School, sickness, work... Arrggghh

j.e.j.

Buzzybee90 wrote: »

Unless I can't move I'd go to work.

We don't 'do' days off in my family.

Oh, so YOU'RE the one who goes in and infects everybody else with your germs. That's very kind of you!

Thanks to someone taking a similar stance I've been ill for about 4 weeks now. All because someone didn't want to cancel a meeting, even though they had a diarrhoea and vomiting bug and had been sick that morning.

They passed it on to at least 5 other people :mad:

silvercar

j.e.j. wrote: »

Oh, so YOU'RE the one who goes in and infects everybody else with your germs. That's very kind of you!

Thanks to someone taking a similar stance I've been ill for about 4 weeks now. All because someone didn't want to cancel a meeting, even though they had a diarrhoea and vomiting bug and had been sick that morning.

They passed it on to at least 5 other people :mad:

I'm sure teachers think the same when a child comes to school with a runny nose, hoarse cough or scratching their hair.

Better_Days

There was a thread on here earlier called 'don't want to keep the peace anymore' OP(2)

The OP(2) on that thread described how her DD was rather poorly and she had to take time off work at the weekend unexpectedly. A colleague had to cover her shift. OP(2) said that her colleague made a fuss about covering the shift and was in tears because her weekend had been ruined.

OP(2) bought the colleague some chocolates as a thank you for covering the shift. OP(2) was hurt when the colleague just put the chocolates on a top cupboard and ignored them. OP(2) was upset that her collegue didn't ask after her sick child and was of the view that her colleague has a personality disorder.

But, OP(2) described her colleague as single, in her 40's, still lives with her parents, has no social life, doesn't drink or drive, and basically sits in her bedroom at home. If the OP's(2) colleague was aware of the way that she was judged by OP(2) (and I suspect she was) it is not surprising that she didn't want the chocolates and didn't ask after the child. It is not nice to be judged like that. The implication was that it is OK to disrupt the weekend who has such an unimportant life.

And I would say to the OP of this thread that it may well be that your colleagues/manager who don't have children will have experienced this attitude from parents too. I certainly have - as if my time is less valuable because I don't have children.

The problem is I think that to parents their children are the most important thing, quite rightly, and you act accordingly. But your children are not the most important thing to your collegues, and your choice to have children at times affects your collegues choices and workload. I am not suggesting that OP on this thread shares OP(2) apparent beliefs,but perhaps an appreciation of this perspective can help move things forward.

Buzzybee90

j.e.j. wrote: »

Oh, so YOU'RE the one who goes in and infects everybody else with your germs. That's very kind of you!

Thanks to someone taking a similar stance I've been ill for about 4 weeks now. All because someone didn't want to cancel a meeting, even though they had a diarrhoea and vomiting bug and had been sick that morning.

They passed it on to at least 5 other people :mad:

No, I can't recall having something that can be passed on.

I've not been sick since I was a child. I can't think of a time my parents have been off work ill, my brother had a few days off because he had an operation.

Like I said, we don't do "ill".

It's not being a matyr (I would get full sick pay) it's just been instilled in us that missing work or school is only for very serious things.

So be honest it was/ is incredibly rare for a a school friend or colleague to be off, so it's odd to me when some people seem to be off every few weeks!

You're saying you've been ill for four weeks like it's something normal. It's really not.

j.e.j.

Buzzybee90 wrote: »

So be honest it was/ is incredibly rare for a a school friend or colleague to be off, so it's odd to me when some people seem to be off every few weeks!

You're saying you've been ill for four weeks like it's something normal. It's really not.

How do you manage to not catch anything?


Yeah tell me about it! I never usually catch other people's lurgs but after that vomiting bug I've been catching one thing after another
Can only assume it weakened my immune system. I'm furious with that woman!!

BoJangles_2

j.e.j. wrote: »

How do you manage to not catch anything?


Yeah tell me about it! I never usually catch other people's lurgs but after that vomiting bug I've been catching one thing after another
Can only assume it weakened my immune system. I'm furious with that woman!!

To be fair, viruses can be at their most infectious before the symptoms come into play.

Jagraf

BoJangles wrote: »

To be fair, viruses can be at their most infectious before the symptoms come into play.

Absolutely true.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

I succumbed to the puking bug yesterday. Thanks to all the parents who sent their kids into school even though they'd already been sick. Thanks to the ones that tell school to keep them in reception with a bin to puke in (because the medical room is already overflowing) until the end of the day.

Now to hope that my compromised immune system (medication) lets me get better soon enough that I, as an apparently unencumbered middle aged woman, don't end up in hospital as I did from chickenpox and from a chest infection due to people 'not doing ill'.

Better_Days

Sorry to hear you are so poorly Jo Jo
Hope you feel better soon and your tummy isn't too sore.

I also have a chronic illness and it takes me so much longer to recover from colds, tummy bugs, etc months instead of days or weeks. The impact is really disproportionate compared to someone who is usually fit and well, especially as I am already at a low level of functioning. It's one of the reasons I rarely go out, just don't want to risk picking up a tummy bug or the like - not always possible to avoid though - doctors surgeries are petri dishes of coughs, sneezes, viruses and tummy bugs.

purpleshoes_2

silvercar wrote: »

I'm sure teachers think the same when a child comes to school with a runny nose, hoarse cough or scratching their hair.

I have a family member who is a teacher and the amount of colds she gets is unreal, given the number of kids who are sent in unwell, same with the winter vominting virus, half her school was floored with it a couple of months ago.