23 years without a day off sick here.
People who go into work sick - Rant
- Thread starter Aedus
- Start date
23 years without a day off sick here.
Soldato
- Joined
- 29 Jul 2004
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- 7,053
I don't do sick, a) i don't get paid and b) I get a £500 bonus if I've not had a sick day.
I've had some customers upset I've turned up with flu though
You mean a cold and sore throat.
Man of Honour
September 1988 for me
I work from home if i'm contagious, but not everyone is so fortunate to have the choice.
Don't really understand all the willy waving about length of time since last sick... if you're not taking time off when you're not well, I'm sure you were hardly productive when you were in and could potentially exacerbate issues, make other people ill and take longer to get better due to lack of rest amongst other things.
Don't really understand all the willy waving about length of time since last sick... if you're not taking time off when you're not well, I'm sure you were hardly productive when you were in and could potentially exacerbate issues, make other people ill and take longer to get better due to lack of rest amongst other things.
Soldato
How does a cold stop you from being productive? Maybe people react differently to colds, because for me its just a minor inconvenience...
I'm really surprised at this thread to be honest, I thought the vast majority of people just got on with life when they had a cold :/
I'm really surprised at this thread to be honest, I thought the vast majority of people just got on with life when they had a cold :/
Man of Honour
This exactly.
The girl next to me gets a cold and she is dying, she gets a headache and she is dying, feels a little bit stressed and she is dying and has also wasted A&Es time by going there to be treated for all three on numerous occasions.
Other people find it a minor inconvenience.
I'm not having a go at these people just pointing out some are more tolerant than others.
Let them try, then take it to tribunal and see how long that company stays strong.
People get ill. Fact of life.
Soldato
It really depends on the person, how bad the cold is etc
Other than the pain I get from my PaS I just crack on, but I rarely get a proper cold anymore since I've been on these drugs.
My wife and kids usually just crack on as well, however, my wife has had a cold now for 3 weeks. First week was bad, blankets, sofa, headaches etc could barely function and was sent home from work. I took over everything, then she got better but started to come back last week but nowhere near as bad.
All depends. Sometimes I when I get a cold, it's just a headcold, sniffles, snot, sore throat etc, some colds I've have had have been bad enough to take time off for. I feel sick, my eyes don't work correctly, I ache. I'd rather just spend a couple of days in bed and get it over with.
Now pleurisy... there's a good one. And I got that from a bad cold which I didn't respect and tried to carry on as normal. Like quinsy, which is something you risk by not resting with tonsilitis.
I think all this "I go to work regardless" is a just macho ****. And that comes from a business owner. If you need time off... take it. If you don't, don't. Never taking time of despite needing it can be as unproductive as taking time you don't. Just be honest and grown up about it.
Now pleurisy... there's a good one. And I got that from a bad cold which I didn't respect and tried to carry on as normal. Like quinsy, which is something you risk by not resting with tonsilitis.
I think all this "I go to work regardless" is a just macho ****. And that comes from a business owner. If you need time off... take it. If you don't, don't. Never taking time of despite needing it can be as unproductive as taking time you don't. Just be honest and grown up about it.
Associate
- Joined
- 3 May 2007
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- 1,879
I work by myself for myself, havnt needed to take a day off ever. but if I felt I needed to I would, Dont really see the problem as long as yer not taking the mick.
Soldato
At my work place if your that ill you will never be sent home, you have to tell a manager that your dying etc and then ring in every day untill you feel you are able again.
if your ill for diffrent reasons 3x then you get disciplinary actions verbalwarning /written warning / door (supposidly)
So i just go in sick regardless.
A cold is nothing / Flu bloody horrid.
if your ill for diffrent reasons 3x then you get disciplinary actions verbalwarning /written warning / door (supposidly)
So i just go in sick regardless.
A cold is nothing / Flu bloody horrid.
Associate
- Joined
- 5 Feb 2008
- Posts
- 465
Some people in this thread are really brain washed. Can't go to work because you got a blocked nose and minor cough. Grow up your not in school any more!!! On the other if your really ill and risk getting others really ill/sick then yes don't go to work. This country would stand still if you had minor cough/cold and everyone didn't go to work. Rant over
Soldato
It must be three or four years since I had a sick day, although I have had a couple of appointments where I needed time off and couldn't arrange it around my shift pattern. If I was sufficiently ill that I didn't feel I could do my job - whether a cold or any other condition - then yes I would consider going sick. However colds are tricky things to manage - do you go sick at the sore throat, runny nose or coughing stage all of which can be debilitating but you can't go off for the whole 8 - 10 days it normally takes to run its course. I work in a safety critical role which means you have to consider whether your condition might adversely affect decision making. By a twist of irony that safety critical also means you cannot treat the condition with anything more potent than Lemsip or non-drowsy medicine as Night Nurse or Benyllin would fail a drug test for anti-histamines or codeine.
So far as spreading germs is concerned, well in a communal working environment with shared keyboards etc. then they're going to be everywhere anyway.
Modern working practices also make people more cautious about throwing a sickie. As I work in a revolving 24/7 shift environment, if I go sick there might not be anyone available to come in and cover or people might end up being asked to do 12 hours to cover. There's also the attendance management thing to consider - if I take two days off in December for a cold, what happens if I twist my ankle in January then have a blinding migraine in March? As discussed in a previous thread, employers now take this quite seriously even if the instances are genuine and at best you will be on report or even sent for a medical. So the old adage about keeping sick days for when you really need them holds true.
So far as spreading germs is concerned, well in a communal working environment with shared keyboards etc. then they're going to be everywhere anyway.
Modern working practices also make people more cautious about throwing a sickie. As I work in a revolving 24/7 shift environment, if I go sick there might not be anyone available to come in and cover or people might end up being asked to do 12 hours to cover. There's also the attendance management thing to consider - if I take two days off in December for a cold, what happens if I twist my ankle in January then have a blinding migraine in March? As discussed in a previous thread, employers now take this quite seriously even if the instances are genuine and at best you will be on report or even sent for a medical. So the old adage about keeping sick days for when you really need them holds true.
Soldato
That's not strictly true, it's perfectly possible to go into work in the first day or 2 of flu before it fully kicks in (at which point it just feels like a particularly bad cold)
Soldato
Flu can be incapacitating - or it can just be like a bad cold. It's possible for symptoms to be mild.
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-...dont-have-symptoms-you-may-still-have-the-flu
I had the incapacitating type as a child once. It was very nasty and I was off school for a couple of weeks. However since then I've had illnesses with flu-like symptoms a handful of times, with the most severe symptoms only lasting a day or two. Can I be sure they weren't flu? No. Can I be sure the same pathogen won't affect someone else more severely? No.
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-...dont-have-symptoms-you-may-still-have-the-flu
I had the incapacitating type as a child once. It was very nasty and I was off school for a couple of weeks. However since then I've had illnesses with flu-like symptoms a handful of times, with the most severe symptoms only lasting a day or two. Can I be sure they weren't flu? No. Can I be sure the same pathogen won't affect someone else more severely? No.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 18 Oct 2002
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- 33,188
But the reason they can or will do this, is because everyone is brainwashed into putting their company and job ahead of their own priorities. If everyone said, hey wait a minute, life is life and a job is a job, put themselves first(within reason) then companies wouldn't get away with such behaviour.
Because by and large the prevailing attitude in this thread is too many people saying "I'll go into work with a cold, you just man up" or things similar to that, companies can behave like anyone who dares take time off is just lying and that taking time off work for almost any reason is just not acceptable.
Business in general pushes this attitude because if enough people act like it they can get away with well, in effect, intimidating people into working. It's the same way they intimidate people to work late or on a Sunday for fear of losing their jobs, or persuade people that a raise or a promotion will happen only if they work many extra hours.