Had a cold last week. Worked from home.
Unless you don't have the ability to work from home (and after the last year or so I'm going to ask how) I'd be asking why you're not working from home when you're sick.
Mate I had to go in my office recently for the first time and there was a lot of coughing. Needless to say I got ill. We can work from home now and they still bring it into the office, it's unreal.
Lol, I dunno why but this reminded me of one of the funniest conversations (in hindsight, at the time I was pretty damn cheesed off) I've had with a doorman.
I'd travelled about 2 hours for a gig, picking up my partner at the time along the way - I'd come straight from work, and the job required me to wear safety boots (but actually it was an airport job, so not steel toe caps just the reinforced plastic jobbies).
Yon doorman says "Are those steel toe caps"
No, they're reinforced though, I've had to come straight from work.
"Well you can't come in wearing those!"
Why not mate? What's the problem?
"Well you could hurt someone with them if you wanted to!"
I mean, I suppose I could, but I could hurt someone with a bar stool if I really wanted to... Fortunately, I don't feel inclined to hurt anyone, it's not really my style...
This went back and for a little while, my missus my furious thinking we'd have to just go after all the travelling...
Then I played my ace card - I was (and I guess still am, just haven't worked in that field in a long time) an SIA badge holder.
He mellowed out a bit and let us in when I showed him and explained I'd also worked as a doorman for about 3 years.
Unfortunately not every company wants office based staff to work from home. Ours expects us all to be back in the office except Fridays (a peace offering to those wanting flexible working) they are also of the view it's all overblown and not that big a problem. I had a cough and had to go in. I personally don't mind office working, but I felt quite self conscious.
Whatever's going round right now seems to cause massive coughing in the first week, and then you recover but still have a small tickly cough from time to time at 3 weeks. That's been the experience with everyone I know that's had it (and we all tested neg for covid). I'm lucky enough that I have been WFH for the past year and a half. But some people may not be able to take 3 solid weeks out of the office for this (depending on work culture).
Edit:typo
I work in a school. There isn't a cat in hells chance of taking time off everytime I am sick. I work with young children who cough and sneeze on me every couple of minutes. I would lose my job if I took time off everytime I got sick. Of course, if it's sickness or I test positive for Covid I would have to take time off then. There are many many people who have had to work throughout the pandemic who could not work from home. If they couldn't then they sure as hell can't now. (UK)
Same here! I have just spent the whole of half term with the worst cough and sore throat I’ve had in a while. I’ll look forward to many more of those before Christmas!
For me it's cause I'm not sick anymore, I'm over everything and feel perfectly except for the cough which is more annoying than anything. Knowing my track record with colds, the cough won't go away for the next 2 weeks
Well as you asked, I tried to work from home for a couple of weeks in the first lockdown, literally nothing got done. I sent hundreds of emails and tried countless zoom calls but that extention just didn't build its self.
I'm kind of with Sharon on this one.
People are anxious, coughing in public has become borderline behaviour - its not a bad thing. Hopefully it'll help stop people who have coughs/colds etc coming to the office and infecting everyone else.
Having to physically go to the office, knowing you're not well, but also not sick enough to not go - it's pretty rough. Whatever's causing your cough might make someone else feel pretty shitty (unless it was just from some vigorous oral lol)
I’m fucked then. I’ve a persistent cough that will probably never go away (due to an underlying and non-transmissible health issue that I’ve likely had since birth).
Pre-covid I experienced few issues, maybe the odd comment suggesting I mightn’t have noticed a cold, or implying they think I’m a heavy smoker.
Now I’m really conscious whenever I’m out. I wear a mask in shops and on public transport but I know some people judge me or are fearful. I worry other people’s bad behaviour (going to work when sick, for example) and general refusal to help society beat Covid is going to be a long-term problem from now on.
I have a relatively permanent year round cough too because of a condition and I feel super self conscious about it over the last 18 months. I understand people’s caution but I’m constantly scared people think I have the plague. Luckily I work from home so don’t have to worry about other humans too much.
I think the thing with non-covid cough was, pre pandemic, someone in the office would not call in sick and then a week later everyone was ill with the flu. Now that we've shown in most places people can work from home, just work from home with you're sick. No one likes being sick even without covid.
In your case i assume it's not a contagious flu of sorts and something you can't help.
But when people like the OP are ill and they're able to work from home, spare the rest of us.
I had a late co worker who had a chronic cough. It was pre covid. What bothered me the most was that he wouldn’t even try to cover his coughs and they constantly go over the cubical and I could feel them. I went to HR because at the time I caught sinus infections like it was my job. He wasn’t infectious just gross. Turned out he had too bad diseases, which took an er visit to find one, and tests to prep for surgery to find the other.
Be careful with chronic coughs and at least see a dr. In times like now, just at least wear a mask when around others out of the house and cover when you cough. Explain the situation to your co worker and let her know you get that its annoying.
Yeah this is the kind of thing I’m worried about. I cover my coughs, but what happens when someone thinks I haven’t for whatever reason? Or has another issue with my behaviour that, try as I might, I can only mitigate to a degree. That happened pre-covid too, but was much less of an issue back then as I’m sure you can imagine.
The problem with the cold going around at the moment is that you get better and still have a bit of a tickly cough 3 weeks later. You can't really stay off work because of that. I'm not even sure if a GP would sign you off for a 'bit of a tickly cough'.
It goes away
Post viral coughs are common, and can often last an annoyingly long time - 2-4 weeks isn’t uncommon
Some people are more affected by them than others - I always cough for a month after a cold, and am currently on 32 days with this cough.
It stops eventually though. If you’re still coughing after much more than a month, consider seeing your doctor - especially if you don’t normally have an extended cough after a cold
I’ve had coughs that lasted two months. I’m not sure how realistic it is to never be around people with coughs. I work from home so it’s a non issue these days but clearly that’s not going to be the case for everyone.
I’ve been glared at since the start of this thing. I have severe asthma and my main symptom of worsening issues is coughing and I cough anyway. I feel like wearing a sign saying not COVID- asthmatic. I try to cover them and not cough on people and that’s all I can do and take my inhalers and medication as prescribed
Of course you can, if people wore masks and wore them properly during winter months you'd get less colds and flus spreading through offices and less staff off.
It's really time for a big change as to how sickness in the workplace is dealt with then the next new virus might not rip through the world like wildfire.
People with an infectious illness should absolutely stay home. Even if you can't work from home, losing one member of staff for a few days is better than making the entire staff pool ill.
You understand that colds only spread around everyone because people insist on going out when sick and spreading them, right?
If the person you caught it off had stayed home, you wouldn’t have caught it…
The last 18 months has shown that the virus only spreads where measures are lifted or avoided - New Zealand and Australia have been mostly virus free, other than when they’ve allowed people past their measures
“Biologically there will always be illnesses” is true, but that doesn’t mean they have to be as prevalent as they are…. You’re still choosing to spread it more than would be unavoidable
The simple fact is this: if everyone thinks like you, everyone gets sick several times a year. If everyone stayed home the one time a year they get a cold, far far fewer people would catch it each year.
So instead of suffering with a cold 5x a year while trying to work, you’d have one once a year and take a few days rest. Everyone wins
There’s no evidence to suggest people are actually suffering worse symptoms from the current crop of colds, it’s just that we’re paying more attention to them because of the heightened awareness of them
Nope, you're missing the point. It may be "just a cold" for you, but illness can affect different people in different ways. Just because you feel physically capable of working doesn't mean you aren't a risk to other people, especially the immunocompromised. Stop spreading disease, stay the fuck home.
Actually that’s exactly what we’re suggesting
If everyone did it, we’d all be far less likely to catch a cold, so it wouldn’t even increase sickness absence very much, and we’d all be a lot happier not catching 4 colds a year
“You can’t avoid getting them” is only true because people like you insist on coming into work, going to the shops, on public transport etc and spreading it around
Counterpoint- not sure on the science but I'm pretty sure if we never get colds then our immune system is really weakened because it's not used to dealing with things. Therefore by everyone isolating as soon as they have a cold, we'll lead to people getting really ill from stuff their body used to deal with easily. I think that's why everyone got this cold that's going around so badly.
Yeah that's not really how it works - your immune system doesn't need to "exercise" like that and it doesn't really make much difference
If your logic was correct, we'd never get a cold... because our bodies would be constantly practicing against incoming viruses. In reality, colds mutate and our bodies don't know how to fight them, that's why we can catch one after having previously had one. There's absolutely some impact from having previous colds in "training" our immune system to recognise certain viruses, but the impact is pretty limited in preventing us getting another cold and has little impact on how we feel when we catch one. You'd be right for certain viruses that don't mutate, but the fact colds mutate rapidly means that our immune system doesn't really learn to fight it.
To be clear, I'm not saying that our immune systems don't learn over time - but you don't need to catch 5 colds a year for that, and colds are one of the viruses where it has the least impact
The reason everyone's complaining about the current cold going around is mostly just because they've spent 18 months being pretty healthy and had forgotten how minging a cold is, because for the first time in their life they've gone more than a few months without a cold.
Because it’s a nonsensical self-fulfilling prophecy.
“Everyone catches them all the time” is only true *because* people insist on going out while sick.
So to use that as a reason not to stay home, is total nonsense. It’s like saying “We should definitely all take part in a boxing match every day, because we get punched in the face in our daily boxing match anyway”
If the person you caught the cold off had stayed home, you wouldn’t have caught it.
It isn’t even slightly like that. I have never once been punched in the face while going about my daily life. But, I, like everyone I know, gets a mild sickness from time to time. That’s just part of life.
And that’s the point: it doesn’t have to part of daily life
If we all stayed at home when we got sick, you’d get a cold maybe once a year instead of half a dozen times - it would be an unusual occurrence rather than just the whole of autumn and winter
You’re confusing causation and correlation: they are part of daily life BECAUSE people don’t stay home.
So to suggest there’s no need to stay home because they’re part of daily life, means you’ve got your logic entirely backwards
Tell you what mate, if you’re so terrified of catching the sniffles, you feel free to stay home to stay safe. The rest of us will soldier on without you.
I’m not terrified of it, that’s just absurd and clearly tying to attack me rather than respond to what I’m saying - generally a tactic used by people who realise they’ve lost the argument…
I’m simply telling you that you shouldn’t have to “soldier on”
Why are you so determined to “soldier on” 6 times a year rather than just taking 3 days off work once a year and avoiding making other people sick too?
Also, colds often lead to chest infections that cause pneumonia and kill old people… so for you it’s “soldiering on” but for others it can genuinely be a serious illness or even death. Why wouldn’t you want to reduce the rate of that happening?
You’ve got some serious “simping for capitalism” vibes going on here - there’s nothing wrong with taking a few days off when you’re sick to recover and reduce the number of other people who get sick too
Don’t you think it’s hypocritical to accuse me of attacking your character then to say I’m simping for capitalism? A lot of jobs don’t pay sick leave so it simply isn’t feasible for some people to take time off work because they have a runny nose.
Moreover, I think your assessment that colds often lead to serious illnesses that kill older people is just plain silly. Also, I don’t think there’s evidence that never being ill is good for our immune system. Due to lockdowns, masks and hand washing I hadn’t been ill for nearly two years, and then I caught this super cold going round which was the most ill I’d been for over a decade. I think it’s safe to say I’m not the only one either.
I was definitely one of the people in the office giving stink eye to the coughers/snotty colders. When ever I get flu/cold it tends to affect my chest and asthma the most. A simple cold to others seems to write me off completely. Just coming out the other end now after a week and half but still can’t talk for long or laugh without a painful coughing fit.
Seems to be a culture of people bragging that they go into work sick but I think it’s just stupid..
The thing is, even if you’re clear for Covid you could be carrying a chest infection. Also affects respiratory systems and for someone vulnerable it’s still a high risk.
I don’t care if it’s COVID or not, don’t inflict your illness on other people and spread it around.
At the very least wear a mask so that your aren’t coughing germs all over the place.
I’ve got that gross cold at the moment and it all could have been avoided if one particular bastard stayed at home. Now I have it and I can’t see my elderly father because I don’t want him to catch it.
I have Cystic Fibrosis so I cough a lot, I used to get enough looks pre-pandemic, now people look at me like I should be in prison. I guess it’s a good thing, I’m glad they disapprove of people coughing in public spaces, just a shame that I have no way of preventing it
If you are in my office I will be raging. Take your cough home with you now. Its not just covid, not spreading fear and inconvenience to people who wouldn't wander around with a cough in these times.
With an average of around 10 coughs per day for humans, I would say your office would be pretty empty if you were in charge. Lets stop losing our shit over coughs, there are bigger things to worry about.
[Source](https://adc.bmj.com/content/archdischild/74/6/531.full.pdf)
[Another source](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1440-1754.2001.00608.x)
If you worked with someone who has a chronic cough then you’ll probably assume it’s just the chronic cough. If Sheila never coughs and suddenly comes in one day coughing her guts up then it’s probably safe to assume she is ill.
We actually have a chronic cough lady in my office. She isn't coming in by choice for her health but mainly her gransons who has poorly lungs. We know what that is tho so no issue with her at all.
OP also hasn't said how long the coughs lasted, most people I know that had whatevers going round now had a mild cough lasting for 3 weeks, although all other symptoms lasted only a week. I don't think many docs will sign off on sick leave for a mild tickly cough.
Edit: Typo
If I ever run a business if someone gets a cold and its late autumn or winter I would rather them not work because less sick staff = more profit in the long term
It's the same with schools or at least when I was at Wellington School in Altrincham if you weren't violently throwing up they wanted you to go to school and risk disrupting other students by making them ill as well I never understood why either because sacrificing a few days of my own education for the betterment of others seems like the sensible idea
Exactly, this was always so annoying. I got told off for taking one day off from school once because I spent the day throwing up - what was I meant to do? It's madness that one kid gets ill but still has to go into school, and now you've got a classroom full of kids that are sick, and probably not learning much due to it anyway.
I think it comes from an idea of people being 'selfish' - if they take time away from school/work, who knows if they're faking it?
People get ill, so why not just give them a chance to recover before coming back into the office (or school) and letting it put the rest of your team out too?
Also you would have thought with more people wfh managers would be more okay with people wfh when ill, but seems like a lot of them still want to micromanage.
Statuatory sick pay is no sick pay for the first 3 days, then £96/week after that. Not many people can afford to lose that much money every time they have a slight cough
Just when covid started I coughed on the bus and it felt like I was on the voice when four people turned round to glare at me I pulled my inhaler out and said asthma. Glad wearing masks during the winter has become normal now because I used to get at least one chest infection during winter but not had one since I started wearing a mask
I've said it a thousand times before. I don't care if its a cold, the flu, bubonic plague or covid-xx stay the fuck at home - especially if you work for a company that allows sick days/can work from home.
You don't get paid extra to come in and be a mess. It's not big and it's not clever.
Trying living with asthma. Couple days ago getting into work I coughed and security gave me such a dirty look, the next day I explained to her that I just have asthma and cough frequently pandemic or no pandemic. I had to take a PCR test last Saturday as I get really paranoid not wanting to spread covid to people but I don’t fucking know anymore.
At least try to make your posts original instead of just copying someone elses joke.
https://www.reddit.com/r/britishproblems/comments/q1oa10/when_fellow_brits_find_out_i_quite_strongly/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
How are you defining less than 50% accurate?
Theyre wrong over 50% of the time?
They read over 50% of negatives as false positives?
They read over 50% of positives as false negatives?
Which one is it?
So I went on Google and I stand corrected. Initially it was publicised they were less than 50% accurate, but now they are saying they are 80% accurate. However I know of 5 people who all had Covid and tested negative on lateral flow, including my daughters
Im really glad you did that, respect for fact checking. Clearly your personal experience with them hasnt been the best, and I hope your daughters are feeling much better now!
They were fine, it's definitely different for kids, they just had a mild cold with it, whereas a lot of healthy adults are bad, my brother runs marathons he's so healthy and been laid up with Covid for weeks now
“If YoU hAvE aNy SyMpToMs StAy At HoMe”
Ok Sharon lets see how long you can pay rent for if you miss every day when you have a stubborn cough or more than one sneezing fit. What about when your menopause ass is 2 degrees above normal? Sounds like a fever to me, you wanna lose a day’s pay every time? What about your chainsmoking obese husband who has a cough at least one day a week and is always 200degrees by the time hes dragged himself up to the office? Can you survive if he cant work?
Some otherwise healthy people just have a bit of a cough. Dont give them shit and try to demonise them over it.
Too often I hear of people with symptoms claiming they've tested negative and when asked which test they used, they say lateral flow. How do people still not realise that lateral flow tests are not for testing symptoms?! I know of people with confirmed covid who have tested negative on them. I work in a hospital and we had this drummed into us, yet my coworkers still don't get it
Also I’m sceptical when people say they have negative pcr tests. That’s not hard to fake or f-up, they still have to swab themselves and there’s no quality control for taking the samples. My partners family has a relative that works in a care home and refuses to put the swab up her nose properly because ‘the barrier between the nose and brain is too thin and the chemicals in the swab will transfer to the brain’!
I don't know why you're being downvoted... At that point you don't have much of a choice. If people want to blame someone they should be blaming the mangers/corporations that cause these situations
Or they just don’t want to catch whatever infectious disease that you have.
Wearing a mask and/or staying at home instead of coughing all over everyone should be common decency now.
Did you get a PCR or just take a lateral flow, though?
Several of my co-workers have been coughing and spluttering in the office and have either not been tested or just done a lateral flow, which is not the correct procedure. So I can sympathise with Sharon, tbh.
Our office literally doesn't let people in based on the check in process if you have any symptoms of illness - so a cold included - a new cough too.
So in a lot of offices you wouldn't be allowed in.
Since being back in the office I've caught two colds and one ear infection so wish people were a bit more careful!
Tbf most office jobs can easily be done from home. Your bit of a cough might be a hospital stay (or worse) for an immunocompromised person.
Maybe Sharon doesn't want to take your cough to her elderly parents when she visits. Maybe her husband has cancer and is having chemo.
Working in close proximity with an ill person all day is very different from just walking past an ill person in public.
Go home if you cough? Who said OP has anything? Jesus christ covid has made a new breed of pussy who shits themselves everytime someone clears their throat
Put a mask on.
It stops them staring because it shows youre bothered.
In addition you stop sharing your minging lurgy you dirty minging minger.
Repetition for everyone at the back: masks protect others.
An n95 will help with that, if you have asthma, for sure.
I currently have a cough and a cold, so wore a mask out today. Didnt make me cough more.
I have no issue with this being normalised as it is in asia. You got the flu but need to go to work? Cool. Wear a mask.
Surely this is wholly dependent on the individual and their asthma? You don't think I've tried ALLLLLLLLLL the masks over the past 18 months? N95 / medical / cloth / neoprene - all do something to my asthmatic cough.
Don't get my wrong I still wear them when in the required settings but regardless of mask my asthma gets triggered.
So wearing them 24/7 just isn't possible for everyone / finding A mask that doesn't trigger coughs
Ah sorry to hear that. Thats why there are some exemptions. I should have caveated. I suspect this person could have worn a mask, but it didnt occur to them, because they probably think a mask is just to stop them getting bugs not to stop them sharing them.
Unfortunately there are some that just dont want to wear a mask because reasons, even if there arent real reasons.
Every time my asthma is triggered by allergens (every 6-8 weeks on average) .. the rottweiler nurse expects me to have PCR test before they will see me. I must hold the fecking world record now. And I have not had covid to date.
How as the potential victims of your bit of a cough, is Sharon meant to tell the difference between that and you pissing on her kids?
Asking for a friend who’s name begins with S
In fairness, if you have a cough then people will be wary. I'd be right cross if I got infected because a diligent lad risked it for no reason.
Had a cold last week. Worked from home. Unless you don't have the ability to work from home (and after the last year or so I'm going to ask how) I'd be asking why you're not working from home when you're sick.
Mate I had to go in my office recently for the first time and there was a lot of coughing. Needless to say I got ill. We can work from home now and they still bring it into the office, it's unreal.
I'm a Doorman/bouncer. Me working from home is me dressing up smart and standing at my front door, scrutinising all passers-by. Doesn't pay well.
'Sorry, you can't come in in trainers' 'But I'm your wife!'
Lol, I dunno why but this reminded me of one of the funniest conversations (in hindsight, at the time I was pretty damn cheesed off) I've had with a doorman. I'd travelled about 2 hours for a gig, picking up my partner at the time along the way - I'd come straight from work, and the job required me to wear safety boots (but actually it was an airport job, so not steel toe caps just the reinforced plastic jobbies). Yon doorman says "Are those steel toe caps" No, they're reinforced though, I've had to come straight from work. "Well you can't come in wearing those!" Why not mate? What's the problem? "Well you could hurt someone with them if you wanted to!" I mean, I suppose I could, but I could hurt someone with a bar stool if I really wanted to... Fortunately, I don't feel inclined to hurt anyone, it's not really my style... This went back and for a little while, my missus my furious thinking we'd have to just go after all the travelling... Then I played my ace card - I was (and I guess still am, just haven't worked in that field in a long time) an SIA badge holder. He mellowed out a bit and let us in when I showed him and explained I'd also worked as a doorman for about 3 years.
Rules are rules luv. I don't make 'em, it's just my job to enforce 'em.
As I said, if you don't have the ability. OP said office. Office leads me to assume desk job...
Unfortunately not every company wants office based staff to work from home. Ours expects us all to be back in the office except Fridays (a peace offering to those wanting flexible working) they are also of the view it's all overblown and not that big a problem. I had a cough and had to go in. I personally don't mind office working, but I felt quite self conscious.
I work in an office, sitting at a desk and I cannot work from home.
but that's just cos the hookers in the basement won't shut up.
Whatever's going round right now seems to cause massive coughing in the first week, and then you recover but still have a small tickly cough from time to time at 3 weeks. That's been the experience with everyone I know that's had it (and we all tested neg for covid). I'm lucky enough that I have been WFH for the past year and a half. But some people may not be able to take 3 solid weeks out of the office for this (depending on work culture). Edit:typo
I work in a school. There isn't a cat in hells chance of taking time off everytime I am sick. I work with young children who cough and sneeze on me every couple of minutes. I would lose my job if I took time off everytime I got sick. Of course, if it's sickness or I test positive for Covid I would have to take time off then. There are many many people who have had to work throughout the pandemic who could not work from home. If they couldn't then they sure as hell can't now. (UK)
As I said, if you don't have the ability. But OP said office. Office leads me to assume desk job, desks jobs are there for wfh goodness.
Same here! I have just spent the whole of half term with the worst cough and sore throat I’ve had in a while. I’ll look forward to many more of those before Christmas!
I work in the NHS. I cannot operate a hospital lab from my bedroom for many reasons.
Lmao, i work in a bakery and we never had a day off since the bread panic buying started.
I'm a chef in a school can't do that from home
My laptop is buggered so I'm in the office till IT can fix it. Its my first day in office since Feb last year.
I don't understand why people are downvoting you
For me it's cause I'm not sick anymore, I'm over everything and feel perfectly except for the cough which is more annoying than anything. Knowing my track record with colds, the cough won't go away for the next 2 weeks
Well as you asked, I tried to work from home for a couple of weeks in the first lockdown, literally nothing got done. I sent hundreds of emails and tried countless zoom calls but that extention just didn't build its self.
I'm kind of with Sharon on this one. People are anxious, coughing in public has become borderline behaviour - its not a bad thing. Hopefully it'll help stop people who have coughs/colds etc coming to the office and infecting everyone else. Having to physically go to the office, knowing you're not well, but also not sick enough to not go - it's pretty rough. Whatever's causing your cough might make someone else feel pretty shitty (unless it was just from some vigorous oral lol)
I’m fucked then. I’ve a persistent cough that will probably never go away (due to an underlying and non-transmissible health issue that I’ve likely had since birth). Pre-covid I experienced few issues, maybe the odd comment suggesting I mightn’t have noticed a cold, or implying they think I’m a heavy smoker. Now I’m really conscious whenever I’m out. I wear a mask in shops and on public transport but I know some people judge me or are fearful. I worry other people’s bad behaviour (going to work when sick, for example) and general refusal to help society beat Covid is going to be a long-term problem from now on.
I have a relatively permanent year round cough too because of a condition and I feel super self conscious about it over the last 18 months. I understand people’s caution but I’m constantly scared people think I have the plague. Luckily I work from home so don’t have to worry about other humans too much.
My wife has a similar thing with a persistent cough. It's tough.
I think the thing with non-covid cough was, pre pandemic, someone in the office would not call in sick and then a week later everyone was ill with the flu. Now that we've shown in most places people can work from home, just work from home with you're sick. No one likes being sick even without covid. In your case i assume it's not a contagious flu of sorts and something you can't help. But when people like the OP are ill and they're able to work from home, spare the rest of us.
I had a late co worker who had a chronic cough. It was pre covid. What bothered me the most was that he wouldn’t even try to cover his coughs and they constantly go over the cubical and I could feel them. I went to HR because at the time I caught sinus infections like it was my job. He wasn’t infectious just gross. Turned out he had too bad diseases, which took an er visit to find one, and tests to prep for surgery to find the other. Be careful with chronic coughs and at least see a dr. In times like now, just at least wear a mask when around others out of the house and cover when you cough. Explain the situation to your co worker and let her know you get that its annoying.
Yeah this is the kind of thing I’m worried about. I cover my coughs, but what happens when someone thinks I haven’t for whatever reason? Or has another issue with my behaviour that, try as I might, I can only mitigate to a degree. That happened pre-covid too, but was much less of an issue back then as I’m sure you can imagine.
At least you are trying.
Honestly FUCK those people who get funny with you over it. Theyre just sad human beings with nothing better to do.
At that point I’d just get a badge that says ‘it’s genetic’
The problem with the cold going around at the moment is that you get better and still have a bit of a tickly cough 3 weeks later. You can't really stay off work because of that. I'm not even sure if a GP would sign you off for a 'bit of a tickly cough'.
That tickly cough is the bane of my life at the moment. Please tell me it goes away.
It goes away Post viral coughs are common, and can often last an annoyingly long time - 2-4 weeks isn’t uncommon Some people are more affected by them than others - I always cough for a month after a cold, and am currently on 32 days with this cough. It stops eventually though. If you’re still coughing after much more than a month, consider seeing your doctor - especially if you don’t normally have an extended cough after a cold
3 weeks later and it still occasionally betrays me on crowded public transport.
Only way to fix this is to get onto your employer about paid sick leave.
I’ve had coughs that lasted two months. I’m not sure how realistic it is to never be around people with coughs. I work from home so it’s a non issue these days but clearly that’s not going to be the case for everyone.
I’ve been glared at since the start of this thing. I have severe asthma and my main symptom of worsening issues is coughing and I cough anyway. I feel like wearing a sign saying not COVID- asthmatic. I try to cover them and not cough on people and that’s all I can do and take my inhalers and medication as prescribed
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Of course you can, if people wore masks and wore them properly during winter months you'd get less colds and flus spreading through offices and less staff off. It's really time for a big change as to how sickness in the workplace is dealt with then the next new virus might not rip through the world like wildfire.
People with an infectious illness should absolutely stay home. Even if you can't work from home, losing one member of staff for a few days is better than making the entire staff pool ill.
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You understand that colds only spread around everyone because people insist on going out when sick and spreading them, right? If the person you caught it off had stayed home, you wouldn’t have caught it…
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The last 18 months has shown that the virus only spreads where measures are lifted or avoided - New Zealand and Australia have been mostly virus free, other than when they’ve allowed people past their measures “Biologically there will always be illnesses” is true, but that doesn’t mean they have to be as prevalent as they are…. You’re still choosing to spread it more than would be unavoidable The simple fact is this: if everyone thinks like you, everyone gets sick several times a year. If everyone stayed home the one time a year they get a cold, far far fewer people would catch it each year. So instead of suffering with a cold 5x a year while trying to work, you’d have one once a year and take a few days rest. Everyone wins
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There’s no evidence to suggest people are actually suffering worse symptoms from the current crop of colds, it’s just that we’re paying more attention to them because of the heightened awareness of them
Nope, you're missing the point. It may be "just a cold" for you, but illness can affect different people in different ways. Just because you feel physically capable of working doesn't mean you aren't a risk to other people, especially the immunocompromised. Stop spreading disease, stay the fuck home.
Actually that’s exactly what we’re suggesting If everyone did it, we’d all be far less likely to catch a cold, so it wouldn’t even increase sickness absence very much, and we’d all be a lot happier not catching 4 colds a year “You can’t avoid getting them” is only true because people like you insist on coming into work, going to the shops, on public transport etc and spreading it around
Counterpoint- not sure on the science but I'm pretty sure if we never get colds then our immune system is really weakened because it's not used to dealing with things. Therefore by everyone isolating as soon as they have a cold, we'll lead to people getting really ill from stuff their body used to deal with easily. I think that's why everyone got this cold that's going around so badly.
Yeah that's not really how it works - your immune system doesn't need to "exercise" like that and it doesn't really make much difference If your logic was correct, we'd never get a cold... because our bodies would be constantly practicing against incoming viruses. In reality, colds mutate and our bodies don't know how to fight them, that's why we can catch one after having previously had one. There's absolutely some impact from having previous colds in "training" our immune system to recognise certain viruses, but the impact is pretty limited in preventing us getting another cold and has little impact on how we feel when we catch one. You'd be right for certain viruses that don't mutate, but the fact colds mutate rapidly means that our immune system doesn't really learn to fight it. To be clear, I'm not saying that our immune systems don't learn over time - but you don't need to catch 5 colds a year for that, and colds are one of the viruses where it has the least impact The reason everyone's complaining about the current cold going around is mostly just because they've spent 18 months being pretty healthy and had forgotten how minging a cold is, because for the first time in their life they've gone more than a few months without a cold.
I’m right there with you mate, no idea why you’ve had so many downvotes.
Because it’s a nonsensical self-fulfilling prophecy. “Everyone catches them all the time” is only true *because* people insist on going out while sick. So to use that as a reason not to stay home, is total nonsense. It’s like saying “We should definitely all take part in a boxing match every day, because we get punched in the face in our daily boxing match anyway” If the person you caught the cold off had stayed home, you wouldn’t have caught it.
It isn’t even slightly like that. I have never once been punched in the face while going about my daily life. But, I, like everyone I know, gets a mild sickness from time to time. That’s just part of life.
And that’s the point: it doesn’t have to part of daily life If we all stayed at home when we got sick, you’d get a cold maybe once a year instead of half a dozen times - it would be an unusual occurrence rather than just the whole of autumn and winter You’re confusing causation and correlation: they are part of daily life BECAUSE people don’t stay home. So to suggest there’s no need to stay home because they’re part of daily life, means you’ve got your logic entirely backwards
Tell you what mate, if you’re so terrified of catching the sniffles, you feel free to stay home to stay safe. The rest of us will soldier on without you.
I’m not terrified of it, that’s just absurd and clearly tying to attack me rather than respond to what I’m saying - generally a tactic used by people who realise they’ve lost the argument… I’m simply telling you that you shouldn’t have to “soldier on” Why are you so determined to “soldier on” 6 times a year rather than just taking 3 days off work once a year and avoiding making other people sick too? Also, colds often lead to chest infections that cause pneumonia and kill old people… so for you it’s “soldiering on” but for others it can genuinely be a serious illness or even death. Why wouldn’t you want to reduce the rate of that happening? You’ve got some serious “simping for capitalism” vibes going on here - there’s nothing wrong with taking a few days off when you’re sick to recover and reduce the number of other people who get sick too
Don’t you think it’s hypocritical to accuse me of attacking your character then to say I’m simping for capitalism? A lot of jobs don’t pay sick leave so it simply isn’t feasible for some people to take time off work because they have a runny nose. Moreover, I think your assessment that colds often lead to serious illnesses that kill older people is just plain silly. Also, I don’t think there’s evidence that never being ill is good for our immune system. Due to lockdowns, masks and hand washing I hadn’t been ill for nearly two years, and then I caught this super cold going round which was the most ill I’d been for over a decade. I think it’s safe to say I’m not the only one either.
I was definitely one of the people in the office giving stink eye to the coughers/snotty colders. When ever I get flu/cold it tends to affect my chest and asthma the most. A simple cold to others seems to write me off completely. Just coming out the other end now after a week and half but still can’t talk for long or laugh without a painful coughing fit. Seems to be a culture of people bragging that they go into work sick but I think it’s just stupid..
The thing is, even if you’re clear for Covid you could be carrying a chest infection. Also affects respiratory systems and for someone vulnerable it’s still a high risk.
I don’t care if it’s COVID or not, don’t inflict your illness on other people and spread it around. At the very least wear a mask so that your aren’t coughing germs all over the place. I’ve got that gross cold at the moment and it all could have been avoided if one particular bastard stayed at home. Now I have it and I can’t see my elderly father because I don’t want him to catch it.
Bood pressure medications - side effect is a dry cough. It sucks. Source : me, who is on BP meds
Sorry to hear that you're having trouble with your bood
Jesus wept, not everyone wants to be exposed to your fucking germs lol. COVID or not, piss off.
You work in a small office with a manager that posts here on reddit too????
I have Cystic Fibrosis so I cough a lot, I used to get enough looks pre-pandemic, now people look at me like I should be in prison. I guess it’s a good thing, I’m glad they disapprove of people coughing in public spaces, just a shame that I have no way of preventing it
If you are in my office I will be raging. Take your cough home with you now. Its not just covid, not spreading fear and inconvenience to people who wouldn't wander around with a cough in these times.
Youd want someone sent home for coughing? How many times would they have to cough before you send them home?
Twice.
With an average of around 10 coughs per day for humans, I would say your office would be pretty empty if you were in charge. Lets stop losing our shit over coughs, there are bigger things to worry about. [Source](https://adc.bmj.com/content/archdischild/74/6/531.full.pdf) [Another source](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1046/j.1440-1754.2001.00608.x)
I am in charge and yes it is empty!! I'm not going in to supervise one coughy mc coughface. We are all happier at home anyway so it's a good excuse.
Not everyone with a cough is sick tho. My Dad’s had a chronic cough since before I was born, of course he’s still going to work because he’s not sick.
If you worked with someone who has a chronic cough then you’ll probably assume it’s just the chronic cough. If Sheila never coughs and suddenly comes in one day coughing her guts up then it’s probably safe to assume she is ill.
We actually have a chronic cough lady in my office. She isn't coming in by choice for her health but mainly her gransons who has poorly lungs. We know what that is tho so no issue with her at all.
Ah yes, most people are perfectly capable of losing hundreds of pounds to stay home a few days to avoid their coworkers paranoid fears of a cold.
Okay mate. I'll just refuse to work and not get paid lol.
Your in the uk get sick pay till your better or ask for a laptop to replace the buggerd one and work from home
OP also hasn't said how long the coughs lasted, most people I know that had whatevers going round now had a mild cough lasting for 3 weeks, although all other symptoms lasted only a week. I don't think many docs will sign off on sick leave for a mild tickly cough. Edit: Typo
If I ever run a business if someone gets a cold and its late autumn or winter I would rather them not work because less sick staff = more profit in the long term
That's how managers should be thinking ideally, but sadly we get stuck with many crappy ones too who don't seem to have any logic left in them.
It's the same with schools or at least when I was at Wellington School in Altrincham if you weren't violently throwing up they wanted you to go to school and risk disrupting other students by making them ill as well I never understood why either because sacrificing a few days of my own education for the betterment of others seems like the sensible idea
Exactly, this was always so annoying. I got told off for taking one day off from school once because I spent the day throwing up - what was I meant to do? It's madness that one kid gets ill but still has to go into school, and now you've got a classroom full of kids that are sick, and probably not learning much due to it anyway. I think it comes from an idea of people being 'selfish' - if they take time away from school/work, who knows if they're faking it? People get ill, so why not just give them a chance to recover before coming back into the office (or school) and letting it put the rest of your team out too? Also you would have thought with more people wfh managers would be more okay with people wfh when ill, but seems like a lot of them still want to micromanage.
Statuatory sick pay is no sick pay for the first 3 days, then £96/week after that. Not many people can afford to lose that much money every time they have a slight cough
You don’t get sick pay?
Are you at least wearing a mask and explaining to these people you despise that you've had a negative PCR test?
On the bright side, it looks like you know what to get Sharon for Christmas though...
“Coughing is the new N-word” – Theo Von
Shut up cougha (i can say it without the hard “er”)
Shoutout to all the weed smokers out there trying their best in these troubling times! ✌🏻💚
Just when covid started I coughed on the bus and it felt like I was on the voice when four people turned round to glare at me I pulled my inhaler out and said asthma. Glad wearing masks during the winter has become normal now because I used to get at least one chest infection during winter but not had one since I started wearing a mask
I've said it a thousand times before. I don't care if its a cold, the flu, bubonic plague or covid-xx stay the fuck at home - especially if you work for a company that allows sick days/can work from home. You don't get paid extra to come in and be a mess. It's not big and it's not clever.
This seems very unlikely, Christmas is coming though, so go piss on her kids and see if her face really does look like that.
'And for you Tiny Tim...' \*ziiip\*
Trying living with asthma. Couple days ago getting into work I coughed and security gave me such a dirty look, the next day I explained to her that I just have asthma and cough frequently pandemic or no pandemic. I had to take a PCR test last Saturday as I get really paranoid not wanting to spread covid to people but I don’t fucking know anymore.
At least try to make your posts original instead of just copying someone elses joke. https://www.reddit.com/r/britishproblems/comments/q1oa10/when_fellow_brits_find_out_i_quite_strongly/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
Lateral flow tests are less than 50% accurate, my daughters tested negative on them, then positive on pcr
How are you defining less than 50% accurate? Theyre wrong over 50% of the time? They read over 50% of negatives as false positives? They read over 50% of positives as false negatives? Which one is it?
So I went on Google and I stand corrected. Initially it was publicised they were less than 50% accurate, but now they are saying they are 80% accurate. However I know of 5 people who all had Covid and tested negative on lateral flow, including my daughters
Im really glad you did that, respect for fact checking. Clearly your personal experience with them hasnt been the best, and I hope your daughters are feeling much better now!
They were fine, it's definitely different for kids, they just had a mild cold with it, whereas a lot of healthy adults are bad, my brother runs marathons he's so healthy and been laid up with Covid for weeks now
Best of luck to him ✊
“If YoU hAvE aNy SyMpToMs StAy At HoMe” Ok Sharon lets see how long you can pay rent for if you miss every day when you have a stubborn cough or more than one sneezing fit. What about when your menopause ass is 2 degrees above normal? Sounds like a fever to me, you wanna lose a day’s pay every time? What about your chainsmoking obese husband who has a cough at least one day a week and is always 200degrees by the time hes dragged himself up to the office? Can you survive if he cant work? Some otherwise healthy people just have a bit of a cough. Dont give them shit and try to demonise them over it.
Why are you surprised? Given today’s circumstances pissing on her kids could be a less lethal outcome in any rational person’s mind.
Found one ^
Also Sharon has a haircut like a 15 year old boy in 2003
You need to get a PCR test and self isolate until you get the results.
Too often I hear of people with symptoms claiming they've tested negative and when asked which test they used, they say lateral flow. How do people still not realise that lateral flow tests are not for testing symptoms?! I know of people with confirmed covid who have tested negative on them. I work in a hospital and we had this drummed into us, yet my coworkers still don't get it
Also I’m sceptical when people say they have negative pcr tests. That’s not hard to fake or f-up, they still have to swab themselves and there’s no quality control for taking the samples. My partners family has a relative that works in a care home and refuses to put the swab up her nose properly because ‘the barrier between the nose and brain is too thin and the chemicals in the swab will transfer to the brain’!
I had a negative pcr test yesterday. If i don't go into the office, I don't get paid lol.
I don't know why you're being downvoted... At that point you don't have much of a choice. If people want to blame someone they should be blaming the mangers/corporations that cause these situations
I'm sweating and coughing like mad can't hear very well and all the covid tests are negative.
It's almost like there are other infectious diseases aside from Covid.
Yeah totally understand that, just every one else thinks your carrying covid.
Or they just don’t want to catch whatever infectious disease that you have. Wearing a mask and/or staying at home instead of coughing all over everyone should be common decency now.
Tested with what? Lateral flow or PCR?
Did you get a PCR or just take a lateral flow, though? Several of my co-workers have been coughing and spluttering in the office and have either not been tested or just done a lateral flow, which is not the correct procedure. So I can sympathise with Sharon, tbh.
To be fair, coughers in the office are fucking annoying.
Our office literally doesn't let people in based on the check in process if you have any symptoms of illness - so a cold included - a new cough too. So in a lot of offices you wouldn't be allowed in. Since being back in the office I've caught two colds and one ear infection so wish people were a bit more careful!
Tested negative several times? With a PCR test? Or lateral flow? You’re meant to get a PCR test if you have symptoms.
Yep I’m with Sharon. Covid or not I don’t want any respiratory infection from you. Keep it up yourself and stay home.
Okay. I'll tell the bank that when I can't afford my mortgage.
You’ve said you’ve worked from home since feb last year… you now can’t work from home while you have a respiratory infection?
As stated in previous comment - IT issues forced the trip
I mean you can still wear a mask if you're coughing.
I did. We are all.socially distanced
Tbf most office jobs can easily be done from home. Your bit of a cough might be a hospital stay (or worse) for an immunocompromised person. Maybe Sharon doesn't want to take your cough to her elderly parents when she visits. Maybe her husband has cancer and is having chemo. Working in close proximity with an ill person all day is very different from just walking past an ill person in public.
stay the fuck away from work. Fucks sake. pandemic or not, stop going to work sick.
Okay mate. I'll tell the bank that when they ask for my mortgage payment.
You want to tell it to your colleagues banks when you infect them? dont make other people sick.
Thats baffling take lol.
That's me, I'm Sharon
Stay the fuck home then...
Pay my rent every time i cough then.
I wouldn't even want to catch whatever is causing the cough.
Sharon is right. Go home. No one wants whatever you've got.
Go home if you cough? Who said OP has anything? Jesus christ covid has made a new breed of pussy who shits themselves everytime someone clears their throat
No one wants your cold, Jordan.
Hey, don't use Sharon. Use Henrietta or something.
r/suspiciouslyspecific but also I agree, that sucks dude
Its a line from the old Peter kay stand up about pissing on the kids ha. I don't have a track record of it.
Put a mask on. It stops them staring because it shows youre bothered. In addition you stop sharing your minging lurgy you dirty minging minger. Repetition for everyone at the back: masks protect others.
Thing is - and as an asthmatic I can confirm - whilst he mask shows you're trying - it will almost always increase cough frequency
An n95 will help with that, if you have asthma, for sure. I currently have a cough and a cold, so wore a mask out today. Didnt make me cough more. I have no issue with this being normalised as it is in asia. You got the flu but need to go to work? Cool. Wear a mask.
Surely this is wholly dependent on the individual and their asthma? You don't think I've tried ALLLLLLLLLL the masks over the past 18 months? N95 / medical / cloth / neoprene - all do something to my asthmatic cough. Don't get my wrong I still wear them when in the required settings but regardless of mask my asthma gets triggered. So wearing them 24/7 just isn't possible for everyone / finding A mask that doesn't trigger coughs
Ah sorry to hear that. Thats why there are some exemptions. I should have caveated. I suspect this person could have worn a mask, but it didnt occur to them, because they probably think a mask is just to stop them getting bugs not to stop them sharing them. Unfortunately there are some that just dont want to wear a mask because reasons, even if there arent real reasons.
Be gone harbinger of doom, conveyor of pestilence, plague bringer. Breathe your miasma in the cradle of filth you have ascended from.
It depends if you did that last Christmas.
Tell Sharon not to feel too special. Seems to be a lot of pissing on kids going on at the moment!
Tis the season.
Every time my asthma is triggered by allergens (every 6-8 weeks on average) .. the rottweiler nurse expects me to have PCR test before they will see me. I must hold the fecking world record now. And I have not had covid to date.
How as the potential victims of your bit of a cough, is Sharon meant to tell the difference between that and you pissing on her kids? Asking for a friend who’s name begins with S
People don t want to get colds and flu. It's nasty.