This is going to be a touch on the ranting side. I want to know why people go to work sick? I can understand they need the money. I can even understand maybe they’ve used their sick time staying home with their kids when they were sick but man, stay home!
Last week my cleaning lady came here sick. She was at the worst part and germ spreading time of a cold. She was coughing, sneezing, coughing, sneezing AND she could hardly breathe. She was SO stuffed up I could hardly even understand her.
I really like her. A lot. If it wasn’t for her, my house would be a disaster but last week she didn’t do her job worth a crap. I didn’t get mad because SHE WAS SICK but I know a lot of people who would have been mad. I had to redo all my mirrors and she didn’t do half of my entry way the way she usually does. I won’t say anything because it’s not that big of a deal to me. It’s not going to break me by any means and she’d drop anything for me if I called her but man……….Normally I keep her company and clean right along with her but I stayed far away from her.
I asked Paul what he would do if someone called in sick. I asked if he’d be mad and his answer is the same people call in sick all the time and usually the ones who really are sick, don’t call in because they never miss work. So no, if you don’t normally call in for every ingrown toenail, your boss knows what kind of worker you are and won’t be mad if you call in because it’s not in your character to do that often.
So then is it a “pride” thing? You can say “I never miss work.” “I go in sick.” “I’m so tough.” What you’re really doing is spreading the germs and keeping these bugs alive and before you know it, everyone is sick.
I’m not saying you should stay home if you sneeze but we all know how colds and flu’s work and we know when we’re contagious and when we’re not. Last week I ran into a pretty good friend and after standing and talking to her for 10 minutes or so she said to me “I feel so awful. I think I have the flu. I have a fever.” SERIOUSLY??????
Where do you stand? Do you go to work sick? I never went to work sick but really, how often do people get sick? A few times a year? So how’s it bad to stay home and #1, rest so you get better faster and #2, don’t spread all that crap around.
Us Girls..Our Views 
The only time I stay home from work is if I have a high fever or I have stomach issues. I go to work if I have a cold and other issues yes, because I have patients who don’t really care if I’m sick. They only care about getting a massage. If I cancel on them some patients get all mad because I’m not there to give them a massage! Yes, this happens all the time!!!
Since you and your cleaning lady are so close, maybe she didn’t want you mad at her for canceling. Some people aren’t sure about those things. Maybe you should let her know next time that she’s not feeling well to stay home. If it was me I wouldn’t get mad about her not cleaning as well as she normally does. She had an “off” day. She obviously does a ton of stuff for you to help you out. Just talk to her about it.
I would never be mad at her. I like her a lot. We all have off days and she’s so good most of the time. I’ve told her many times that if she ever needs a day off or can’t make it that I’d never get mad and to just let me know. I think she needs the money.
I agree, she probably needs the money and she probably thought she’d be able to do a satisfactory job despite being sick.
Personally, since I work at home, it’s kind of a moot issue whether I take off when I’m sick, as far as spreading germs. When I used to work in an office and got sick, I would go in if I had a really important meeting, but I’d let people know to stay away from me. Otherwise, I’d work from home. I hardly ever got that sick, though. Mostly if I was feeling crummy, it was because of stress or lack of sleep combined with a mild bug.
I said I hardly ever got very sick, but I used to have stuff linger a long time. Like, I would be coughing for months. Obviously staying home was not an option nor a solution.
I have usually had the kind of job where if you take time off, you pay like anything later. The stress usually isn’t worth it. It’s easier to just plow through and get as much rest as possible in-between.
The only time I call in sick, is if I’m in bed sick; fever, contagious. But if I do have a cold, I always let Lilly’s mom know that. Or if Bailey’s home sick, I’ll let her know, and she can decide if she wants to bring her in or not. I can’t tell you the last time, I had to take a day off.
My mom works retail, and this is one of her biggest complains. She’d rather have to find someone to cover your shift, rather than you come in and get everyone sick! STAY HOME! I think with some people it’s a pride thing, obviously money plays a part for some people.
It’s very hard for Jason to take a day off without notice. He’s in charge of up to 20 people, runs their entire warehouse, plus the inventory of every store in the country. There are days, when he shouldn’t go in, but has to for a little bit, or things would go really bad. So, you have people like that, that are in charge and taking a day off is hard…but they still should stay home!
Nice Rant! It’s funny I just heard alot of this rant from Navar as a kid came to school really sick. He came home and told me about it and said that he was hoping he would not get sick, he did and now I am. And it’s not a little baby cold it’s a full on bronchitis. We went to the doctor Tuesday. Being a teacher is tough now there’s are alot of the teachers out sick and the kids. It’s a small school so getting subs can be difficult. There’s also pink eye going around because one kid wanted to play basketball and not stay home and now the teacher that lives next door to us has it and so now that’s spreading around too. I feel like Monk the TV show have you seen that? He’s always calling for a wipe. I can hear poor Navar coughing in the other room. I think as a society we need to rethink this and if people are sick let them stay home and get well so that they don’t come to work and spread it to everyone else. And if you are sick stay home and read a good book and blog. I’m not sure what it will take to make this change.
Depending on project schedule I may or may not call in sick. Sometimes a big project is to go out to tender and no one else can accomplish what I need to get that out on my responsibilities of the project. It is easier for me to disseminate all the information coming in and tie up all my loose ends of information that only I really know about. I try to document everything “in case”, but it is impossible to document so much information on a conrinuous basis. So I must go in.
If it is work I can delegate out, I will call in sick, as my boss’s would actually prefer. Their thought is that they don’t want everyone getting sick. Better to have one unproductive person than a whole bunch of unproductive people. But some times that is pretty much impossible to avoid, as my cold cannot hold up a $22 million project.
I think your cold is much more important that $22 million! LOL!!! I know what you mean.
When I was in HS, I worked at the local food joint. It was sort of a high-end fast food place, almost like a sports bar, although we didn’t serve beer, or have waitresses. Anyway, I was ‘counter staff’ – it was my job to take & fill orders, drop oil-cooked stuff, and then clean/restock the front at the end of the night. I also put in time at the attached Tastee-Freez. Anyway, I was scheduled to work one evening, after school. I was running a 103 fever, so I called in and told them I wouldn’t be in to work that evening (I’d already taken the day off of school). My boss screamed at me… It was my responsibility to find a sub, and if I couldn’t, I should come in or risk being fired. I called every person I knew who also worked there and whose phone number I had, and nobody could cover my shift. I called my boss back and told her that I couldn’t find a sub, and she insisted that I come in. The issue was finally resolved when my mother called the owner of the place and told him my situation, and did he think it was a good idea to have someone with a 103 temp working with food? I took the day off, but after that I was referred to as “the snob” who thought she was “too good” to come to work. I didn’t stay there very long.
Unfortunately, I think that attitude is encountered a LOT in our society. I talk with so many people who feel that work is the be-all and end-all of existence. If you don’t go to work, the entire world is going to collapse. And many bosses hold the same attitude… that it’s fine if you want to be sick, but do it on your own time.
I’m not saying it’s right… honestly, one day home in bed can get rid of the worst of a cold better than drawing it out several days at work. Unfortunately, the mentality of this country is “suck it up, you big wimp!!”
There have been a couple of times when I was a young hourly worker in food service, when I cut myself and quite possibly got blood in the merchandise before I realized it. At that point, you just pretend it never happened. Meat has blood in it anyway, right?
I also think to a lot of different people, sick is classified in different ways. I’ve known people who miss a day or two a month. When I worked for the school district, I earned two sick days a month. Seriously, who gets sick twice a month? Sick to me is when I feel like a piece of poop and have kleenix stuffed up my nose and have Vick’s rubbed all over and I have the blinds closed and am under a blanket with some chicken noodle soup. OR, I’m puking or pooping. Other than that, I don’t think cramps or a headache or an upset stomach is being sick. Not feeling “up to par” isn’t the same thing as being sick.
If you’re wheezing and oozing, I won’t mention any names *cough*cough*laura*cough* STAY AT HOME IN BED.
I did. Today, I worked on stuff for half the day, then gave up and went to bed. I feel a bit better now… At least my uvula isn’t swollen and gagging me anymore. TMI???
LOL!!! I hope you feel better. It’s no fun feeling like a piece of poo.
When I worked I very rarely called in sick.Clients would want their hair done sick or not and they would tell me that.I think that is crazy but when you rely on HAVING clients for income you do what you have to to keep them.Also it really was a pain to try and reschedule a whole days(or more) worth of clients.It only meant really long days when I did get back to work.So yea,Id have to have been really ill to stay home.Another thing, I didnt have payed sick days so that added to that also.Many factors that just made it easier to go to work.
This is a little off topic but this reminded me of something a costumer said to me that was just so appalling.I was calling to cancel a weeks worth of clients when my Father passed away.I figured I needed that time off.One women was upset I could tell in her voice and then before I hung up she said to me “Well enjoy your holidays!”What a bag.I will never forget that.I thought that was awful.Just shows how selfish people are.ANYHOW!
I totally agree with you on you have to do what you can to keep your clients! If your clients aren’t happy, then you could possibly lose them. Therefor losing money. I also don’t have any sick days, no paid vacation days what so ever. So I pretty much have to be there even if I don’t want to be!
Yup!! People are callous. Someone made the same remark to her when she took time off to bury her dad back in NB.
To Lindsay?So hard to understand people!They must have never gone through anything tough,have no compassion!
Yup she had the remark made to her as she took a week to go home. She was not impressed. Nor was I.
I would also note that usually by the time you know you are “that sick,” you have already been contagious for a while. A lot of times the yucky part doesn’t come until after you aren’t contagious any more.
Very good point!
I’ve been known to call in sick when I’m thoroughly pissed off and this close to quitting. Usually the next day I’ve scheduled a meeting with the person most likely to receive my resignation.
My bosses knew that if I took off work, (and didn’t work from home), it was pretty serious business.
Now that’s a rant! I’m so proud of you :^)
Thanks Jeff! Every now and then it feels good.