Keep it to yourself!

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One of my pet peeves is folks who proudly continue to show up for work and ride public transportation even though they are contagiously ill. Twice in the last week I've had to move to another car on the Metra because someone with a cold insisted on sharing it with everyone in the area. In one case, the perp even bragged about it on her cellphone. I pack a face mask for use in such situations, and actually had to use it once last week.

If you are sick with a contagious disease, please don't share it with others! Best: stay home. That's what sick days are for. If that's truly not an option, avoid others. If you have to cough, cover your mouth with a handkerchief or Kleenex. Use waterless hand cleaner before touching surfaces others will also have to touch.

The Middlewife's employer has a strange policy on this. If anyone is ill more than 5 workdays in a row, they have to go on disability. Hello, the average cold lasts a full 7 days! You'd think a firm that makes its money on health care would know this, rather than forcing their workers to come in regardless after 5 days.

If I'm ill with something contagious, I'm out of the office. I'm still willing to work, and a lot of my work can still be done, but I try not to give to others what I wouldn't want to receive.

Update: Turns out there's a name for this problem: presenteeism (which turns out to have nothing to do with PowerPoint.)
"So-called "presenteeism," or going to work when sick, is a persistent problem at more than half of U.S. workplaces and costs U.S. business a whopping $180 billion a year, research shows."
(I don't put much trust in the phrase "research shows", but there's no doubt in my mind that a colleague who shares a cold with the office has harmed both them and their employer, not to mention foolishly risking their own remaining health.)

We have a policy in our childrens' ministry that sick kids and sick volunteers have to stay away. It is essential, as otherwise the one extra attendee one week becomes a loss of a dozen other attendees and volunteers the next weekend.

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This page contains a single entry by mitm published on January 4, 2007 9:44 PM.

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