Please Stay Home

"Are you okay?" I asked my coworker as he filled up his water bottle in the kitchenette. His voice was raspy and his nose was all plugged up.

"Yeah, yeah. I thought it was allergies but it turned into some kind of freak cold that won't go away," he explained. "But don't worry; it's not contagious anymore."

I should have known better.

Here I find myself nine days and two bags of Ricola later and to be honest I don't know what's worse: the chest cold I caught from the water cooler or the annoyance I feel at my coworker.

Unlike many hourly workers who don't receive paid sick time, I work at a medium-sized publishing house where everyone on staff receives very generous benefits -- including paid sick leave. So why do my coworkers feel the need to come to work when they're running a fever and very obviously carrying a contagious illness?

Here's a theory: from kindergarten on we're conditioned to justify sickness. Too sick to go to school? Convince your mom. Too sick to go to Psych 101? Get a doctor's note to prove it to your professor. Too sick to take your final? Too bad.

For many of us who find ourselves out of college and suddenly free of this ridiculous responsibility to prove illness, it's an odd position to be in. All of sudden, we're free to determine what we can and cannot do, should and should not do, when we should and should not stay home.

To those of us who don't have the luxury of paid sick leave, my hat is off to you. And to those of us who work through the flu and chest colds and whatever else to financially support a family or student loans, mad props.

But to my fellow worker bees with paid sick leave: I beg of you, as I type this and cough, please consider staying home the next time you're ill. Your coworkers will thank you and so will your sinuses.

Photo Credit: By Evan-Amos (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons