Sick

Yup, that's me at the beginning of flu season.
I do everything I can to avoid getting sick - wash my hands frequently, dress warmly, eat healthy... but as a public transit commuter, I'm doomed to contract someone's nasty cough or cold. There's always that one guy who sits next to you on the train, hacking and blowing their nose in an overused tissue. Question: WHY CAN'T YOU PEOPLE STAY AT HOME?

That's where I was this afternoon, after trudging an hour to work and back once I realized the spinning floor, chills, and rising body temperature had nothing to do with my temporary office space, the previous night's harsh workout, or the oncoming migraine that WOULDN'T. GO. AWAY.

Came home, slept for a few hours in vertigo misery. Feelin' more human now, but I hate having cold, sweaty feet, and how everything you touch when you're sick is so cold it makes you want to vomit.

Maybe it's only in North America that being sick and away from the office is considered a crime. It seems that even with the evolving strains of flu and epidemics like SARS or Legionnaire's disease, or that nasty stomach virus that plagued cruise ships, people INSIST they just have to go to work.

Sure, I know the best way to get rid of a cold is to spread it around, but some of these things kill healthy people. Are employers to blame? Are they putting too much emphasis on productivity, and unintentionally threatening their employees the job security and chances of promotion?

For example, a former employer of mine came down with the above-mentioned stomach virus one winter. And she STILL came to work. I found her lying on the floor, covered in a blanket, feverish, vomitting, and looking pretty close to death. I ask, WHY would anyone come to work in that state? I ended up escorting her to the doctor's office on company time, and trying very hard not to catch the extremely contagious virus myself.

My sister was in a major car accident last year that bashed her up pretty good. Thankfully, only the car was broken beyond repair, and she took a week of rest to heal her swollen face. On the day of the accident, as she called work from the hospital, her boss flippantly told her that her daughter had been in a car accident and had simply picked the pieces of broken glass out of her face and returned to work, like a good little automaton, and hinted she should do the same.

Bitch. Of course, this same boss woman let her cancerous tumour become unbearable before she allowed herself to take time off work to have it treated. People with that kind of attitude are on Darwin's peripherals, and end up getting theirs.

And now, I think I'm about to vomit so I have to stop.