Friday, November 18, 2011

Whinefest

I have a job. The department I work in is chronically understaffed. There should ideally be 3 or 4 people in it, but there's just me.

This means that arranging holidays is a nightmare and if I have a cold although I'd love to remain at home and coddle it I have to battle on and work.

Some of my colleagues have whined and say: "You shouldn't come to work with a cold! You should stay at home!"

My reply was: "You do realise that if I stayed at home, you would be in difficulties?"

"How?" was the truculent reply.

"Because if I do not come into work then you will not be able to do your jobs and you will lose your commission for the month!"

The worst offender actually becomes very offensive. Forgetting that she regularly brings colds into work!

1 comment:

AlexisAR said...

I feel for you, Matt. I've seldom been in situations where replacements for me were not easy enough to find, but still, I can imagine what a pain it would be.

Regarding the whiners, colds are ever-present. One seldom knows from whom one actually catches a dreaded upper respiratory virus.
even if one is fortunate enough to have a generous paid sick-leave policy, the days will be used up before someone says, "Bless you!" following a sneeze if one remains at home for the duration of every cold.

The key is in knowing when something is a cold or something more serious. One shouldn't show up for work with a case of pertussis or H1N1. For a simple cold, most of us lack the luxury of curling up on the sofa with a blanket.

People should be realistic.