Posted on 01/07/2003 10:16:46 AM PST by snippy_about_it
Indeed. Why, why, why is there this widespread belief on the part of sick people that everyone at the office could not live without them if they were to stay home until they were well? Let's see, what are my options here: lose a couple of days of work or infect everyone in the bulding? Hmm. Tough call.
I came down with this stomach bug on Christmas day along with my mother-in-law. Soon the whole family gathered for Christmas came down with the bug.
My mother-in-law, who had been suffering from the after effects of a severe stroke for 3 years soon suffered pnumonia and passed away six days later.
Be careful around persons who are already compromised with illness if you have shown symptoms or have been around others with these symptoms.
One of my pet peeves about restrooms is that so many of them require you to pull a handle on the exit door. So even if you wash YOUR hands, you can still get infected by someone who didn't wash before you.
It may seem anal (no pun intended), but I've been known to use a paper towel to open bathroom doors.
Unfortunately, some of us work in "hero" offices. The ones where you are looked down upon because you didn't come into work after your 9am open heart surgery.
We had a nasty, nasty stomach bug that hit us all twice between Thanksgiving and New Years.
I think it might get worse during economic downturns. People don't want to give their bosses any reasons to justify firing them, so they come in sick. Others see this, and don't want to be the 'one guy who stays home when sick all the time'. At least that's what goes through MY mind when feeling ill. A good rule of thumb is if you're just feeling a little under the weather, go in. You can later use that day for when you're REALLY ill. That way you won't use an inordinate number of sick days, and won't stand out compared to others.
I always cover my hand with my sleeve when opening any door.
The virus is easily passed from person to person, such as through a handshake, but officials say the danger of infection could be reduced if people washed their hands after using the bathroom.Handshaking in the bathroom may be hazardous to your health.
Hey, I found someone else like me! I usually use a towel to open the door, and then drop it on the floor. Yeah, it's littering, but they ought to have bathrooms designed so that I can use them without getting sick. In my observations, at least 50% of people do not wash their hands.
In any event, I have taken to carrying Purel around with me. Some bathrooms are so bad that the process of touching the faucet, getting a towel, and opening the door is much dirtier than having taken a wiz.
In some instances, I now just don't wash my hands at all, but instead use the Purel right when I leave the bathroom.
I've only seen one or two bathrooms that are smart enough to put a waste basket right near the door.
After all, it does make people sick in the stomach...just like Teddy.
And when you think of a stomach, who else comes to mind but the old gastro-giganticus himself.
Yup. And that's why everybody's sick all the time! Day care centers have got nothing on offices for being germ factories!
Still, some people are not convinced that soap is desirable, let alone necessary. The king of the staff perps was once witnessed finishing a typical whiz- he zipped up while turning from the urinal, looked in the mirror, licked one of his hands and smoothed back his hair. Having completed his styling, he grabbed the door handle and made his exit, sans soap and water. Too cool to wash, but not too cool to share pathogens.
That's when you really want TWO layers of paper towels between you and the doorknob.
We should realize, however, that by going to unusual lengths to avoid contact with pathogens, we may fail to acquire immunity to a larger family of pathogens. In other words, those dirty fingernail types who frequently contract one or two day minor illnesses may be better prepared to deal with a more series bug later on.
I know what you mean, especially when you have zero backup on many jobs, if you take even a day off, you spend the next five days back scrambling like mad to catch up. But if any modifications are made, there are always slackers willing to take advantage of it, I've known people who make sure they take off a day every pay period, on average. If they are the 'pet' of some higher-up, they can get away with it.
I once worked for a company that had a 'unit' system for sick leave: the first day you were out, you used two units, but only one unit for each subsequent day. If you were out for surgery, you'd get about three weeks, but if you used the days for 'brown bottle flu' on Mondays, you'd only get about a week or so's worth of sick days.
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