an issue at my work. I’m no hero…if I’m sick, and contagious, I’m calling in sick. How did they (management) respond to the time when Norwalk was circulating? They had Purell dispensers installed all over the place, and told us to wash our hands a lot. Unless one of the diseased was going to stand under the dispenser before and after every time they went into the bathroom…then the idea was pretty much futile, and not even remotely commendable.
Once I called in sick 24 hours before my shift, bitch boss told me “too bad, there is no one else to come in, you’ll have to come” even though I barfed the entire night. Grrr
Antibacterial gel or any form of antibiotic will not kill viruses, hedgyhog. I just thought I should clarify that before someone believed it could protect them from Norwalk or something, because it really won’t. The same thing happens at schools. The parents can’t take the time off of work to look after their sick kids, so they send them to school and get everyone else sick, too. In the end, a lot of time it’s nobody’s fault, but we really should let people have proper time to heal. It should be an employment law for employers to have a back-up plan or person, just in case of… whatever. We’re not machines, even if we are treated as such on occassion.
If my boss MADE me come in I would ensure I was absolutly useless while I was there. And then make them pay me to do nothing but be sick. That would be sweet.
I know lilac…I was being sarcastic as that seems to be many employers solution to illness…..’oh you’re horrifically infectious? just get some antibacterial gel and you’ll be FINE to come to work!’If people took the time they needed when they got sick, it probablyw ouldn’t last as long. I know I can be fighting a cold for weeks,b ut if I just take even one day to rest, it can go away quickly.I’m also always baffled by parents with sick kids. I used to teach dance and I can’t tell you the number of sick kids who wandered into my classes- colds, fevers, even fifth disease! in the case of the later, the mother ‘didn’t know’ what it was, even though her 4 year old had a fever, glassy eyes, and a rash on her cheeks…I wanted to smack her, as there were other mothers who were preggers at the time and that can really harm babies. but not as much as I wanted to scream at the mum who once brought her three year old to class, who then proceeded to projectile vomit all over me…apparently she’d been sick the day before and her brothers had it, but her mom thougth she’d be ok to twirl. um, no? it’s more offensive though when peopel seem to be in denial about their disease-riddenness. whether it’s coworkers who claim their fine while mainlining tissues, or parents who glare when, between classes, I’d do the hot-water-anti-bacterial gel-hand washing routine, as if I was somehow implying their child was dirty. they are, and I am. just be sick, get over it, and don’t give it to anyone else already!
Playing Devil’s advocate here… Perhaps people get so sick now because they try to shield themselves from everything and never get exposed to bugs to build their immune system up. Not to say that if you can barely get out of bed and can’t see straight you should come to work. But people baby their kids and themselves too much. Mind you I have an impeccable immune and really can’t empathize.
no I actually agree on that one- parents don’t let kids get dirty, and are so afraid of everything they do crazy things like never letting their kid have peanuts just in case they may be allergic…..but if you ARE sick, you should be able to take the time to get better, and have the common sense not to deny it. I think workers who refuse to take a sick day are as much a cause of this as bosses who are jerks aobut workers taking time off; we’ve all gotten so used to fighting through the pain most people have to be bleeding otu the eyes before they’ll call in sick. If that’s the standard, of COURSE bosses will expect workers to come in regardless, and look askance at those who don’t as somehow ‘lazier’ or less of a ‘team player’ than their coworker who came into work with the flu.honestly, there are very few jobs I think were the world will stop turning if one person stays in bed for a day.
Bad Guy, i get your point, but i don’t think it’d be sweet to spend a day at work while running a fever, or in any measure of mysery of illness. You prove your point by staying home and getting better. Most companies allow a certain amount of paid sick days per year for thier employees..and even if it weren’t the case, i think i’d rather lose a day’s pay than suffer through an entire day just to please a boss who doesn’t respect me enough to take my word. Another rule some companies enforce is to bring a doctor’s note for each sick day, which is also a little juvenile. If i’m sick enough not to get out of bed, i’m probably not feeling up to begging my doctor’s office to squeeze me in just so i can wait around and get a little piece of paper. That’s just stupid.
yeah poop! a friend the other day got clocked in the head pretty badly at work (cupboard door hit him when another coworker opened it). he was dizzy, couldn’t see straight, couldn’t focus, had a really bad headache that wasn’t going away with pain meds, and had a huge bump on his head. his bosses made it almost impossible for him to leave, even though he had already worked 8 hours taht day and there were other staff on duty, and eventually let him go with a snear and a demand for a doctors note.an hour later the nurse at emergency (it was a weekend so that’s where he had to go) told him it was a mild concussion, and he was probably fine- could wait for a doctor to see him,b ut didn’;t have to. but he eneded up hanging out there for 4 hours waiting to see a doctor for 10 seconds to get that note to please the bosses, even though he was hurt at work, other coworkers saw it happen, and he was visably injured!ridiculous. that’s all I have to say about that. where’s the trust people?
Yeah really – because our health care system is backed up enough. We don’t need people causing backlog just because they need a doctors note.
Hedg, that’s awful. Didn’t they make him fill out an injury report? Sounds to me like he works for a bunch of douchebags.I work in an ‘industrial’ environment myself, and see people get injured almost daily..ranging from smaller cuts and concussions to broken bones and even the loss of a finger on one occassion. I have my complaints about upper management, (i’m sure most of us do), but injuries around here are always taken seriously.Hope your friend feels better soon!
oh he’s fine, and yeah they made him fill out those forms when he went back on Monday. it was just the sense that he was hurt at work, he never ever calls in sick unless he’s really really ill, and yet they still gave him greif as if he was lying about being hurt that bugs me.again, where’s the trust? That shows a lack of respect, I think, for your workers if you don’t trust them enough not to lie about bieng hurt or ill.
i hate when people go to the Emerg for shit they could go to a clinic for or to the family doctor for.
um, where else are you supposed to go on a saturday night at 7 pm? nothing else is open.