Sick and Working

[Kesnit]

This is in part a rant and in part looking for ideas...

My wife and I woke up Sunday morning feeling like crud. We took medicine that day, but spent Sunday night and last night coughing, sweating, shivering, etc. She called out from work yesterday and today, but there is not a single day this week I can take off. (My wife tested positive for the flu yesterday. I tested negative.)

Yesterday morning I had sentencings and yesterday afternoon some misdemeanor trials.

This morning is the bimonthly event that takes every attorney in the office, unless we are covering another court. Since I am actually covering another court, me calling out would mean another attorney would have to miss the event to cover for me. This afternoon, I have to meet with clients at the jail. (I can't put it off.)

Tomorrow morning I have a hearing that is somewhat complicated, so I can't ask someone to cover it for me. Plus, I have clients coming in later that morning that I have to meet with. (I may be able to reschedule my afternoon client meetings and go home early.)

Thursday morning is a full morning of hearings which, again, I can't ask someone to cover for me. Not sure I have anything Thursday afternoon.

Friday I have the rest of my sentencings, but nothing in the afternoon.

I can probably take an afternoon off, but that largely defeats the purpose since I feel worse in the morning. (I thought I had kicked it until I woke up at 1AM this morning coughing.)

[danzibr]

Just learned most over the counter sleeping pills last 4 hours. So if take some before bed, then wake up wide awake, might have time to pop some more.

Anyway. I’ve never been one to take off when sick. I used to be a teacher. One morning I was feeling terrible, walked out the door, barfed in my lawn, then kept on to work.

[Khedrac]

I think a lot depends on the nature of the illness.

A many years ago I struggled in to work with a heavy cold and kept on working for a long as I could. The way I would describe how I felt was "head full of cotton wool" - I wasn't seriously ill, but I certainly wasn't well.
When I finally recovered and came back from being off sick I opened the code module I had been working on before I left, I was forced to delete the entire module and start again as I could not make any sense of what the code was supposed to do. From this I learnt that trying to work when you are not thinking straight is a waste of time - I will not be doing productive work and I will just prolong the process and potentially infect more people. I believe my brother has been known to devote days when he was partially impaired by illness to cleaning up his Inbox - a relatively simple task not so affected by mental incapacity.
On the flip side, the sort of illness that leads to vomiting often doesn't impair mental facilities, so, so long as you can control the infect risk and manage the physical symptoms, continuing working makes a lot more sense.

Back to the OP - I feel for you as you do seem to be caught with no easy solutions. I do recommend the 'cold & flu hot lemon' (or 'hot blackcurrant') drinks one can buy - somehow they do seem to help with the mental impairment as well as all the other sold & flu symptoms - I think it is the paracetamol in them, so if you are only mildly ill they may provide enough relief to get you through your work.

Do take any afternoons off that you can - you may feel worse in the mornings, but getting rest in the afternoons should help your body fight the infection quicker leading to better mornings.

Good luck!

[caden_varn]

As someone who takes immune-suppressing medicine to control my rheumatoid arthritis, it is important to think about avoiding infecting others. If you have a infectious condition & come sit next to me all day, I am not only likely to catch it, but I'll suffer a lot worse than you.

I appreciate it can be difficult, especially if your work is primarily face to face, like a teacher, but there is no need for it in my workplace - people can, and often do, work from home easily. So if you are ill, but don't want to take a sick-day, please work from home & try not to infect people like me.

[Khedrac]

As someone who takes immune-suppressing medicine to control my rheumatoid arthritis, it is important to think about avoiding infecting others. If you have a infectious condition & come sit next to me all day, I am not only likely to catch it, but I'll suffer a lot worse than you.

I appreciate it can be difficult, especially if your work is primarily face to face, like a teacher, but there is no need for it in my workplace - people can, and often do, work from home easily. So if you are ill, but don't want to take a sick-day, please work from home & try not to infect people like me.

I forgot the above reason - but it is the really big ones, and it literally is a killer. Anyone on immune-suppressing drugs runs quite a serious risk associating with anyone infectious, and you won't necessarily know who they are.

[Scarlet Knight]

I hope all is well; did it work out?

"Presenteeism" is a real problem for many American workers. So many do not get benefits, so "no work, no pay". One day out may drop your weeks income by 20% which can be tragic for thoses living hand to mouth.

Add in the culture of "toughing it out for the good of the team" and it becomes commonplace. It's one thing to lose a sale because you're not at you're best; it's quite another thing to miss a key point that keeps your client from deportation.

The concept of "working from home" is for the priviledged few but it is likely growing as more jobs become computer based. Still, a miner, a saleswoman or a court lawyer has to show up to work to do their job. The process of lawyers defending their clients via skype has shown to be a tragedy for defendants.

Even a law office with fore thought & benefits can be overwhelmed if understaffing exists.

[oxybe]

I do an hourly wage midnight to 8am tech support from home. real grateful i was allowed as i no long have to cab it to work. real nice from the higher ups to set me up.

But when you only have 2 people covering nationwide service, you hesitate to call in sick. last thing I want to do is leave my dude alone taking calls when you know there's a snowstorm going on in a service area and it's UFC night.

Which meant this weekend was absolutely terrible. my face is leaking from anywhere it can: tearducts, sinuses, you name it. my throat is sore from coughing, i have a headache, chills and body aches i've been keeping at bay with no name advil. I've been keeping hydrated but dang is it still crummy.

when the pharmacy opens in an hour i'm getting some orange juice refill, fisherman's friend losanges, more cup a soup and the lemon stuff to help decongest and going to bed.

[Kesnit]

Just learned most over the counter sleeping pills last 4 hours. So if take some before bed, then wake up wide awake, might have time to pop some more.

I was taking 12 hour meds to get through the night. I don't think they were actually working that long, though...


As someone who takes immune-suppressing medicine to control my rheumatoid arthritis, it is important to think about avoiding infecting others. If you have a infectious condition & come sit next to me all day, I am not only likely to catch it, but I'll suffer a lot worse than you.

I hated the idea of going to see clients at the jail while sick because I know the jail is a disease incubator. I did what I could to stay away from people (and there is a plastic panel between me and my clients), but there is only so much I can do.


people can, and often do, work from home easily.

I'm a criminal defense attorney. Working from home is not an option when I have court. (I can bring my laptop home and work if I'm not in court, but that does not count as work from home and I still have to take a sick day.)


I hope all is well; did it work out?

I got through that week and the week after. It was painful, but I survived. I now have a cough and some chest congestion, but that is fairly typical for this time of year.


a court lawyer has to show up to work to do their job.

My boss made it very clear I would not be able to take off unless I was in the hospital. I wasn't that sick.


The process of lawyers defending their clients via skype has shown to be a tragedy for defendants.

Where I practice, that wouldn't even be an option. The courtrooms aren't set up for that.

[caden_varn]

Certainly, working from home is not an option for everyone - many people do need to be in face to face contact, such as teachers and lawyers like yourself, or are working manually.

However, when people do have the option, and turn up anyway, that is very different.

Oxybe's (and probably Kesnit's) also illuminates another problem - companies employing the absolute bare minimum they can get away with, so any absenteeism, whether through illness or even normal annual leave, causes major disruptions and workload pile-ups.
This is especially true if you have any long-term illness - some years back got a prolapsed disc in my lower back that required surgery. Recovery from that meant I would be signed off for a minimum of 2 months. Since my department at the time consisted of me & my boss, that was a difficult thing for the company to deal with - they had to draft in however they could from the other countries to help cover for that period, and even then a lot of stuff just did not get done.
I hated doing that to my boss, but there was just no alternative at that point. It was at least a scheduled operation, so we had time to scramble around getting cover & delaying projects in advance.