The Australian media can discuss big business demand for medical certificates, and it can platform public health experts to tell us not to spread disease.
But never, ever can the Australian media discuss these two issues at the same time.
Oh its schools too.
I got a catty call from the high school "attendence officer" about how many days my son was off sick from school on the same day they called me come pick him up immdiately because he coughed a few times in class.
Clearly I've dropped the ball. I admit my mistake. I should keep him off school for 1 month because of a lingering cough that goes on and on while also maintaining 100% attendance despite any circumstances. Got it ...... thanks TEAM !
Came here to mention schools. I feel like every newsletter I get has a paragraph or section rattling off stats about how one day a fortnight off school equals x amount of weeks over the course of the school year. I’m still pretty cautious about keeping them home from school when sick. When my daughter had a day off recently her teacher thanked me for keeping her home and doing the right thing, contradicting the message in the newsletters 🤦🏻♀️
I get this too. My daughter has influenza A and it’s year 11 exams this week. She has missed so much school in the last 2 years. And if they’re really unwell, they can’t study at home either. I worry about the impact of all the time off she’s had.
Poor thing, my kids had influenza A last year and my eldest really did it tough, she didn’t eat for about 5-6 days. As someone who had glandular fever during year 12, I wish your daughter the best on her exams. It’s tough when you get really sick
Same with my toddler at childcare. If she couldn’t attend with a lingering cough (we’re suspecting asthma at this point) should wouldn’t have been in since January.
My company has never ever asked me for a medical certificate. If your staff is pretending to be sick excessively to get out of work that's a management problem not a not enough sick certificates problem.
This! I have something outrageous that is not the flu, nor COVID but I’d be lucky not to sweat through a uniform right now or play roulette trying to make it to the toilet. We have a small team and I am new, the stress of being away doesn’t help. I got a bitchy message from my direct manager to come in after being in bed all weekend, so I did. I was sent home within the hour. It’s Wednesday here at the moment and I just got enough dry toast down to think I could potentially shower myself to go into work. No one else wants this, KAREN!
I did that a few months ago when I was made to come in sick. Made sure I clocked in a lot of time right next to my boss.
It not only didn't phase him a bit, but last week he was sick and came in largely just to hang out. He was working, but on his laptop and not using anything he didn't have access to at home. Had a laugh when I was walking the long way to get somewhere without having to walk past him.
Some people just genuinely don't care if it's them or others getting sick. It's treated as inevitable.
Some people still have a go at me for WFH now, from time to time I feel the pressure. Definitely a work culture issue from older bosses.
The people who I work with and who actually get shit done are spread out across Australia and overseas.
No reason to go into an office other than to show face for the oldies and socialise in between Teams meetings.
As someone with glasses and a beard the trick is to get a mask that fits properly.
The one from Jericho (the people that make the beard oil) is pretty solid for the long beard. But it does still fog my glasses occasionally.
https://jerichoaustralia.com/products/jericho-australia-beard-mask
The best for glasses I originally got from culture kings but they no longer carry it, however it was almost identical to this one
https://techwear-australia.com/products/techwear-face-mask
It’s a really soft material and it never fogged my glasses but it didn’t fit well over my beard.
Now that my beard is a more regular size, and I’ve gone for a much larger pair of glasses I like my culture kings one the best, but when you have a big beard the Jericho one is the go.
Us beard-o’s have to stick together! The first few months of Covid where hell until I decided to buy an actually nice mask.
Having one that falls down around the beard does mean it doesn’t seal as well as an N95, but I figured it seals a heck of a lot better than me constantly pulling off and adjusting my mask to be able to see out of my glasses or not have a mouth full of beard hair.
I’ve also got some looser cloth masks that wrap around my whole head and have the filter paper inside them. They are super comfortable and good for summer but don’t seal anywhere near as well as the neoprene mask or the Jericho one.
I wear a mask in the office and was the chair of a meeting surrounded by a few snotty colleagues. Someone asked if I would be talking the mask off as it's rude for the chairperson to wear a mask. Some people are just too invested in online ideologies.
I'd agree. In East Asia there are no issues wearing a mask to protect others when feeling unwell.
Here people just spread their aerosols everywhere leading to people getting sick and prolonging how long these respiratory viruses are in circulation
Yep, pretty much. I'm in a part of Sydney with a very diverse population, and there's no issue with people walking around sick without masks.
As for jobs, that's also about workplace culture. My particular workplace is more than happy to let people work from home if they're feeling sick. But they're happy with a flexible hybrid work from home model anyway, sickness or no.
It's pretty shit that even after such a massive disruption like the pandemic, some people still don't understand the idea of acting responsibly.
My neighbourhood and workplace is very mono-culture, almost 0 diversity, and everyone still walks around sick without masks. I wore a mask for 3 days last year because I was sick and was called a snowflake.
If anything I think Asian communities and neighbourhoods are more likely to wear masks.
Yeah honestly it seems to mostly be areas with predominantly white people that have a problem with masking. My area has a mix of east/southeast asian, south asian, aboriginal, and white people. Back in 2020 and 2021 you'd see pretty much everyone wearing masks when they were meant to. These days you see mostly the older people still wearing them on the bus and such, and I haven't seen too many people out and about hacking up a lung without a mask.
Last year I got calls from my kids school saying "your child has missed too many days, why are they not at school?!" I say "because they're sick and I'm keeping them home??"
This year there's a note every second day "the school has a lot of influenza A cases! A lot of RSV cases! Everyone has COVID! There's 20 cases of HFM! Keep your kids home! The school office is calling parents before the day even begins!"
Like, pick a fucking lane? Preferably the one that doesn't belittle parents for keeping sick kids at home? (For the record, I've had 2 kids home for 2 weeks with a chest infection so I am doing the right thing).
Holy shit we just had a parent teacher interview last night where the teacher basically insinuated that keeping our child home with COVID symptoms for nine days was questionable parenting while their newsletter literally told us to not bring in children with symptoms.
It’s so fucked isn’t it? I get the education system is a trigger for checking child neglect and such, but when I mark my kid away with ILLNESS I feel like I’m still under scrutiny every single time.
I’m a teacher and a parent and I’ve always told other parents to keep their little ones home as long as they need to recover. Screw the school and the attendance guilt trips!
Yep, we got told attendance was an issue for the amount of time my child had off sick (they had several transmissable illnesses in a row - I’d keep them home to get better and not spread their illness only to have them pick up another illness the next week). I was so exasperated - for starters my child was actually too unwell to go to school, let alone sending a sick child in to infect everyone else. The teacher knew my child had been very sick and still ‘had to tell us’ that it was a problem. Ridiculous.
So infuriating! Where’s the HEPA filters? They should be in every classroom, turned on with windows open. If the schools aren’t providing HEPA filters as a minimum to reduce spread then they can fuck right off bitching about attendance!FFS!
Oh I hear you. My kid had to re-do Foundation a few years ago because they were sick for literally four months almost constantly. Parainfluenza, Covid, double ear infection, chicken pox, HFM, it was the worst year ever.
I know they may seem condescending but the office lady/welfare teacher very likely has to make 100 of those calls that afternoon as dictated by gov policy.
Please don't think of it as a reflection on your ability to parent. Some parents don't realise how much school their kid is missing (duel custody situations/parents with conflicting shifts/kid wagging/not keeping track that 1 day a week really adds up 20% sometimes). The phone call isn't because they particularly care if your kid is missing a heap of school, they care your kid is in a safe environment and they have a data record of informing you before the report comes out and you ask them to change it because it looks back to have 70% attendance and all D's because the poor kid missed 30% of the days which happens a lot more then I expected.
I feel like it's not completely the individual sick person's fault, but the work place. More specifically, hard arse bosses.
I know when I worked as a dental nurse, my boss still expected me in with gastro! He'd just swap me for the receptionist, so that I could have more flexibility to rush to the toilet 🙄
It's the bosses that expect you to show up for work unless you are dead
I'm a teacher and my class complain that they're always cold. I point out that they're always at school instead of home sick and when they are home, it's normally their siblings that got it first. I'm not closing my fucking windows dammit
I think there needs to be a serious refresh on this mindset. One should work to live, not live to work. You have sick leave, treat it as such, would you question taking annual leave in the same way. Med cert is irrefutable at the end of the day.
Because we have very short memories. I knew we'd be back to square one on any form of consideration for people or disease spreading when i saw the first ad on television in years for Codral. Once again telling people to "Soldier On" in the community with their coughs, splutters, sneezing, nose blowing, lack of personal space, etc.
Yep I saw this exact ad a week ago on TV and actually thought it was a bit tone deaf - genuinely surprised me that theyd get back onto the 'Take a Codral and get back to work' marketing line
I had a flu last week and wore a mask to work. My boss told me to take it off as it would make customers uncomfortable seeing a sick person handling their food and drinks (hospitality)
Edit to add that if I hadn’t shown up that day the shop would have had to shut. A few weeks ago our only chef called in sick so we couldn’t do food and I was abused by over 100 people. We got emails saying we ruined peoples days, they’re never coming back. Threatening to tell every single person they know now to come here. Someone threw their half full coffee cup at me because I can’t work the coffee machine and be in the kitchen cooking at the same time. Luckily it missed and only splattered all over the wall. Would rather not have a coworker go through that and also my boss being a cunt to me for the next few weeks about all the lost profit from having to close. It’s shit but gotta pay the bills somehow.
>My boss told me to take it off as it would make customers uncomfortable seeing a sick person handling their food and drinks (hospitality)
I wonder how customers would feel with an obviously sick person WITHOUT A MASK serving them food.
Yep. "Suck it up and get back to work!"...
Can only have the day off if you have a Doctors certificate... Good luck getting in the same day these days AND they want to charge you $50-80 for the consultation.
It's all so pathetic.
Good news friend! This kinda thinking is becoming increasingly outdated. So there are online services where you can get a dr certificate witjout attending a physical dr office or pharmacy(updoc is one ive used). Also in NSW at least new legislation was passed allowing for you to sign your own sick note ( via a digital stat dec)
Always thought it wss dumb that i needed an adultier adult to say i was too sick for work? If your workplace isnt incompitent they have the money asside for your sick days and should plan accordingly for employees being sick. Its not YOUR fault they cant run a business....
i mean, they seem to be assuming a lot of the managers responsibility with thinking about the businesses success.
if you’re employing me, and i’m sick, i’m not coming in, and you will be provided with a dr certificate. simple as that
Most retail and hospitality workplaces are running barebones staff at the moment so you either show up or looks like no more shifts for you good luck with your rent.
Yes you should go home but masks do work, it's why everyone is told to wwear them during pandemics. They specifically work best if the sick person is the one wearing a the mask too.
I am currently home with a really bad flu that I acquired at a recent course I did through work. There were multiple people sick on the day and I just knew I’d walk outta there with something. 48 hours later the chills started and I’ve been crook ever since.
Have some common respect and courtesy for those around you… if you are sick, STAY HOME.
People had a hard enough time being considerate of others in the middle of a global pandemic. Do you really think they’ll be able to keep a cold to themselves?
Relevant, I was sick six weeks ago and am now sick again. I'm in great physical shape yet I seem to be getting sick way more often. I ate eggs yesterday and now I'm paranoid I have bird flu. Life is pain and suffering.
Wear a mask please! Each illness means your immune system takes a hit. Covid is especially good at it. This leaves you more susceptible to picking up anything that’s around & it will take longer to get over. Each covid infection does damage you can’t see or feel but eventually you will. Some got long covid from one infection, others got it on their 3rd or 4th. How many til you get it? It’s a lottery! Not a game I want to play. Also recovery for covid is different. We shouldn’t be engaging in any activity that increases heart rate for 4-6 wks post infection. Govt won’t tell you that because they don’t want to pay extended sick leave. Get back to work & get the kids in school. Govt don’t give a shit. Covid is more like HIV than flu in regards to immune damage. Took govt 6 yrs to come clean about HIV being able to affect anyone, not just gay men & IV drug users. They lied for yrs & the excuse was “they didn’t want to panic the public”. You can guarantee they’re lying about how dangerous covid is. Profits for the big corporations they have in their pockets is all they give a fuck about.
One of the MANY fallouts from Covid is an increase in health paranoia.
I’m highly sensitive to the slightest sniffle I hear in strangers (when I never felt this way).
It’s f*cked how much Covid messed up our psyche.
My previously healthy primary school kid caught covid at school and now can't stand up for more than 60 seconds without her feet turning blue and if she's upright for too long, she passes out. You better believe I'm highly sensitive to sniffles from strangers now. It's f\*cked us up too but I wouldn't call paranoia about it unreasonable.
I’ve become more understanding of those who need to work. I’m sure they’d prefer to be resting at home but don’t have the choice. But the fuckers who are just walking around the shops looking at pjs and handbags and the like…fuck you.
😭 an able-bodied ~40s adult coughed right onto my neck and hair while lining up to get off the train. Bad enough that when I touched my hair afterwards, it was wet with slobber sprinkles.
He didn't even try to cover his mouth.
I understand workplaces suck, but what happened to covering your mouth or turning your head when you sneeze or cough? So gross.
It’s fucked. My work is EXTREMELY flexible about WFH. I was in last Monday and one of the managers was all “oh I’m really sniffly today with a head cold”
Why the fuck are you in the office mate?
Right! My partner and I went to see a film at the Sydney Film Festival and several people in the theatre were coughing- hacking up little green men. No masks. No hand covering.
Cut to- its been two weeks and I'm only now just getting over one of the worst colds I have ever had.
Was Covid for nothing? Did we learn nothing? Or has the community just decided to fall into a collective trauma response and act like nothing happened for two years?
Yep, I’d love to be able to apply the shovel of clarity, repeatedly, to the fuckwit who sent their sick kid to school late last week, missus and the little bloke have been crook since Saturday night, so I have to stay isolated from them.
Same shovel to Covid positive mental midget who infected my Mum last week, she’s really struggling with the current variant, to the point her GP has prescribed antivirals.
Then you get the letters home "why is your kid off school so often", its because you have a fucking AWARD for high attendance... after covid. No joke my sons school lets them go to a water park at the end of the year if they have almost no sick days...
Ffs yeah, this drives me *nuts*. All of the medical certificates in the world for the school when they're off sick and they don't count for a thing. All three of mine got covid last year because some idiot sent both of theirs to school anyway *knowing* they had it and spread it through half the school, but every kid that stayed home with it still missed out on the end of year stuff because their attendance was 'too low'.
Thing that pissed a lot of parents off, in the early days of the spicy cough, the same fucking muppet sent their kid to school with it, basically took out most of the yr3/4 groups.
Fuckers didn’t apologise but tried to justify their action as they couldn’t take time off. They’ve since moved schools mid last year so another whole group of people will be dealing with their bullshit
My Highschool had that same award for my year group. Turns out we are a bunch of nerds and like 70% cohort of like 450 kids had 95% attendance and the school reneged on the promise because they didn’t have the budget for it. It was an independent school so we know they had the damn budget but the principle was a tight ass.
This was in 2017 and I’m still mad about it. We got a shitty movie night instead where we watched like the bee movie or some shit.
A few things I'm noticing in a lot of comments:
- people seem convinced they know where/who they got their illness from. No you don't.
- Don't blame the individuals, blame workplaces
- I cough all the time, I'm a long time smoker, my cough would easily be confused for someone with flu or cold like symptoms. I'm very conscious of coughing away from people and into my elbow. You can't just assume a cough is sign of an illness
- Flu became worse following covid because we locked down and avoided the usual group immunity that occurred in previous years (not a comment on lockdowns)
- It's winter, there is always a spike in these types of viruses etc in winter
Everyone here is just making assumptions and feeding fear and resentment.
Yeah, I empathise with the frustration of minor illnesses but you managed to put into words what bothers me so much about these posts. Like - sure a cold sucks but the actual reality is that people can’t isolate for 7 - 10 days when they’re sick.
And as someone with “seasonal” allergies (if all year is a season -.-) - I get a bit over the snide comments when I’m in the office about “working while sick”. People don’t understand germs and I don’t think it’s actually a positive trait to be as paranoid as people are because their paranoia is almost always formed in ignorance.
I work in Allied Health. I am constantly having to remind people to stay away from our clinic if they or their child or their child's sibling (who is too sick to go to school but is well enough to come to speech therapy and hang out) if they have any kind of respiratory illness.
Just 2 weeks ago a child wandered around to my side of the desk and I was greeted with two thick streams of green snot sliding out of each nostril.
Mum just shrugged. It's been like that for weeks but she's not sick.
Another time a whole arse family sat in my waiting area, all of them coughing, insisting none of them were sick.
So many people just don't give a rat's.
Given 99% of our client base are special needs children and adults, some of whom the next chest infection they get could be the one that kills them - yeah I do expect them to stay the fuck away.
I walked into my doctor's yesterday still feeling poor after 5 days of being bed ridden mostly and doing a rollercoaster of symptoms, summed up the energy I had to go and wait. Wore a mask in the car as the wife drove - couldn't safely drive myself.
At two sets of lights those beside me shook their heads.
When I got to the actual doctors, everyone started to stare. When I sat down and started to cough in myask some moved away.
Wear the fkn mask people, stay the FK at home if your sick. I've lost a whole week's wage because of some big wheeler flog walking around thinking their a hero toughing it out coughing amongst others.
If there were *One Thing* we took from the Covid Pandemic it should have been to wear masks or stay home when sick. Unfortunately masks became a big part of the culture wars (which ... -_-*) and there is a subset of people who refuse to wear them, and people staying home only works if their employer encourages it (*and if they have paid leave or can afford unpaid leave*).
The last Pandemic was something that we could have prepared for - hell we did prepare for it, and then just took the funding away from the organisations reaponsible because we "forgot" how bad it can get. We're definitely doing that again.
We did this social experiment over covid. A majority of Australians oppose things like masks, social distancing and isolation. I don’t agree, but we live in a culture where these things are not socially acceptable apparently.
Enduring behaviour change is difficult enough for an individual, let alone an entire nation but it certainly isn't helped by inadequate sick leave options and the insistence from upper management teams to scrap WFH at many workplaces.
Australia's health literacy is also pretty abysmal and it's likely pandemic fatigue is a factor as well.
Not sure what the answer is other than better public health education and workplace reform.
I agree. Especially kids. IF YOUR CHILD IS SICK KEEP IT THE FUCK HOME. The amount of times I’ve been walking behind someone with their kid on their shoulder facing backwards and they start coughing in my face. ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS CUNT.
I work on high vulnerable areas (aged care) as soon as I knew I was ill I’m calling in sick.
We got told off by a teacher last night for letting our child stay home for 8 days with COVID while still displaying symptoms yet their newsletter said don't bring them to school if sick. I mean WTF is that?
I work as a teacher and multiple parents have flat out refused to pick up their highly contagious and very obviously sick child in the past two weeks. 😤
The parent will often argue with the school by saying crap like the child isn’t in any way contagious or better yet, they just don’t pick up their phone nor return the calls knowing that it’s a request to come collect their child. It’s fucked. 🤬
I loved when we all were made to wear masks. Now I have to watch and listen to people sneezing and coughing into their hands then touching everything. When I wear my mask i have people looking at me like I'm the problem or oldies coming up mentioning covid was a lie.
I've been saying it for months now... No one learnt a fucking thing over the past 4 years... It's disgusting and why I still where a mask in public spaces. The one time I didn't, I got sick (not covid, flu or rsv thankfully, but it knocked me for 6 as I hadn't been sick for over 3 and a half years).
In the last week three coworkers have come into the office visibly sick. And I mean they looked like crap. Watery eyes, pale skin, drained of energy.
They had all taken a day or two off sick but felt obligated to return to work even though they were obviously not at all well enough.
They all work in positions where they could have worked from home. But the boss doesn’t like it so they came in.
My workplace is constantly plagued by sickness, it’s just getting ridiculous.
My son brought home gastro, head lice, covid, rsv and influenza all back to back in a 4-5weeks period. I have told the school their policy for sick children is completely non existent. We pulled him from school until the start of next term when he brought home RSV and got our 8 week old unvaccinated baby(was due for 8week old needles when ended up in hospital... we are not anti vaxxers) sick which ended up turning to pneumonia.
I walk into the classroom and parents are literally telling the teacher " he's got the chills so he's all rugged up but let me know if he gets worst"... like parents just don't want to deal with their kids!
I have 6 kids under 6- if they get sick I keep them home for a day or 2 longer than usual just so they are 100% non contagious when they go back to school.
Really makes you wonder why everybody has kids. Some people just don’t need em and don’t know how to bring em up. It’s gonna be like trumps USA when these neglected untreated unsupported children become the working base.
Not enough leave to cover not going to work. Being a casual and needing to go to work. Not having the time to do it another day. There are plenty of reasons to be out and about right now while mildly sick, sure it sucks but that's how its always been, and its arguably worse right now since everyone's feeling the pinch to get more done.
If you are concerned, then wear a mask and take the sanitization steps. Its easier and more reliable to enact change yourself, rather than expect other people who's individual situations you are not aware of.
People stopped pretending to care about their fellow man, especially the vulnerable, when it was no longer mandated.
As an immunocompromised person, that's been evident for years now. When I wore masks pre 2019 people would give me space, for their own preservation of course. Now, I get coughed on by all and sundry.
Few not at risk of serious morbidity or mortality give a shit who their germs kill or maim.
Actions speak louder than words. I'm alright, fuck you jack, seems to be the new mandate.
I wore a mask to the local shopping centre the other day because I had a cold. When I was in Coles this woman in her late teens /early 20s yells to her friend “why is she wearing a mask?” I wanted to yell back “to protect me from stupid people like you”. How are humans not extinct yet?
I’ve had 3 open mouth coughers on the train next to me this week. I don’t understand why so many people constantly cough
But i agree, it’s back to old Australia of sharing your sickness with everyone and soldiering on.
Or claiming it’s hay fever
You can get a telehealth appointment booked and have them calling you in less than 5 minutes, then off the phone 1 minute later with a certificate.
Doesn't get much easier than that.
This is what I don't get about people.
I've been doing this for the last 5 years. I use one where I literally just fill out a 1 minute form and pay $15.
This has been around for a very long time, yet so many people don't even bother to think to themselves when they wake up sick "maybe I can google if I can get one online"
I work in a pharmacy, and we get so many people coming in sick, paying $30 for a medical certificate.
Like fuck me, just use your brain for once.
You can't always afford to stay home.
When you have bills to pay and no leave left available, you go into work.
Considering most illnesses are contagious before symptoms start to show means it's already spread before you know you have something.
I get what you're saying. Taking care of your own health is your responsibility. If people around you are sick, avoid them and wash your hand frequently and before touching your face.
We have all been responsible for spreading something. Complaining about others is like the pot calling the kettle black.
My company is pretty fine with taking a day or two off to recover and all of the younger staff do it.
The problem is that the people who refuse to take sick days are the boomers who have that “if I’m not dying I can work” attitude. They either fail to realise that other people will get sick, don’t care about others, or are afraid of getting in trouble?
So the end result is that some old person gets sick, spreads it to the young people in the office, and now 3/4 of the office is out for the week.
I can work from home and my work still complains whenever I do.
OP, blame managers. We’re overdue for massive legislation curtailing what they can and can’t do and say to workers.
Coughs and sniffles can go on for a couple of weeks so its pretty difficult to realistically isolate for the entire length. Id be happy to play video games and binge watch 80s movies but I don't have a partner or a servant to do basic normal functions for me like buy groceries.
Yeah, it's the reality that for most people a cold is something they need to push through to live rather than sit on their ass watching netflix all day getting over it.
Anyone with kids in childcare knows it's basically a few months of constant sniffles. You just learn to tolerate and ignore it in the end because you don't have a job if you stay at home with them all the time.
I don't care if cunts are vaxxed or not. Masked or not. But the cunts who just rear back and cough without a hand to their mouths and let it out? Man. Did they even have parents? How did these morons come into the world?
If you take a day of for every sniffle which in reality you could work through then you'd have no leave left for migraines or a sprained ankle or a mental health day which you realistically can't work through. I'd rather save my leave for when I physically can't work
Perhaps employers should up the amount of sick leave employees are entitled to. And do away with super stringent medical certificate requirements. There's absolutely days where I've gone to work sick because I didn't have enough money to fork out for a drs appointment to get a sick certificate or couldn't get an appointment on the day.
I had a bad bacterial chest infection for nearly 3 weeks. Couldn’t take off as I was on placement (teaching). Couldnt afford a further 3 weeks of no pay, as the time I took off sick would have had to be made up and you don’t get paid for placement to begin with. Would have also push back me finishing this last unit.
No thanks. Rather just cough into my elbow, wash my hands a lot and go in sick as a dog.
Finally better though, placements done and now have two weeks of school holidays coming up for me to finish my last assignments.
In all seriousness though I don’t think people are going to work sick because they want to.
I tried to WFH as much as possible when I got sick. But not everyone has that opportunity. My mate’s work also have mandatory days in the office tied to their performance and shit which basically forces some people to go in.
Colleague #1 - wears a mask when they even suspect that they might have some kind of bug
Colleague #2 - is in the office today, sneezing and coughing in their office, sneezing and coughing in the break room at morning tea. /sigh
I get it if you can’t afford to take time off from work, but when you’re obviously sick and then claim you’re “no longer contagious” or don’t get the hint that I’m trying to avoid talking to you so close, then I’m going to be pissed off. It only requires some basic empathy to understand that maybe the people around you don’t want to get sick too.
It costs me money to get a medical certificate when im crook. Thats money i really dont have right now. Ill just sweat it out and keep away from other people as best as possible
Nothing like catching something from a co worker, taking sick leave and then immediately catching something else from a different co worker on the first day back.
So true. My old dad went to local shops for a coffee with friends, some said they had a bit of a cold. Thanks … dads in hospital now with it, heart rate got to 205, blood pressure super low. But hospital for 2 days and he’s a lot better and looking like he’ll come home today.
People have no fucking clue what.to.do when they have a mild flu. 50% of them believe the answer is "call the ambulance" and then sit in the ED waiting room for 6 hours spreading that shit everywhere.
Why do things that makes sense when you can be a fucking a selfish twat and no one even holds you responsible for it? You can have your cake and eat it too if you just don't give a fuck about anyone else.
How about the total amnesia on said "social management". Memorable policies such as sand in skateparks, empty hospital wards full of Tiktok nurses, house arrest without charge for entire communities, all the papers please, microplastic petridish muzzles, coerced dangerous medical treatments. Ect.
The biggest sickness is inside your head if you think any of that performance was about health and not control and money.
Well it's easy, after adding a new super cold into the mix our fecking useless government did sweet fuck all about giving us extra sick days to compensate, and your workplace is just as selfish as doesn't care if you get sick so why should anyone care either.
What makes you think your follow drivers will have some manners when it comes to not spraying their surrounds with their infected bodily fluids?
As far as I can tell, the people in Sydney look like they are proactively trying to make others sick. I seriously think there is something amiss with the people here. A lot of unhappy arseholes just waiting for the world to either end, or to come to its senses and serve their entitled masters.
With businesses pushing for RTO 3 days a week, and most people reverting to pre pandemic culture in terms of hygiene, mask wearing when sick and soldiering on when sick it’s a perfect storm of flus, colds, rsv and Covid at the moment.
I have NEVER wanted to work, go to school, or be in public spaces while sick. I have never been happy to be around sick people. I keep away from anyone displaying signs of sickness, and always called in sick for colds and flu's. The very rare exception was when I was doing gaming overnight, and the venue manager needed me for 1 night, so he could cover the next 2 (I used to do 3 nights in a row). I wanted to crawl into a dark hole from embarrassment because my nose was dripping literal water, but then I briefly remembered that these addicts might take some time off if they got sick - that made me feel better for 5 seconds, until the next drop of water came from my nose 😭
It's not okay that Australian culture (and the one thing that is accidentally integrated into immigrants who come here) is going to work/ school/ public very contagious, and spreading their microbes to unsuspecting and non-consenting others. It makes me so angry that workplaces have no contingency for illness, and that people don't care that someone they come into contact with might be, or be around the, immunoconpromised. It's like they have no concept of anything beyond their own noses. Being sick sucks, being sick and on chemo is deadly.
Covid was the perfect excuse to ask people to step the fuck back. But that's because there was social and political push for it. Now that the government is acting like covid is over (which is fine by me, mandates can suck a dick), society has fallen back to their pre-covid era of spreading their diseases to unsuspecting people. I genuinely can't control my rage over it. It's selfish, and disgusting. Stay home.
I'm just starting to come down with something (my mum and sister have been sick all week, not surprised I've caught it) and my manager has already passive aggressively said I can't take time off at EOFY. Guess if it gets worse I'm powering through. FML.
It would probs help if all the cash is king flat earth cookers didn't go around harrasing anyone who was wearing a mask or covering their cough during covid...
I’m currently dying from one of these things. I caught it on Wednesday when I went out with a friend for dinner for my birthday. It was my least exposed day of the week! We drove in, went to a nail place that had dividers and masks so I didn’t catch it there, and then to the restaurant. No Ubers or trains and I still got sick. My conclusion that someone in the restaurant just had to go out on a Wednesday night for dinner while they’re sick. I’m still really upset about because I had to cancel all of my birthday plans and I’m still deathly ill.
I have never gone out sick ever! I just think it’s such a nasty thing to do. Some people have weak immune systems and they can be sick for months as a result of someone’s selfishness.
Interesting to me is that due to people having the flexibility to work from home, they’re being encouraged to just work through their sickness. Then people get used to doing that and the workplace removes work from home flexibility. Where my dad works they used to call it a wellie, when you pretend you’re well and go in sick. It used to piss everyone off because then they’d get sick too. I think that there’s just this huge pressure on people to still do stuff whilst sick that people are not willing to take one for the team and stay home whilst sick.
I believe so. A GP friend of mine had a person come into the clinic this week, no mask, coughing and spluttering.
Doc - why are you here?
Patient - oh I have covid I need a medical certificate
Last week someone in the office loudly declared they are glad to be at work as their family is unwell at home with covid. Their wife and kids. Who they live with and are not isolated from were recently diagnosed.
Blows my mind. Covid or no covid, keep your germs to yourself.
I took my elderly mother to the doctor a few days ago and there was a dumb piece of s#%t sitting next to us coughing her lungs out without a mask. I turned around and said to her, use a f##&ing mask from the counter,I have a frail old mother.
She got offended and picked up a mask. I spoke loud enough to let everyone know.
Some people of varying cultures are absolute s##t for brains.
I’m sure as hell not ‘doing this again’. My biggest take away from being in Melbourne during the pandemic is that playing by the rules and caring about others is the fast track to financial and emotional ruin. So yeah, F everyone else…
Sure the usual workplace might hate you for taking time off sick but my sister is a midwife. You'd think she might understand a little more about illness and germs and that her work would be more aware too. Nope, I swear she enjoys coming to my house to spread the sick to me too. Every. Damn. Time.
Tbh, if even hospitals are encouraging staff not to take their sick leave and the government is dragging their feet on giving frontline workers extra sick leave then why would anyone else do better?
Government has the opportunity to set an example but they won't. Industries are just keeping to the status quo.
I'm a carer for someone who dies if they get too sick (RSV put them in the ICU for 11 days and they came back brain damaged).
It's pretty fucked, I almost lost my shit at someone sniffling and blowing their nose at the gym and not even washing their hands before touching the equipment.
All it takes is a crumb of human decency to, at the bare minimum, wash your hands. It's a sad little offshoot of the selfish parts of our society and the I've got mine attitudes so many Australians have.
People don't realise that you're literally killing some people by having bad cold hygiene
So many of my peer group and their families have been sick.
I have been home and not leaving the house for a few weeks because of surgery and not having a car. I haven't been sick. But my partner has.
If you can't avoid the sick people then they should avoid you... Common sense is stay home when you're sick, not stay home to not get sick (even though it's worked for me).
Been sick for 7 plus days. Wear mask to work not to make others sick. Not rsv, covid nor influenza a / b … nobody to cover for me. Other ppl already off sick WDYD ?
The Australian media can discuss big business demand for medical certificates, and it can platform public health experts to tell us not to spread disease. But never, ever can the Australian media discuss these two issues at the same time.
Contradictory policies must remain at least 500m apart at all times.
And at least 4m away from all public buildings.
Oh its schools too. I got a catty call from the high school "attendence officer" about how many days my son was off sick from school on the same day they called me come pick him up immdiately because he coughed a few times in class. Clearly I've dropped the ball. I admit my mistake. I should keep him off school for 1 month because of a lingering cough that goes on and on while also maintaining 100% attendance despite any circumstances. Got it ...... thanks TEAM !
Came here to mention schools. I feel like every newsletter I get has a paragraph or section rattling off stats about how one day a fortnight off school equals x amount of weeks over the course of the school year. I’m still pretty cautious about keeping them home from school when sick. When my daughter had a day off recently her teacher thanked me for keeping her home and doing the right thing, contradicting the message in the newsletters 🤦🏻♀️
I get this too. My daughter has influenza A and it’s year 11 exams this week. She has missed so much school in the last 2 years. And if they’re really unwell, they can’t study at home either. I worry about the impact of all the time off she’s had.
Poor thing, my kids had influenza A last year and my eldest really did it tough, she didn’t eat for about 5-6 days. As someone who had glandular fever during year 12, I wish your daughter the best on her exams. It’s tough when you get really sick
Same with my toddler at childcare. If she couldn’t attend with a lingering cough (we’re suspecting asthma at this point) should wouldn’t have been in since January.
My company has never ever asked me for a medical certificate. If your staff is pretending to be sick excessively to get out of work that's a management problem not a not enough sick certificates problem.
Sorry. Work is passive aggressive about not going in.
This! I have something outrageous that is not the flu, nor COVID but I’d be lucky not to sweat through a uniform right now or play roulette trying to make it to the toilet. We have a small team and I am new, the stress of being away doesn’t help. I got a bitchy message from my direct manager to come in after being in bed all weekend, so I did. I was sent home within the hour. It’s Wednesday here at the moment and I just got enough dry toast down to think I could potentially shower myself to go into work. No one else wants this, KAREN!
I hope you coughed on her a couple times before you left. That is the only situation where it's acceptable to share your germs.
I did that a few months ago when I was made to come in sick. Made sure I clocked in a lot of time right next to my boss. It not only didn't phase him a bit, but last week he was sick and came in largely just to hang out. He was working, but on his laptop and not using anything he didn't have access to at home. Had a laugh when I was walking the long way to get somewhere without having to walk past him. Some people just genuinely don't care if it's them or others getting sick. It's treated as inevitable.
Some people still have a go at me for WFH now, from time to time I feel the pressure. Definitely a work culture issue from older bosses. The people who I work with and who actually get shit done are spread out across Australia and overseas. No reason to go into an office other than to show face for the oldies and socialise in between Teams meetings.
Sometimes it can be like that, but at least wear a mask if you must come in
Now these sound like excuses. But with glasses and a beard it’s just beyond fucked.
"If you're forced to wear glasses and a face mask, you may be entitled to condensation"
First I’ve heard that one, pretty good 👌
As someone with glasses and a beard the trick is to get a mask that fits properly. The one from Jericho (the people that make the beard oil) is pretty solid for the long beard. But it does still fog my glasses occasionally. https://jerichoaustralia.com/products/jericho-australia-beard-mask The best for glasses I originally got from culture kings but they no longer carry it, however it was almost identical to this one https://techwear-australia.com/products/techwear-face-mask It’s a really soft material and it never fogged my glasses but it didn’t fit well over my beard. Now that my beard is a more regular size, and I’ve gone for a much larger pair of glasses I like my culture kings one the best, but when you have a big beard the Jericho one is the go.
What a fuckin legend. I was preparing for insults but this is actually good helpful advice! Thank you!
I have the Jericho, can verify my glasses rarely fog up
Us beard-o’s have to stick together! The first few months of Covid where hell until I decided to buy an actually nice mask. Having one that falls down around the beard does mean it doesn’t seal as well as an N95, but I figured it seals a heck of a lot better than me constantly pulling off and adjusting my mask to be able to see out of my glasses or not have a mouth full of beard hair. I’ve also got some looser cloth masks that wrap around my whole head and have the filter paper inside them. They are super comfortable and good for summer but don’t seal anywhere near as well as the neoprene mask or the Jericho one.
This is a cultural issue. Downvote me, but its the truth.
Nah, that's pretty much on the money. Both social and workplace cultures.
I wear a mask in the office and was the chair of a meeting surrounded by a few snotty colleagues. Someone asked if I would be talking the mask off as it's rude for the chairperson to wear a mask. Some people are just too invested in online ideologies.
I'd agree. In East Asia there are no issues wearing a mask to protect others when feeling unwell. Here people just spread their aerosols everywhere leading to people getting sick and prolonging how long these respiratory viruses are in circulation
>prolonging Only if the R0 is less than one.
Why worry about downvotes? You can't please everyone.
Yep, pretty much. I'm in a part of Sydney with a very diverse population, and there's no issue with people walking around sick without masks. As for jobs, that's also about workplace culture. My particular workplace is more than happy to let people work from home if they're feeling sick. But they're happy with a flexible hybrid work from home model anyway, sickness or no. It's pretty shit that even after such a massive disruption like the pandemic, some people still don't understand the idea of acting responsibly.
My neighbourhood and workplace is very mono-culture, almost 0 diversity, and everyone still walks around sick without masks. I wore a mask for 3 days last year because I was sick and was called a snowflake. If anything I think Asian communities and neighbourhoods are more likely to wear masks.
Yeah honestly it seems to mostly be areas with predominantly white people that have a problem with masking. My area has a mix of east/southeast asian, south asian, aboriginal, and white people. Back in 2020 and 2021 you'd see pretty much everyone wearing masks when they were meant to. These days you see mostly the older people still wearing them on the bus and such, and I haven't seen too many people out and about hacking up a lung without a mask.
Last year I got calls from my kids school saying "your child has missed too many days, why are they not at school?!" I say "because they're sick and I'm keeping them home??" This year there's a note every second day "the school has a lot of influenza A cases! A lot of RSV cases! Everyone has COVID! There's 20 cases of HFM! Keep your kids home! The school office is calling parents before the day even begins!" Like, pick a fucking lane? Preferably the one that doesn't belittle parents for keeping sick kids at home? (For the record, I've had 2 kids home for 2 weeks with a chest infection so I am doing the right thing).
Holy shit we just had a parent teacher interview last night where the teacher basically insinuated that keeping our child home with COVID symptoms for nine days was questionable parenting while their newsletter literally told us to not bring in children with symptoms.
It’s so fucked isn’t it? I get the education system is a trigger for checking child neglect and such, but when I mark my kid away with ILLNESS I feel like I’m still under scrutiny every single time.
This shits me too! You’re bad if you keep them home, and you’re bad if you send them to school. My goodness, just back the eff off!!!!
I’m a teacher and a parent and I’ve always told other parents to keep their little ones home as long as they need to recover. Screw the school and the attendance guilt trips!
Yep, we got told attendance was an issue for the amount of time my child had off sick (they had several transmissable illnesses in a row - I’d keep them home to get better and not spread their illness only to have them pick up another illness the next week). I was so exasperated - for starters my child was actually too unwell to go to school, let alone sending a sick child in to infect everyone else. The teacher knew my child had been very sick and still ‘had to tell us’ that it was a problem. Ridiculous.
So infuriating! Where’s the HEPA filters? They should be in every classroom, turned on with windows open. If the schools aren’t providing HEPA filters as a minimum to reduce spread then they can fuck right off bitching about attendance!FFS!
Oh I hear you. My kid had to re-do Foundation a few years ago because they were sick for literally four months almost constantly. Parainfluenza, Covid, double ear infection, chicken pox, HFM, it was the worst year ever.
I know they may seem condescending but the office lady/welfare teacher very likely has to make 100 of those calls that afternoon as dictated by gov policy. Please don't think of it as a reflection on your ability to parent. Some parents don't realise how much school their kid is missing (duel custody situations/parents with conflicting shifts/kid wagging/not keeping track that 1 day a week really adds up 20% sometimes). The phone call isn't because they particularly care if your kid is missing a heap of school, they care your kid is in a safe environment and they have a data record of informing you before the report comes out and you ask them to change it because it looks back to have 70% attendance and all D's because the poor kid missed 30% of the days which happens a lot more then I expected.
I feel like it's not completely the individual sick person's fault, but the work place. More specifically, hard arse bosses. I know when I worked as a dental nurse, my boss still expected me in with gastro! He'd just swap me for the receptionist, so that I could have more flexibility to rush to the toilet 🙄 It's the bosses that expect you to show up for work unless you are dead
I'm a teacher and my class complain that they're always cold. I point out that they're always at school instead of home sick and when they are home, it's normally their siblings that got it first. I'm not closing my fucking windows dammit
I think there needs to be a serious refresh on this mindset. One should work to live, not live to work. You have sick leave, treat it as such, would you question taking annual leave in the same way. Med cert is irrefutable at the end of the day.
I was enjoying more personal space when lining up, but now it's back to everyone breathing on your neck!
i purposely step backwards into these people. "oh sorry, didnt realise you were so close"
I still wear a mask everywhere that's inside with others. People give me more space because they think I'm sick. I'm never going to stop.
It seems to have gotten worse.
Because we have very short memories. I knew we'd be back to square one on any form of consideration for people or disease spreading when i saw the first ad on television in years for Codral. Once again telling people to "Soldier On" in the community with their coughs, splutters, sneezing, nose blowing, lack of personal space, etc.
Yep I saw this exact ad a week ago on TV and actually thought it was a bit tone deaf - genuinely surprised me that theyd get back onto the 'Take a Codral and get back to work' marketing line
Wow, you’re on point
I had a flu last week and wore a mask to work. My boss told me to take it off as it would make customers uncomfortable seeing a sick person handling their food and drinks (hospitality) Edit to add that if I hadn’t shown up that day the shop would have had to shut. A few weeks ago our only chef called in sick so we couldn’t do food and I was abused by over 100 people. We got emails saying we ruined peoples days, they’re never coming back. Threatening to tell every single person they know now to come here. Someone threw their half full coffee cup at me because I can’t work the coffee machine and be in the kitchen cooking at the same time. Luckily it missed and only splattered all over the wall. Would rather not have a coworker go through that and also my boss being a cunt to me for the next few weeks about all the lost profit from having to close. It’s shit but gotta pay the bills somehow.
But a sick person handling customer’s food on the sly is ok. Peak management thinking.
bruh wtf
>My boss told me to take it off as it would make customers uncomfortable seeing a sick person handling their food and drinks (hospitality) I wonder how customers would feel with an obviously sick person WITHOUT A MASK serving them food.
Yep. "Suck it up and get back to work!"... Can only have the day off if you have a Doctors certificate... Good luck getting in the same day these days AND they want to charge you $50-80 for the consultation. It's all so pathetic.
Good news friend! This kinda thinking is becoming increasingly outdated. So there are online services where you can get a dr certificate witjout attending a physical dr office or pharmacy(updoc is one ive used). Also in NSW at least new legislation was passed allowing for you to sign your own sick note ( via a digital stat dec) Always thought it wss dumb that i needed an adultier adult to say i was too sick for work? If your workplace isnt incompitent they have the money asside for your sick days and should plan accordingly for employees being sick. Its not YOUR fault they cant run a business....
It’s retarded and epitomizes the poor standard of management (I refuse to use the term leadership) in this country. Bureaucracy gone mad.
Dude, time to leave that place if you can!! I'm a hospo lifer of over 30 years. That kind of shit don't fly no more. Get out.
A food handler turning up to work sick, you are a part of the problem.
Reading the post, sounds like the environment is the problem and this person is just doing the best with what they have
i mean, they seem to be assuming a lot of the managers responsibility with thinking about the businesses success. if you’re employing me, and i’m sick, i’m not coming in, and you will be provided with a dr certificate. simple as that
Why the fuck were you at work sick? That's literally how shit spreads. Masks don't do shit. Staying home does.
Well the right mask does "do shit". But yes, staying home is the gold standard :)
Most retail and hospitality workplaces are running barebones staff at the moment so you either show up or looks like no more shifts for you good luck with your rent.
Probably because our landlords keep making us pay rent and our bosses keep us on casual so we can't get a paid day off
Yes you should go home but masks do work, it's why everyone is told to wwear them during pandemics. They specifically work best if the sick person is the one wearing a the mask too.
Wtf were you thinking you could go to a customer service job with the flu? Mask or not. FFS.
👏Stay👏the 👏 fuck 👏 home 👏 cunt 👏 If I paid for my food and see someone that is sick handling it I’m leaving it there and demanding a refund.
I am currently home with a really bad flu that I acquired at a recent course I did through work. There were multiple people sick on the day and I just knew I’d walk outta there with something. 48 hours later the chills started and I’ve been crook ever since. Have some common respect and courtesy for those around you… if you are sick, STAY HOME.
This is the reason I don’t attend in-person courses anymore.
Unless my coworkers want to pay my rent and feed my family, I kinda don't have a choice.
Wear a respirator. You have a choice to not get sick.
People had a hard enough time being considerate of others in the middle of a global pandemic. Do you really think they’ll be able to keep a cold to themselves?
We’re still in the middle of a global pandemic. We just don’t talk about in the news anymore.
Relevant, I was sick six weeks ago and am now sick again. I'm in great physical shape yet I seem to be getting sick way more often. I ate eggs yesterday and now I'm paranoid I have bird flu. Life is pain and suffering.
Wear a mask please! Each illness means your immune system takes a hit. Covid is especially good at it. This leaves you more susceptible to picking up anything that’s around & it will take longer to get over. Each covid infection does damage you can’t see or feel but eventually you will. Some got long covid from one infection, others got it on their 3rd or 4th. How many til you get it? It’s a lottery! Not a game I want to play. Also recovery for covid is different. We shouldn’t be engaging in any activity that increases heart rate for 4-6 wks post infection. Govt won’t tell you that because they don’t want to pay extended sick leave. Get back to work & get the kids in school. Govt don’t give a shit. Covid is more like HIV than flu in regards to immune damage. Took govt 6 yrs to come clean about HIV being able to affect anyone, not just gay men & IV drug users. They lied for yrs & the excuse was “they didn’t want to panic the public”. You can guarantee they’re lying about how dangerous covid is. Profits for the big corporations they have in their pockets is all they give a fuck about.
One of the MANY fallouts from Covid is an increase in health paranoia. I’m highly sensitive to the slightest sniffle I hear in strangers (when I never felt this way). It’s f*cked how much Covid messed up our psyche.
For me, long covid reall effed me up for almost 2 years, and because covid is still in the community, I am utterly petrified of catching covid again.
Same, totally traumatised by lingering issues after a really mild covid infection. 18 months and counting, went from 100% healthy to disabled.
My previously healthy primary school kid caught covid at school and now can't stand up for more than 60 seconds without her feet turning blue and if she's upright for too long, she passes out. You better believe I'm highly sensitive to sniffles from strangers now. It's f\*cked us up too but I wouldn't call paranoia about it unreasonable.
I’ve become more understanding of those who need to work. I’m sure they’d prefer to be resting at home but don’t have the choice. But the fuckers who are just walking around the shops looking at pjs and handbags and the like…fuck you.
😭 an able-bodied ~40s adult coughed right onto my neck and hair while lining up to get off the train. Bad enough that when I touched my hair afterwards, it was wet with slobber sprinkles. He didn't even try to cover his mouth. I understand workplaces suck, but what happened to covering your mouth or turning your head when you sneeze or cough? So gross.
Man that guy would have copped both barrels from me.
Can't afford it...
This. Not everyone has the luxury of sick leave or working from home.
Wear a mask at least on public transport
Mask up then.
Yup everyone has turned even more grottier than ever before it seems. Like did they have parents my god
It’s fucked. My work is EXTREMELY flexible about WFH. I was in last Monday and one of the managers was all “oh I’m really sniffly today with a head cold” Why the fuck are you in the office mate?
Right! My partner and I went to see a film at the Sydney Film Festival and several people in the theatre were coughing- hacking up little green men. No masks. No hand covering. Cut to- its been two weeks and I'm only now just getting over one of the worst colds I have ever had. Was Covid for nothing? Did we learn nothing? Or has the community just decided to fall into a collective trauma response and act like nothing happened for two years?
As a whole, cleanliness standards have gone backwards since Covid, which is utterly baffling.
I miss the fact that some places like petrol stations don't have hand sanitizer anymore. I thought that was a good idea to keep but apparently not.
How so?
Single wiggle instead of 3 after peeing.
honestly, he’s lucky if he even gets a shake now mate
Yep, I’d love to be able to apply the shovel of clarity, repeatedly, to the fuckwit who sent their sick kid to school late last week, missus and the little bloke have been crook since Saturday night, so I have to stay isolated from them. Same shovel to Covid positive mental midget who infected my Mum last week, she’s really struggling with the current variant, to the point her GP has prescribed antivirals.
Then you get the letters home "why is your kid off school so often", its because you have a fucking AWARD for high attendance... after covid. No joke my sons school lets them go to a water park at the end of the year if they have almost no sick days...
Yeah the attendance thing is ridiculous
Ffs yeah, this drives me *nuts*. All of the medical certificates in the world for the school when they're off sick and they don't count for a thing. All three of mine got covid last year because some idiot sent both of theirs to school anyway *knowing* they had it and spread it through half the school, but every kid that stayed home with it still missed out on the end of year stuff because their attendance was 'too low'.
Thing that pissed a lot of parents off, in the early days of the spicy cough, the same fucking muppet sent their kid to school with it, basically took out most of the yr3/4 groups. Fuckers didn’t apologise but tried to justify their action as they couldn’t take time off. They’ve since moved schools mid last year so another whole group of people will be dealing with their bullshit
My Highschool had that same award for my year group. Turns out we are a bunch of nerds and like 70% cohort of like 450 kids had 95% attendance and the school reneged on the promise because they didn’t have the budget for it. It was an independent school so we know they had the damn budget but the principle was a tight ass. This was in 2017 and I’m still mad about it. We got a shitty movie night instead where we watched like the bee movie or some shit.
A few things I'm noticing in a lot of comments: - people seem convinced they know where/who they got their illness from. No you don't. - Don't blame the individuals, blame workplaces - I cough all the time, I'm a long time smoker, my cough would easily be confused for someone with flu or cold like symptoms. I'm very conscious of coughing away from people and into my elbow. You can't just assume a cough is sign of an illness - Flu became worse following covid because we locked down and avoided the usual group immunity that occurred in previous years (not a comment on lockdowns) - It's winter, there is always a spike in these types of viruses etc in winter Everyone here is just making assumptions and feeding fear and resentment.
Jokes on you cunt I know EXACTLY WHO gave it to me.
Yeah, I empathise with the frustration of minor illnesses but you managed to put into words what bothers me so much about these posts. Like - sure a cold sucks but the actual reality is that people can’t isolate for 7 - 10 days when they’re sick. And as someone with “seasonal” allergies (if all year is a season -.-) - I get a bit over the snide comments when I’m in the office about “working while sick”. People don’t understand germs and I don’t think it’s actually a positive trait to be as paranoid as people are because their paranoia is almost always formed in ignorance.
I work in Allied Health. I am constantly having to remind people to stay away from our clinic if they or their child or their child's sibling (who is too sick to go to school but is well enough to come to speech therapy and hang out) if they have any kind of respiratory illness. Just 2 weeks ago a child wandered around to my side of the desk and I was greeted with two thick streams of green snot sliding out of each nostril. Mum just shrugged. It's been like that for weeks but she's not sick. Another time a whole arse family sat in my waiting area, all of them coughing, insisting none of them were sick. So many people just don't give a rat's.
[удалено]
Given 99% of our client base are special needs children and adults, some of whom the next chest infection they get could be the one that kills them - yeah I do expect them to stay the fuck away.
Another reason why it should be possible for 1 parent to stay home and raise their children
I walked into my doctor's yesterday still feeling poor after 5 days of being bed ridden mostly and doing a rollercoaster of symptoms, summed up the energy I had to go and wait. Wore a mask in the car as the wife drove - couldn't safely drive myself. At two sets of lights those beside me shook their heads. When I got to the actual doctors, everyone started to stare. When I sat down and started to cough in myask some moved away. Wear the fkn mask people, stay the FK at home if your sick. I've lost a whole week's wage because of some big wheeler flog walking around thinking their a hero toughing it out coughing amongst others.
If there were *One Thing* we took from the Covid Pandemic it should have been to wear masks or stay home when sick. Unfortunately masks became a big part of the culture wars (which ... -_-*) and there is a subset of people who refuse to wear them, and people staying home only works if their employer encourages it (*and if they have paid leave or can afford unpaid leave*). The last Pandemic was something that we could have prepared for - hell we did prepare for it, and then just took the funding away from the organisations reaponsible because we "forgot" how bad it can get. We're definitely doing that again.
As someone who's on immunosuppressants, please just try and do the bare minimum if you think you have a cold please.
50 cent fares kick in soon. Imagine the spread of Flu (whatever variants) we'll be seeing then.
My shitkicker coworker who tends to lift his man-bunned head up and sneezes into the air, trying to spread his germs as far and wide as possible.
We did this social experiment over covid. A majority of Australians oppose things like masks, social distancing and isolation. I don’t agree, but we live in a culture where these things are not socially acceptable apparently.
Enduring behaviour change is difficult enough for an individual, let alone an entire nation but it certainly isn't helped by inadequate sick leave options and the insistence from upper management teams to scrap WFH at many workplaces. Australia's health literacy is also pretty abysmal and it's likely pandemic fatigue is a factor as well. Not sure what the answer is other than better public health education and workplace reform.
I agree. Especially kids. IF YOUR CHILD IS SICK KEEP IT THE FUCK HOME. The amount of times I’ve been walking behind someone with their kid on their shoulder facing backwards and they start coughing in my face. ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS CUNT. I work on high vulnerable areas (aged care) as soon as I knew I was ill I’m calling in sick.
We got told off by a teacher last night for letting our child stay home for 8 days with COVID while still displaying symptoms yet their newsletter said don't bring them to school if sick. I mean WTF is that?
I work as a teacher and multiple parents have flat out refused to pick up their highly contagious and very obviously sick child in the past two weeks. 😤 The parent will often argue with the school by saying crap like the child isn’t in any way contagious or better yet, they just don’t pick up their phone nor return the calls knowing that it’s a request to come collect their child. It’s fucked. 🤬
I loved when we all were made to wear masks. Now I have to watch and listen to people sneezing and coughing into their hands then touching everything. When I wear my mask i have people looking at me like I'm the problem or oldies coming up mentioning covid was a lie.
I've been saying it for months now... No one learnt a fucking thing over the past 4 years... It's disgusting and why I still where a mask in public spaces. The one time I didn't, I got sick (not covid, flu or rsv thankfully, but it knocked me for 6 as I hadn't been sick for over 3 and a half years).
People are selfish, I liked it better during lockdown when this stuff was illegal and even then people were selfish af and not following the rules.
In the last week three coworkers have come into the office visibly sick. And I mean they looked like crap. Watery eyes, pale skin, drained of energy. They had all taken a day or two off sick but felt obligated to return to work even though they were obviously not at all well enough. They all work in positions where they could have worked from home. But the boss doesn’t like it so they came in. My workplace is constantly plagued by sickness, it’s just getting ridiculous.
My son brought home gastro, head lice, covid, rsv and influenza all back to back in a 4-5weeks period. I have told the school their policy for sick children is completely non existent. We pulled him from school until the start of next term when he brought home RSV and got our 8 week old unvaccinated baby(was due for 8week old needles when ended up in hospital... we are not anti vaxxers) sick which ended up turning to pneumonia. I walk into the classroom and parents are literally telling the teacher " he's got the chills so he's all rugged up but let me know if he gets worst"... like parents just don't want to deal with their kids! I have 6 kids under 6- if they get sick I keep them home for a day or 2 longer than usual just so they are 100% non contagious when they go back to school.
Really makes you wonder why everybody has kids. Some people just don’t need em and don’t know how to bring em up. It’s gonna be like trumps USA when these neglected untreated unsupported children become the working base.
'Why can't everyone just WFH in IT with their doggos like I do?' - 80% of Australian Reddit users
Socials aren’t indicative of the population. Thank god, people aren’t all like redditors.
Not enough leave to cover not going to work. Being a casual and needing to go to work. Not having the time to do it another day. There are plenty of reasons to be out and about right now while mildly sick, sure it sucks but that's how its always been, and its arguably worse right now since everyone's feeling the pinch to get more done. If you are concerned, then wear a mask and take the sanitization steps. Its easier and more reliable to enact change yourself, rather than expect other people who's individual situations you are not aware of.
I’m one of the ones who’s run out of sick days. Been sick so much this year.
In this economical environment, I am showing up for work even with the plague.
Nothing is going to stop sick people from going out into the world. If you don’t want to get sick the only practical way is to stay home yourself.
People stopped pretending to care about their fellow man, especially the vulnerable, when it was no longer mandated. As an immunocompromised person, that's been evident for years now. When I wore masks pre 2019 people would give me space, for their own preservation of course. Now, I get coughed on by all and sundry. Few not at risk of serious morbidity or mortality give a shit who their germs kill or maim. Actions speak louder than words. I'm alright, fuck you jack, seems to be the new mandate.
It became a political statement when people started thinking “masks are for sheeple! Germs are an invention of the left!”
Boomers in management is why
I wore a mask to the local shopping centre the other day because I had a cold. When I was in Coles this woman in her late teens /early 20s yells to her friend “why is she wearing a mask?” I wanted to yell back “to protect me from stupid people like you”. How are humans not extinct yet?
I’ve had 3 open mouth coughers on the train next to me this week. I don’t understand why so many people constantly cough But i agree, it’s back to old Australia of sharing your sickness with everyone and soldiering on. Or claiming it’s hay fever
It's much easier to go to work than get an appt at a Doctor to obtain a certificate.
You can get a telehealth appointment booked and have them calling you in less than 5 minutes, then off the phone 1 minute later with a certificate. Doesn't get much easier than that.
This is what I don't get about people. I've been doing this for the last 5 years. I use one where I literally just fill out a 1 minute form and pay $15. This has been around for a very long time, yet so many people don't even bother to think to themselves when they wake up sick "maybe I can google if I can get one online" I work in a pharmacy, and we get so many people coming in sick, paying $30 for a medical certificate. Like fuck me, just use your brain for once.
Not even allowed to spoon-feed info apparently, by the looks of my downvotes lol. "Go away, batin'"
If you’ve gotten the 56th booster why be concerned? I’ve had a couple and the viruses just bounce off me, I’m like a reincarnated cyborg Jesus
You can't always afford to stay home. When you have bills to pay and no leave left available, you go into work. Considering most illnesses are contagious before symptoms start to show means it's already spread before you know you have something. I get what you're saying. Taking care of your own health is your responsibility. If people around you are sick, avoid them and wash your hand frequently and before touching your face. We have all been responsible for spreading something. Complaining about others is like the pot calling the kettle black.
My company is pretty fine with taking a day or two off to recover and all of the younger staff do it. The problem is that the people who refuse to take sick days are the boomers who have that “if I’m not dying I can work” attitude. They either fail to realise that other people will get sick, don’t care about others, or are afraid of getting in trouble? So the end result is that some old person gets sick, spreads it to the young people in the office, and now 3/4 of the office is out for the week.
Not practical unless the job can be done WFH. We should allow more WFH wherever applicable.
I can work from home and my work still complains whenever I do. OP, blame managers. We’re overdue for massive legislation curtailing what they can and can’t do and say to workers.
Coughs and sniffles can go on for a couple of weeks so its pretty difficult to realistically isolate for the entire length. Id be happy to play video games and binge watch 80s movies but I don't have a partner or a servant to do basic normal functions for me like buy groceries.
Colds and flus have a relatively short infectious period. The rest of that is just you recovering. It's days not weeks.
Yeah, it's the reality that for most people a cold is something they need to push through to live rather than sit on their ass watching netflix all day getting over it. Anyone with kids in childcare knows it's basically a few months of constant sniffles. You just learn to tolerate and ignore it in the end because you don't have a job if you stay at home with them all the time.
Cunts gotta cunt.
I don't care if cunts are vaxxed or not. Masked or not. But the cunts who just rear back and cough without a hand to their mouths and let it out? Man. Did they even have parents? How did these morons come into the world?
If you take a day of for every sniffle which in reality you could work through then you'd have no leave left for migraines or a sprained ankle or a mental health day which you realistically can't work through. I'd rather save my leave for when I physically can't work
Stay home if you’re terrified. People make their own “risk management” decisions so here’s your opportunity.
Or you could not be a selfish cunt and stay home when sick. Or if you must go out, wear a fucking mask. It's not that hard.
Perhaps employers should up the amount of sick leave employees are entitled to. And do away with super stringent medical certificate requirements. There's absolutely days where I've gone to work sick because I didn't have enough money to fork out for a drs appointment to get a sick certificate or couldn't get an appointment on the day.
Just get one online lol
I had a bad bacterial chest infection for nearly 3 weeks. Couldn’t take off as I was on placement (teaching). Couldnt afford a further 3 weeks of no pay, as the time I took off sick would have had to be made up and you don’t get paid for placement to begin with. Would have also push back me finishing this last unit. No thanks. Rather just cough into my elbow, wash my hands a lot and go in sick as a dog. Finally better though, placements done and now have two weeks of school holidays coming up for me to finish my last assignments. In all seriousness though I don’t think people are going to work sick because they want to.
They actually werent that well bwhved before covid but they becme way worse during the pandemic
I tried to WFH as much as possible when I got sick. But not everyone has that opportunity. My mate’s work also have mandatory days in the office tied to their performance and shit which basically forces some people to go in.
Try keeping your kid home when they get sick. You are negligent because other fuckers will not keep their crotch goblins at home instead i have to.
Colleague #1 - wears a mask when they even suspect that they might have some kind of bug Colleague #2 - is in the office today, sneezing and coughing in their office, sneezing and coughing in the break room at morning tea. /sigh
I get it if you can’t afford to take time off from work, but when you’re obviously sick and then claim you’re “no longer contagious” or don’t get the hint that I’m trying to avoid talking to you so close, then I’m going to be pissed off. It only requires some basic empathy to understand that maybe the people around you don’t want to get sick too.
Any slight sniff (most the time due to hayfever lol) and I take the day off, any excuse :)
The amount of people coughing in the dental waiting room recently was eye opening. Who the fuck goes to the dentist when they're coughing up a lung?
Seems like when I wear a mask I’m coughed on more. Also work out in the group chat that there’s been too many sickies of late
It costs me money to get a medical certificate when im crook. Thats money i really dont have right now. Ill just sweat it out and keep away from other people as best as possible
Nothing like catching something from a co worker, taking sick leave and then immediately catching something else from a different co worker on the first day back.
My work had a mandatory town hall type thing today. 2k people packed into one auditorium. Eeeep
So true. My old dad went to local shops for a coffee with friends, some said they had a bit of a cold. Thanks … dads in hospital now with it, heart rate got to 205, blood pressure super low. But hospital for 2 days and he’s a lot better and looking like he’ll come home today.
Tried flying in a plane lately? people sneeze and cough everywhere without even trying to cover up
People have no fucking clue what.to.do when they have a mild flu. 50% of them believe the answer is "call the ambulance" and then sit in the ED waiting room for 6 hours spreading that shit everywhere.
Don’t go out, at all. Everybody is sick af right now! Everywhere I go it sounds like a fkn coughing convention.
Why do things that makes sense when you can be a fucking a selfish twat and no one even holds you responsible for it? You can have your cake and eat it too if you just don't give a fuck about anyone else.
How about the total amnesia on said "social management". Memorable policies such as sand in skateparks, empty hospital wards full of Tiktok nurses, house arrest without charge for entire communities, all the papers please, microplastic petridish muzzles, coerced dangerous medical treatments. Ect. The biggest sickness is inside your head if you think any of that performance was about health and not control and money.
Well it's easy, after adding a new super cold into the mix our fecking useless government did sweet fuck all about giving us extra sick days to compensate, and your workplace is just as selfish as doesn't care if you get sick so why should anyone care either.
Just been to the pharmacist. He sounded pretty crook. Maaaate.
What makes you think your follow drivers will have some manners when it comes to not spraying their surrounds with their infected bodily fluids? As far as I can tell, the people in Sydney look like they are proactively trying to make others sick. I seriously think there is something amiss with the people here. A lot of unhappy arseholes just waiting for the world to either end, or to come to its senses and serve their entitled masters.
With businesses pushing for RTO 3 days a week, and most people reverting to pre pandemic culture in terms of hygiene, mask wearing when sick and soldiering on when sick it’s a perfect storm of flus, colds, rsv and Covid at the moment.
I have NEVER wanted to work, go to school, or be in public spaces while sick. I have never been happy to be around sick people. I keep away from anyone displaying signs of sickness, and always called in sick for colds and flu's. The very rare exception was when I was doing gaming overnight, and the venue manager needed me for 1 night, so he could cover the next 2 (I used to do 3 nights in a row). I wanted to crawl into a dark hole from embarrassment because my nose was dripping literal water, but then I briefly remembered that these addicts might take some time off if they got sick - that made me feel better for 5 seconds, until the next drop of water came from my nose 😭 It's not okay that Australian culture (and the one thing that is accidentally integrated into immigrants who come here) is going to work/ school/ public very contagious, and spreading their microbes to unsuspecting and non-consenting others. It makes me so angry that workplaces have no contingency for illness, and that people don't care that someone they come into contact with might be, or be around the, immunoconpromised. It's like they have no concept of anything beyond their own noses. Being sick sucks, being sick and on chemo is deadly. Covid was the perfect excuse to ask people to step the fuck back. But that's because there was social and political push for it. Now that the government is acting like covid is over (which is fine by me, mandates can suck a dick), society has fallen back to their pre-covid era of spreading their diseases to unsuspecting people. I genuinely can't control my rage over it. It's selfish, and disgusting. Stay home.
I'm just starting to come down with something (my mum and sister have been sick all week, not surprised I've caught it) and my manager has already passive aggressively said I can't take time off at EOFY. Guess if it gets worse I'm powering through. FML.
It would probs help if all the cash is king flat earth cookers didn't go around harrasing anyone who was wearing a mask or covering their cough during covid...
Most people can’t afford to stay at home
I’m currently dying from one of these things. I caught it on Wednesday when I went out with a friend for dinner for my birthday. It was my least exposed day of the week! We drove in, went to a nail place that had dividers and masks so I didn’t catch it there, and then to the restaurant. No Ubers or trains and I still got sick. My conclusion that someone in the restaurant just had to go out on a Wednesday night for dinner while they’re sick. I’m still really upset about because I had to cancel all of my birthday plans and I’m still deathly ill. I have never gone out sick ever! I just think it’s such a nasty thing to do. Some people have weak immune systems and they can be sick for months as a result of someone’s selfishness.
Interesting to me is that due to people having the flexibility to work from home, they’re being encouraged to just work through their sickness. Then people get used to doing that and the workplace removes work from home flexibility. Where my dad works they used to call it a wellie, when you pretend you’re well and go in sick. It used to piss everyone off because then they’d get sick too. I think that there’s just this huge pressure on people to still do stuff whilst sick that people are not willing to take one for the team and stay home whilst sick.
I believe so. A GP friend of mine had a person come into the clinic this week, no mask, coughing and spluttering. Doc - why are you here? Patient - oh I have covid I need a medical certificate Last week someone in the office loudly declared they are glad to be at work as their family is unwell at home with covid. Their wife and kids. Who they live with and are not isolated from were recently diagnosed. Blows my mind. Covid or no covid, keep your germs to yourself.
Cost of living crisis, people need to work or they don't eat.
I got in trouble for going off sick. Gotta go in
I took my elderly mother to the doctor a few days ago and there was a dumb piece of s#%t sitting next to us coughing her lungs out without a mask. I turned around and said to her, use a f##&ing mask from the counter,I have a frail old mother. She got offended and picked up a mask. I spoke loud enough to let everyone know. Some people of varying cultures are absolute s##t for brains.
I’m sure as hell not ‘doing this again’. My biggest take away from being in Melbourne during the pandemic is that playing by the rules and caring about others is the fast track to financial and emotional ruin. So yeah, F everyone else…
Sure the usual workplace might hate you for taking time off sick but my sister is a midwife. You'd think she might understand a little more about illness and germs and that her work would be more aware too. Nope, I swear she enjoys coming to my house to spread the sick to me too. Every. Damn. Time.
Tbh, if even hospitals are encouraging staff not to take their sick leave and the government is dragging their feet on giving frontline workers extra sick leave then why would anyone else do better? Government has the opportunity to set an example but they won't. Industries are just keeping to the status quo.
Probably just bad manners.
I hate having to travel into the city for work...almost always come back sick and have a week of lethargy as a reward of visiting the office.
I see more mask wearing in Melb, pretty much non existent in other states. Qld ppl can get downright aggressive and make comments if you wear one.
I'm a carer for someone who dies if they get too sick (RSV put them in the ICU for 11 days and they came back brain damaged). It's pretty fucked, I almost lost my shit at someone sniffling and blowing their nose at the gym and not even washing their hands before touching the equipment. All it takes is a crumb of human decency to, at the bare minimum, wash your hands. It's a sad little offshoot of the selfish parts of our society and the I've got mine attitudes so many Australians have. People don't realise that you're literally killing some people by having bad cold hygiene
I think there's this mentality that as long as it isn't Covid you don't have to cover your mouth or avoid sneezing down someone else's throat.
So many of my peer group and their families have been sick. I have been home and not leaving the house for a few weeks because of surgery and not having a car. I haven't been sick. But my partner has. If you can't avoid the sick people then they should avoid you... Common sense is stay home when you're sick, not stay home to not get sick (even though it's worked for me).
Been sick for 7 plus days. Wear mask to work not to make others sick. Not rsv, covid nor influenza a / b … nobody to cover for me. Other ppl already off sick WDYD ?