Co-workers with colds

[OldRightHander]

So I decide to come into the office today and lo and behold, one of my colleagues, who has a bad cold and is pregnant (moody alert) decides to come in today to get some things done as well. So I'm sitting here trying to get some paperwork done, lovely Roth IRA apps and the like, and I have this person sitting at a computer across the office just sniffling away. It's almost like clockwork. Count five seconds and *SNIFF*, five more seconds and *SNIFF*. I have my headphones on listening to Lance and I have the volume up about as loud as I can stand it and I still can't drown her out. I'm either going to just head home in the next few minutes, or I'm going to walk over there and say, "Could you please just blow that darn thing and spare us the incessant sound effects?!" I think I should have worked from home or in the field today and saved the paperwork for tomorrow.

[OldRightHander]

Ok, that's it. I'm taking the paperwork home. I've had enough. Catch y'all later.

[Johnny Footstool]

Suggestion: If it happens again, go to the person's desk and say hello. Be pleasant. Ask her how she's feeling. She'll go into some spiel about having a cold, etc. Say, "Oh, that's too bad," and ask her nicely if she needs some tissues. She'll probably thank you and say no. Tell her *nicely* that you hope she starts feeling better. If she has any sense at all, she'll get the hint.

If she doesn't, take a roll of toilet paper from the bathroom and unroll it on her head.

[OldRightHander]

Originally Posted by Johnny Footstool

Suggestion: If it happens again, go to the person's desk and say hello. Be pleasant. Ask her how she's feeling. She'll go into some spiel about having a cold, etc. Say, "Oh, that's too bad," and ask her nicely if she needs some tissues. She'll probably thank you and say no. Tell her *nicely* that you hope she starts feeling better. If she has any sense at all, she'll get the hint.

If she doesn't, take a roll of toilet paper from the bathroom and unroll it on her head.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm now home catching up on my work in the relative peace and quiet of my own house. I tried all of the subtle hints already, but she just didn't get it.

[Johnny Footstool]

Toilet paper, then.

Mountains of it.

[KronoRed]

If you have a cold

STAY HOME

[GAC]

I hear ya ORH. Every winter/flu season, someone comes into the breakroom or cafetaria, plops their butts down, and complains how they have a fever of 102 and are sicker then a dog. You may as well get it over with and give'em a kiss.

They could care less if they infect anyone else. It's all about not wanting to miss work.

And some of the biggest germ carriers on the face of the earth are kids. Parents send their kids to school when they have no business being there. And guess who ends up getting it and passing it on?

[LoganBuck]

My wife is a teacher and she tells horror stories from now through March, yearly. Kids yacking, passing out from fevers, crying, sneezing on others...

I hate going to church during cold and flu season. Please sneeze, cough and sniffle during the whole service. My church has gone to strongly asking those that are sick to please stay home.

[Unassisted]

You folks cursed with inconsiderate co-workers might consider trying this stuff. I don't know if it works, but it's probably better than suffering in silence.

[marcshoe]

Originally Posted by KronoRed

If you have a cold

STAY HOME

Tell my company.

We are allowed to miss work twice in a twelve month period. Any further absences move us on to a level of discipline.

This leads to clouds of germs travelling around the office all winter long. The same diseases are passed around over and over again like a bad e-mail.

I brought up the problems with this policy to our company manager at a meeting last spring (which I was attending sick, due to my making the mistake of returning to work sooner than I should have), and was moved on to a level of discipline for doing so (long, sadly amusing story). In truth, the manager wanted me fired, but couldn't manufacture the grounds to do so.

Many employers haven't grasped the idea that having workers come in to the office sick hurts the company in the long run.

[LoganBuck]

Originally Posted by tixe

.

Many employers haven't grasped the idea that having workers come in to the office sick hurts the company in the long run.

Between lost productivity and potential mistakes made by sick employees, and the infection of other workers, I just don't get why some companies don't get this.

[bucksfan]

Missing work for coughy sneezy colds just wouldn't cut it at our work either. I mean, you could likely get away with it but people would definitely be thinking you were slacking if it was something short of the bed-ridden flu variety.

[TeamBoone]

Originally Posted by tixe

We are allowed to miss work twice in a twelve month period. Any further absences move us on to a level of discipline.

Is that even legal?

[KittyDuran]

Originally Posted by LoganBuck

Between lost productivity and potential mistakes made by sick employees, and the infection of other workers, I just don't get why some companies don't get this.

It might have to take a lot of employees getting sick at one time to change a policy like that. Years ago a co-worker came to work coughing, feverish and lightheaded - the reason was that she used up all her sick time and didn't want to cut into her vacation time [which you would use to make up lost time]. Within a week half of the clerical pool was very sick - the co-worker had "walking pneumonia" and infected the rest of us - which wasn't very hard since we shared phones, pens, etc. I ended up being off work sick for a full two weeks [we received 12 days sick]. For those 2 weeks the pool went from being 7 employees daily to 2 or 3 a day. Even tho' it wasn't written in the handbook, it sort of became an unwritten rule that if you're too sick to work - stay home.

[Cyclone792]

You guys will love this one ...

One of my part-time jobs I had while in college a couple years ago had a disciplinary system they referred to as an "occurence" type system. You would get an occurance for such things as calling in/not showing up to work, arriving late, leaving early, being back from break late, etc ... basically anything they could nail you with an occurence, they did. If your occurences reached a certain level, you were hit with various displinary measures. For example, five occurences netted a written warning, six occurences a final warning, seven occurences job termination ... that sort of thing.

Well wouldn't you know one day in the office an elderly female co-worker started complaining of bad chest pains. They went on for a few minutes and finally she got up to go to the bathroom or something, but instead she just passed out in the cubicle aisle.

They had to call in an ambulance in and literally wheel her out of the office on a stretcher (I have no idea what was wrong with her or what happened). As she was being wheeled out, one of the supervisors told them to stop so she could sign a piece of paper, which happened to be her getting written up for a final warning.

"What in the world are you writing her up for?!" I asked, purposely loud enough for the entire office to hear.

The supervisor looked at me, and straight-faced said, "She's leaving work early and this is her 6th occurence. It's her final warning."