For 10 years, Americans have had access to flu shots that protect against four strains of the virus: two A strains and two B strains. Starting this fall, however, all the flu shots distributed in the United States will contain only three strains, and the change happened in part because of Covid-19.
Wearing a mask and staying away from people when sick is a much better approach. Also being aware of what being sick even is since some people just kinda ignore their symptoms as “a cold”.
The culture I grew up with valued this type of thing.
Why did you miss work? A cold? If you’re not in the hospital and you’re not here, you are a slacker.
It doesn’t help when you don’t have any more paid sick time and you need to keep paying the rent.
It’s so infuriating that it feels like life is structured in such a way that it is difficult or impossible to recover from these types of things without exposing people to your own sickness.
No excuses for people that are sick don’t stay home when they have the opportunity though.
ETA: masking does definitely help though and I’m glad the culture doesn’t find it as unusual as before
It’s such bullshit. I am ill with a mystery illness that I am going to the Mayo Clinic at the end of the month and have been for over a year now. Before I left my last job, I was told (after being told that they understood that I was sick and to take as much time off as I needed) that I had taken 80 hours of time off in the last year and I had to go on FMLA or quit. So I went on FMLA and then quit because I wasn’t getting any better. It’s been a good thing for a lot of reasons despite going down to a single income, but it’s bullshit that I should be put in that position because of health problems that I could not avoid.
It is so much bullshit that you get put in that situation for something that isn’t your fault, but glad you had options. It is appalling how we neglect the sick and disabled. My partner was physically messed up for nearly a decade because she could not afford the healthcare or the time off needed. (Fortunately she is doing much better now after I could support her financially to get treated.) In a time of great abundance, this should not be a common occurrence.
The thing about that kind of attitude is that it’s inherently self-defeating, because if you insist your employees come to work sick, they’re going to get everyone else sick too, and productivity will plummet even if everyone keeps showing up. Sick employees don’t perform well.
You assume performance matters. A ridiculously large number of jobs are “bullshit jobs” and just require a body/someone to be there.
Example: When I was a teen I had a job at a roller skating rink that involved working at a snack bar. On Tuesdays (designated little kids figure skating practice time) the likelihood that anyone would enter the place was slim and the likelihood that someone would come to the snack bar was probably 1/10th of that. However, if the place was claiming to be open at that time they needed someone there. If only to prevent people from stealing the snacks/drinks 😁
Even at “modern” offices there’s tons of jobs that don’t have anything practically measurable in terms of “performance”. How do you measure the performance of a receptionist who’s job is to just hand people clipboards and then enter their info? Smiles? Typos? LOL
Even “fancy” jobs like “systems administrator” often have no realistic measure of performance. Did anything break today? No? Fantastic job 😁👍
I lost all hope when, at the end of the pandemic and the mask mandates, I saw clearly sick people out and about without a mask.
Like what the heck, wasn’t that enough of a lesson?
Sometimes I wish that COVID was more virulent than it was because it clearly didn’t traumatise people as much as it should have.
Wild pitch… What if we stayed home when we had “just a cold”?
Colds suck, it’s not macho to spread or be exposed to infectious diseases, and I have no idea why people act like it is
Everyone should have the ability to take sick days, but a lot of people have the ability to, no questions asked, and still come in to not “waste” PTO. I used to do that too - I didn’t even consider it until COVID
Wearing a mask and staying away from people when sick is a much better approach. Also being aware of what being sick even is since some people just kinda ignore their symptoms as “a cold”.
I’m willing to bet that WFH plays a big role in public health.
The culture I grew up with valued this type of thing.
Why did you miss work? A cold? If you’re not in the hospital and you’re not here, you are a slacker.
It doesn’t help when you don’t have any more paid sick time and you need to keep paying the rent.
It’s so infuriating that it feels like life is structured in such a way that it is difficult or impossible to recover from these types of things without exposing people to your own sickness.
No excuses for people that are sick don’t stay home when they have the opportunity though.
ETA: masking does definitely help though and I’m glad the culture doesn’t find it as unusual as before
It’s such bullshit. I am ill with a mystery illness that I am going to the Mayo Clinic at the end of the month and have been for over a year now. Before I left my last job, I was told (after being told that they understood that I was sick and to take as much time off as I needed) that I had taken 80 hours of time off in the last year and I had to go on FMLA or quit. So I went on FMLA and then quit because I wasn’t getting any better. It’s been a good thing for a lot of reasons despite going down to a single income, but it’s bullshit that I should be put in that position because of health problems that I could not avoid.
It is so much bullshit that you get put in that situation for something that isn’t your fault, but glad you had options. It is appalling how we neglect the sick and disabled. My partner was physically messed up for nearly a decade because she could not afford the healthcare or the time off needed. (Fortunately she is doing much better now after I could support her financially to get treated.) In a time of great abundance, this should not be a common occurrence.
I hope you find answers and relief soon.
The thing about that kind of attitude is that it’s inherently self-defeating, because if you insist your employees come to work sick, they’re going to get everyone else sick too, and productivity will plummet even if everyone keeps showing up. Sick employees don’t perform well.
You assume performance matters. A ridiculously large number of jobs are “bullshit jobs” and just require a body/someone to be there.
Example: When I was a teen I had a job at a roller skating rink that involved working at a snack bar. On Tuesdays (designated little kids figure skating practice time) the likelihood that anyone would enter the place was slim and the likelihood that someone would come to the snack bar was probably 1/10th of that. However, if the place was claiming to be open at that time they needed someone there. If only to prevent people from stealing the snacks/drinks 😁
Even at “modern” offices there’s tons of jobs that don’t have anything practically measurable in terms of “performance”. How do you measure the performance of a receptionist who’s job is to just hand people clipboards and then enter their info? Smiles? Typos? LOL
Even “fancy” jobs like “systems administrator” often have no realistic measure of performance. Did anything break today? No? Fantastic job 😁👍
You are so very right. However, these facts do not deter these managers. (And other people that think like this.)
I lost all hope when, at the end of the pandemic and the mask mandates, I saw clearly sick people out and about without a mask.
Like what the heck, wasn’t that enough of a lesson?
Sometimes I wish that COVID was more virulent than it was because it clearly didn’t traumatise people as much as it should have.
Wild pitch… What if we stayed home when we had “just a cold”?
Colds suck, it’s not macho to spread or be exposed to infectious diseases, and I have no idea why people act like it is
Everyone should have the ability to take sick days, but a lot of people have the ability to, no questions asked, and still come in to not “waste” PTO. I used to do that too - I didn’t even consider it until COVID