I am super paranoid when it comes to getting sick from other people and now that I am working with the public again, I find that I am always worrying about germs. People who are suffering from chronic illnesses have a weakened immune system and we can get sick a lot easier than a healthy person. Whenever I know that someone in the family has been sick, especially when it is one of the kids, I try to keep myself and our son away from whoever isn’t feeling well.
I know that some people think I take things too far and worry too much about getting sick, but they don’t realize that when I get sick it lingers and lingers. Now that I am exposed to hundreds of people every day, I am constantly thinking about what all I’m being exposed to. Just last week I had a lady come through my line who was sick with pneumonia – and she was out shopping – in a public place – around children and many other people. When she told me that she was sick with pneumonia, I asked her what in the heck she was doing out and that she should be home in bed – or in the hospital. She said that she was bored and couldn’t stay home anymore. So because she was “bored”, she has possibly infected how many other people? Then I had to take her money and touch her store card – I was not happy and she knew I was not happy.
People just don’t have common sense anymore and they don’t think. One person’s actions can affect so many people, especially those who are already ill. Is this something that irritates you, or am I just too paranoid?
It annoys the frak out of me. It annoyed me before I ended up so sick, but now it really pisses me off! Also, I worked for the same company as my dad at one point (well twice actually, once when there were a whole 4 of us working out of the office and once when it had… 20 some employees at that office) and my dad is the health and safety manager – he did one of his meetings specifically on if you are sick stay home, and the infection risks to other people if you go out while sick and a bunch of other things like that. So after that it annoys me even more!
J (http://autoimmunelife.wordpress.com)
Hi J, When I used to be a manager I would tell people not to come in if they were contagious because I would rather have one person off than three or four at one time. That’s what always happened though. A sick person would come in when they should have been home, then I would end up having several people (myself included sometimes) call off because they had caught the virus or bug or whatever was going around. Most of the time it’s the same people who will call off any other time for no good reason then when they do have a good reason to be home that’s when they decide to come in and infect everyone.
I know the feeling. At my last job, a girl came to work with a cough and a temp of 102. I told them well now I will get it and it will put me to bed, it did for 3 days and I written up for absences once again. People don’t get it. When you have this, any little thing is a major production. I wish people weren’t so inconsiderate. jane.