people coming into work when they are ill

If you have paid sick days where you work, then sure I agree with you. Where I work we don't get paid if we call in sick and not only that but we have to bring in doctor's notes, which in most cases aren't free. And I don't know about anybody else, but I would feel kinda stupid making a doctor's appointment for a cold.

Same where I work. We don't have sick days. If we call in sick (less than 24 hours notice) we have to bring in a doctor note. I think it is stupid to waste the doctor's time and my money because I had a cold and needed to stay home for day. I go to work with a cold and use lots of sanitizer. I also try to avoid everyone else and make sure I cover my mouth when I cough. Once I am feeling better, I wipe down my whole work station (especially the keyboard and the phone) with Clorox wipes so I don't re-infect myself. It sucks working when you are sick but some of us don't have an option.

This thread makes me glad I do not live in your country.

There is no such thing as 'no sick pay' over here, employers have no choice.


sadly, I am self employed....

Do you have paid sick day? This person may not be able to afford to take off.

Personally, I do not get paid sick days so I work even when I am sick. However, I also sit alone in an office for eight hours a day. Literally, I am the only person in the building. I have employees that come in and out periodically through the day. But if I am sick I usually sent those 3-4 people a text early in the morning and say "I feel like crap, stay away today!" or something like that, because they do not need to come into the ofice to do their work.

We get sick time at my job and people do the same thing. This one guy was sick for like 2 weeks and all I heard all day was him hacking up a lung, sneezing, snorting his snot back in his nose and clearing his throat. I ended up taking the afternoon off because it making me sick to my stomach just hearing it.

I just wear a hazmat suit with a built in HEPA air purifier and encased my desk in air lock with an antechamber stocked with lysol, booties, and Purell at work. It really p*ssed off HR. But on the brightside, I've never been sick either.

With many of those things, you are contagious before and/or after you have any symptoms, not just when you are "feeling sick." With some you can be contagious for weeks after your symptoms go away.

I took off of work today because I do get paid time. We are allotted so much paid time for everything and once you've used it all, you don't get any more time off. There is no taking unpaid time off because if you try it, you get fired. Therefore we take our time off sparingly. Like a person mentioned earlier, that person may must have allergies/asthma. I do, and when I get sick, I sneeze and cough and lose my voice for weeks or even months at a time.

Having said that, your coworkers SHOULD definitely cover when they sneeze and cough.

I know some germ-a-phobes at work though who hear a sneeze or a cough and freak out. Then they start spraying everything with lysol, which is incredibly inconsiderate to those of us with allergies. If you are going to de-germ things, definitely use the wipes and not the sprays. We should all be more considerate of one another.

Having said that, if you spend all your time anti-bacterializing and hand sanitizing, you will be more likely to get sick. Our bodies need to be exposed to bad germs on occasion to built immunity to them.

But, yes, you have a right to be offended if your coworker is sneezing and coughing all over everything. Have you tried nicely asking her to cover up or use a tissue?

If you have paid sick days where you work, then sure I agree with you. Where I work we don't get paid if we call in sick and not only that but we have to bring in doctor's notes, which in most cases aren't free. And I don't know about anybody else, but I would feel kinda stupid making a doctor's appointment for a cold.

This is especially bad when you don't have insurance and it's $80 just to get that doctor to write you a note...

Just curious how you all feel about people asking if you got a flu shot. One school mom complained to me that she thought another mom did not get her kids and herself flu shots. That mom complained that a different mom openly asked her if she got her kids flu shots. I kind of wish no one would talk to me about it because they are all talking about each other and none of it involves me but do you think there is a fair amount of social policing about the flu shots? I'm getting a little sick of hearing about it. Do you think people have the right not to be confronted about this since some people seem as concerned about what's in those shots as other people seem about the flu itself?

I'm not asking who's wrong or right about getting the shot, just about whether it's right to ASK someone if they got it. for some reason HIPPAA or something like that comes to mind but since I'm a terrible "on the spot" responder, I'm just left dumb each time someone brings it up?