Whining

[Dogmama]

<rant on>

Life is NOT FAIR!

(Fair = that four-letter-"F"-word)

Days are short & I can only ride weekends. The last two weekends have been cold & raining. I don't ride in cold & rain. I have nothing to prove. I'm not Lance Armstrong.

This weekend will be warm & sunny. Lows 45 degrees, highs 75 degrees. Great, except I've been sick all week. Fever, cough, headache and recently stuffy head. Just when I think I'm over it BLAM, I get hit with something else.

I'm very spoiled. I enjoy really good health (but I also eat wisely, exercise daily and get my 8 hours of sleep, so it ain't no accident!) When I get sick, I HATE IT.

I caught it at work. People come to work sick. We get sick time. Why can't people use their sick time? Nobody laid on their death bed wondering what was in their in-box. Makes me absolutely crazy. That, and people who come to the gym sick. Coughing up a lung. Stay home!

I tell my co-workers to go home. They seem to think it's a badge of honor to work while they're sick. They are "dedicated" or something. Our entire department has had people off work because eventually they can no longer come in. Get a clue!

<rant off>

Thanks for listening.

[Veronica]

Well, if we're going to whine...

Parents who send their kids to school sick bug me, because frankly, it's a real hassle for me to take a day off if I get sick. I'm talking the sneezing every two minutes, hacking up on everybody kind of sick - not a little case of the sniffles.

You have to write sub plans, you have to take them to school, you need to make sure everything is readily available for the sub. Some subs are not very good at teaching and who knows which one you'll get. So do I leave the stuff I'd do, or do I leave busy work and essentially waste the day? In these days of high stakes testing, a day really does matter.

Then when you go back, there's the whole aftermath. Who misbehaved, where did the sub leave those papers you need, what didn't get done?


I know poor me.

Kim I hope you feel better. Maybe you should play hooky one day when you are better - a nice sunny day - and get in a good ride. Call it a mental health day.

V.

[MightyMitre]

People coming to work sick. Oh yes- that's been a pet peeve of mine for a few years now. Being stuck in an overheated, unventilated office is bad enough but with people bravely struggling on sick seriously annoys me.

Why don't they make it policy that anyone who has a cough or cold should stay at home from the start and not come back till they're totally better. Ok - so you might get a few people pulling a fast one, but when you consider an office of maybe 50 people, all getting sick, all dropping in productivity and quality of work, it must cost companies millions.

Veronica - you have my sympathy being stuck in a classroom full of sicky kids. When you started out teaching did you find you caugh everything going? My aunt who's a teacher found that after a few years she started to get immune to most things and only got struck by the real lurgies.

[Veronica]

I don't catch too much of anything fortunately. Lots of handwashing and I'm pretty blunt with my class - they're 10 and 11year olds - and if they're sneezing and coughing and not being hygenic about it, they get a lesson in how not to spread germs.

I actually think exercise somehow keeps bugs from getting a real firm hold on me too. Maybe they don't like the elevated body temp or the increased blood flow.

I do think teachers build up some immunities as well. You get exposed to so much.

V.

[maryellen]

Veronica, I am a firm believer in the "burn it out" theory. I routinely do hard cardio (gym or bike)--I'll be perspiring profusely for an hour. I've been doing this for years and rarely get colds or sore throats, so I assume that my core body temperature rises enough to burn the bugs out.

Someone did a study claiming that people can't raise their body temperature sufficiently high via exercise to kill bugs, but I don't care, I'm still a believer. The study subjects were probably not working out hard enough!!!

[Trek420]

Dogmama rants..."We get sick time. Why can't people use their sick time? Nobody laid on their death bed wondering what was in their in-box. Makes me absolutely crazy. That, and people who come to the gym sick. Coughing up a lung. Stay home!"

We don't get sick time at my job, if I'm sick I call in sick I'm paid, if i do it often enough according to an elaborate formula hidden in a cave in the Himalyas guarded by a Yetti I'm fired. I have near perfect attendance, the only time I've called in sick was when my ex (at that time current) insisted I see a Dr. cause I fell 15' off a bike trail (I was fine) ;-)

So it bugs me no end that this weekend when rain was predicted but it turned out nice I could barely walk the dog, took my weekend as a sick day.

So I second and third watching diet, cycling etc. But I catch the colds folks bring in because THEY are on final warning and cant take a day off.

I think the co. should make an exception to the attendance policy during flu season other than e-mails reminding us to wash our hands but I'm just a cog there.

[CorsairMac]

the other problem is some companies require a drs pass if you take more than 2 days off and I won't go see a dr just for a cold and most colds last 3-7 days sometimes 14. I agree with the not coming to work sick but some places - staying home is even more of a hassle at work. I also truly believe that we as a society have focused So Much on anti-bacterial products that we've actually weakened our bodies ability to fit off "lurgies" (love that word!). I do agree that eating right etc etc which we all pretty much seem to do and taking B vitamins to keep my immune system up has worked for me in the past - but each year with me is a crap shoot as far as winter and bronchial asthma! (climbs down off soapbox)

[SadieKate]

Originally posted by Trek420
when my ex (at that time current) insisted I see a Dr. cause I fell 15' off a bike trail (I was fine) ;-)

Sometimes I think our falls are harder on our partners than ourselves. Back a few years when hubby had just pulled me back up a cliff, he said "I'm only 51, but you're making me feel like 101."

[MightyMitre]

Interesting point about sick leave. Over here you only have to get a doctors cert. if you're off work for 5 consecutive days. Most places pay you if you're off sick, but not all places - sometimes you have to be off more than 3 days before you get statutory sick pay, which is another reason people come into work when they're ill. They can't afford the time off.

About building up immunity - one winter I drove to work every day sealed in my nice warm car, but the following winter I got the train every day. Turns out the year i drove I got more coughs and colds than the year I trained. Mixing with lots of potenial 'lurgies' on the train seemed to build up my immunity.

[Trek420]

only slightly OT...anyone know when the solstice is and we can start celebrating longer days?

[Dogmama]

December 21

[Trek420]

thanks! only 10 shopping days till Solstice

[bentforlife]

Veronica, I know what you mean. Parents need to keep their sick kids home!!! I'm a school nurse so Flu bugs and stomach virus come through my door every day. I love it when I ask the kids if they were sick last night or this morning and they say Yes. Then when asked why they are at school, it's because parents did not want to miss work to take care of their sick kids. So let's just give it to every one in school. What do these working parents do with their kids during winter break?!?

FOUR MORE DAYS and blessed relief for a while. Don't get me wrong, I love being a school nurse but there are days.....

Everyone have a merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year.

Donna

[mtbstarr]

Speaking for latch-key kids everywhere, most of them really don't have a choice. I was on food stamps and second hand clothing when I was growing up. Two brothers and two sisters. If my parents missed a day we went hungry, literally. The place we got fed and cared for most reliably was at school. Most of the time if we were sick enough to stay home, it was alone. Occassionally if it was the bad flu or chickenpox we had a parent home.

I didn't mean to soapbox this issue. Just defending those who can. I am not in any way bitter for the way I grew up. If anything, it made me on hell of a strong woman

[Veronica]

I was also a food stamp, latch key kid. I have a couple of those. And it's not the kids I get annoyed with when they are sent to school sick.

Generally the area I teach in is a little more affluent than that - I have a lot of dual income familes with long commutes to jobs where they could take a day off with pay - if it was convenient.

V.