Colds.....an excuse for a day off or not?

mrbios

mrbios

mrbios

Soldato
Joined
7 Jun 2003
Posts
16,131
Location
Gloucestershire
Wondered what the general opinion around here was on the common cold..

Do you ring in sick or not? I've got a stinking cold at the moment and im at work as per usual - i work in a school, so no real reason to have the day off

My friend also has a cold, she works in morrisons and is still in work today and doing overtime on top of her normal day, she does stock checks and office work so i guess shes not working directly handling the food.

My colleague on the other hand (you had to be realise there was going to be a bit of a rant at some point here) has a cold and does exactly the same job as me, he rang in sick to which im a bit ****** off because i knew he would take ANY excuse to get off doing work, as he's just plain lazy.

... now personally i don't see the common cold as a reason to take time off work, so long as you have a packet of tissues it's all dandy - but at the same time i understand that some jobs you have to.

Do you take the day off or not and if you do, is it because you want to or your job requires you to?
 
I'm fine to work with a cold, but I have to let my manager know, as my "job role" would be changed for the period. I'm a domestic, and come into contact with patients, and my ward is for pretty serious patients (Lung and heart transplants, and the like).

But no, generally, a cold isn't an excuse to have time off work.
 
I go to work if I just have a cold, unless of course it is one of those colds where you feel completely crap for so much as getting out of bed. In which case it is in mine, and everyone elses best interests for me to stay at home.

In fact, it could be perceived as selfish if you go to work with a cold, as you're completely ignoring the fact you'll probably give it to someone else :p
 
If you are so ill that you can't concentrate and do the job you are paid to do then I just don't understand why people go in!

Not only are you wasting your own and your employers time, you're probably passing on your germs to other people in your workforce who maybe more, 'pathetic' in nature causing them to have time off work.
 
I was off last week with the cold, I did have achey joints so it might've been worse, I do work with food all day and coughing and sniffing doesn't look good when your making someone sandwich!!
 
I always goto college ill or not or sleep depraved unless I'm destroyed and can't move. If I can stand I go. :p Probably not the safest way to go about things but I don't miss classes atleast. I'll apply this to work too.
 
I don't think it's fair to your colleagues to go into work if you have a bad cold or other highly contagious virus. I got really ill a few years ago when people in my office dragged themselves in with a terrible cold and they could barely do their jobs while sneezing all over their computers anyway :(.
 
Depends on the work environment really, working in an office with 4 other people i'll not go in if its a heavy cold as the others will probably catch it costing the company a lot of money in the long run with everyone having x number of days off.
 
depends how bad I feel.

if I'm too rough to leave the house, I won't. I can work from home too, so I have this option if I'm just feeling semi rough
 
I have a cold at the mo`. Wont go to work incase I pass it on to myself (self employed) then I would need more time off.
I have snot on my upper lip.:p
 
If i'm achy and haven't really slept then I won't go in but if i'm just sniffly i will. Although I can now work from home so that's always an option.
Depends how bad a cold it is as normally our boss will say don't bother as they dont want it spreading around the office.

Some of the lads in work will take a sick day because they have a sore throat..now that is taking the mickey!!
 
I take days off when im ill and even when im not ill...mainly due to the fact that i cant stand being at work at the moment and things are pretty slow...the beauty of being your own boss i suppose...and i still get paid for the days i take off:D
 
It'd be great if I didn't have to, because the little lab run by myself and a few colleagues really needs all the staff it can get, and any sick leave generally can't be covered. Unfortunately, because I work in a sterile environment I can't come in with anything potentially infectious - colds, diarrhoea, anything. Not entirely sure why, since in no way do I come into contact with patients, but it's MHRA and CPA standards so no arguments.
 
In 23 months of my current job, I've taken exactly one sick day. It was less than two weeks after I started, I had a nasty case of food poisoning which didn't manifest until about 11am, at which point I vomited my way home.

That said, I know people who'll pull sickies for a hangover, sore throat, dose of the sniffles, you name it. Healthy people get hard done by? :(
 
I'm self employed; anything short of the loss of a limb will not stop me from going to work.

Saying that, even when I wasn't self employed I didn't take days off for colds and such. Sickies are for pregnant women and the limp wristed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom