Home ill :(

[ealuscerwen]

Y'know that shivery, unpleasant, headachey stage of illness when the brain isn't really working, the body feels weak and leaden and yet one can hold a perfectly normal conversation, such that people say - you don't sound ill - and it feels like they think it's skiving

Comments

Much Sympathy

[lathany]

such that people say - you don't sound ill - and it feels like they think it's skiving?

That always used to annoy me. Certainly when someone at work came up to me to announce, proudly, that they'd dragged themselves in because of their religious devotion to the production of National Statistics my first thought was always "great, so you felt you just had to share your germs with us". The one time their manager pointed this out as a virtue, I pointed out all the consequent infections (an extra seven people for a total of 22 days off) that could have been avoided if the idiot had spent a day or two at home.

Also, the one time that I didforce myself in during the early stages ended in me taking a month off with pneumonia. Whereas taking a day or two when I was merely feeling poorly would have been far better.

Well - just one more week, then you get a holiday. Better to get your illness out of the way now ;-).

Re: Much Sympathy

[cardinalsin]

Exactly... the idea that people should have to totally sacrifice any semblance of comfort for their job is not just uncharitable, it is stupid! If you work while ill, you are not only less efficient, but more likely to stay ill for longer.

It just smacks of the attitude that during working hours, you must become a fanatical and completely devoted servant of your employer. Breaks are bad. Non-work email is bad. All that happens as a result is, people get so stressed/ill that they *can't* work efficiently.

Back to work :)

Re: Much Sympathy

[onebyone]

"great, so you felt you just had to share your germs with us"

Personally, I don't think it should be solely the employee's responsibility to decide whether the infection risk outweighs the work they'll get done. Clearly there will be some times when a particular person's work is so vital on a given day, that it's better to take the risk. If that isn't the case, though, and they've come in anyway, then why doesn't that person's boss send them home?

Re: Much Sympathy

[lathany]

why doesn't that person's boss send them home?

Good question. In practise, it tends to be because they haven't weighed up the risk of infection and just see it as a gain of some work (as opposed to no work if the person didn't come it).

Plus there is a tendency to regard struggling in as a heroic effort that everyone who catches the illness could make. No allowance is usually made for the fact the illnesses can hit some people harder than others.

Although to be fair; I've occasionally sent someone home ill and had great trouble forcing them to actually go.

[condign]

You have my sympathy. I've spent the whole day packing up my stuff to leave... my whole life is in boxes. Which means I'm bored, even if I'm feeling very healthy.

Hope you feel better soon!

I don't wish you sympathy....

[cuthbertcross]

....I wish you a super-duper turbo-charged immune systam with knobs on, so you never get one of these evil viral illnesses again (at least not for a year or two). Hope you're better in time for time off :o)