The General Chat Thread (2023)

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The ice storm is gone, so winter whiplash is on. 71 by Monday.

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CD
 
I hope our NE members have their woolies on. New Hampshire recorded a record wind chill of -108F!!! Thats -78 for the celsius folks. It also means Republicans will be calling climate change a hoax later today.

CD
 
We had an exceptionally humid winter here in Portugal, and one of the walls of my office space was almost entirely black with mould.
We're finally having some sunny days so I took the weekend to take care of that wall with a specific mold removal product. I knew these kind of products were nasty, but I wasn't expecting it to be this nasty. Three days later and I still get a cough when I walk into the office, and I've been keeping the office windows open all day since Saturday.

The product label has use instructions for use. Which are as follows:

1. Get dressed like you were a scientist working in an ebola lab
2. Open all the windows and doors in your house, your neighbors house and all the buildings in the vicinity. Evacuate your street
3. Apply from a safe distance of 3kms
4. Leave the house and run to the hills
5. Return three days later and burn the house down
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I know we are all different but I am quite shocked by the amount of time off some of my colleagues take..'sick'. I wasn't raised like that, my mum's reaction was always has you leg fallen off? no? then you can get up and go out the door. I still live by this.
 
Lullabelle said:
I know we are all different but I am quite shocked by the amount of time off some of my colleagues take..'sick'. I wasn't raised like that, my mum's reaction was always has you leg fallen off? no? then you can get up and go out the door. I still live by this.
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I agree entirely. In the 40 odd years that I worked for a living I'm sure that I didn't have a weekday off due to being sick.
 
Lullabelle said:
I know we are all different but I am quite shocked by the amount of time off some of my colleagues take..'sick'. I wasn't raised like that, my mum's reaction was always has you leg fallen off? no? then you can get up and go out the door. I still live by this.
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But staff coming into work when they're ill and clearly ill with something contagious isn't fair to the rest of the world either. On one occasion my colleague did exactly that. He was sent home after lunch because he was useless as he was and not safe in the server room or with admin access to the network when he couldn't think clearly. Within 2 days every single member of staff that worked in that building (6 others) were also off sick, most of us off for 2 weeks or longer including the Headmasters wife who passed it on to him. That building, the library and ICT rooms and help desk had to be closed to all staff and students alike because there was no-one to run it at all.

Plus going to work with something contagious in a boarding school isn't a good move either.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
But staff coming into work when they're ill and clearly ill with something contagious isn't fair to the rest of the world either. On one occasion my colleague did exactly that. He was sent home after lunch because he was useless as he was and not safe in the server room or with admin access to the network when he couldn't think clearly. Within 2 days every single member of staff that worked in that building (6 others) were also off sick, most of us off for 2 weeks or longer including the Headmasters wife who passed it on to him. That building, the library and ICT rooms and help desk had to be closed to all staff and students alike because there was no-one to run it at all.

Plus going to work with something contagious in a boarding school isn't a good move either.
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To be honest the majority of 'illness' is another name for 'can't be bothered', very few are genuine. They can't come in as the are really bad with flu, come in the next day right as rain.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
But staff coming into work when they're ill and clearly ill with something contagious isn't fair to the rest of the world either.
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I strongly agree with this, having fallen victim to it before. I’m happy to say, at least where I work now, there’s been a big shift toward staying home (even before covid) if you’re feeling under the weather.

Obviously, some workers don’t have that luxury (don’t come to work that day, don’t get paid that day), so I get where that’s coming from, too.

Years ago, we all had official “sick time,” a certain amount of days you could be excused from work for being sick, and the understanding was, you were meant to be actually sick, not just “I don’t feel like coming to work today.”

We no longer have that, at least in an official capacity. We now have “occasional absence” days, and they can be used for any kind of reason, really. Car breaks down and you need to get it to the garage? Occasional absence day to the rescue. Wife falls down and needs to go to the hospital? Occasional absence day, please. It’s just a catch-all for unexpected absences.

I think a big reason that changed is because the old “sick day” concept was never very uniform - this manager required a doctor’s note confirming legitimate sickness, that manager didn’t. This employee honored the spirit of the program and took days only when legitimately sick and that one used it like an extra week of vacation, that sort of thing.

Personally, I’m glad that removed that distinction and just call it is - a short-notice absence day. It’s good for emergencies, sickness, a much-needed “mental health” day, and no one really questions it. Everyone is treated the same.
 
TastyReuben said:
I strongly agree with this, having fallen victim to it before. I’m happy to say, at least where I work now, there’s been a big shift toward staying home (even before covid) if you’re feeling under the weather.

Obviously, some workers don’t have that luxury (don’t come to work that day, don’t get paid that day), so I get where that’s coming from, too.

Years ago, we all had official “sick time,” a certain amount of days you could be excused from work for being sick, and the understanding was, you were meant to be actually sick, not just “I don’t feel like coming to work today.”

We no longer have that, at least in an official capacity. We now have “occasional absence” days, and they can be used for any kind of reason, really. Car breaks down and you need to get it to the garage? Occasional absence day to the rescue. Wife falls down and needs to go to the hospital? Occasional absence day, please. It’s just a catch-all for unexpected absences.

I think a big reason that changed is because the old “sick day” concept was never very uniform - this manager required a doctor’s note confirming legitimate sickness, that manager didn’t. This employee honored the spirit of the program and took days only when legitimately sick and that one used it like an extra week of vacation, that sort of thing.

Personally, I’m glad that removed that distinction and just call it is - a short-notice absence day. It’s good for emergencies, sickness, a much-needed “mental health” day, and no one really questions it. Everyone is treated the same.
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The repeat offenders are shopfloor and don't get paid if they are off for under 5 days, they keep losing money, I don't understand how they can with the cost of living as it is.
 
Lullabelle said:
To be honest the majority of 'illness' is another name for 'can't be bothered', very few are genuine. They can't come in as the are really bad with flu, come in the next day right as rain.
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There are plenty of non-obvious reasons someone may need to take a sick day - bladder infection, migraine, mental health issue, etc.

I’m in agreement with SatNav and TastyR on this one - I would prefer if people stay home when they are sick. I do, and I find I recover much faster when I take 2-3 days off to rest and nap on the couch vs dragging myself into the office.

I had one coworker who was absolutely terrible about coming in when she was sick - one year she traveled overseas and brought something back with her, and came into the office with it, despite being told not to. Within a week, it was making its way through the office - I have never before seen something take out so many people at once. At one point we had literally half of our 30 person office all out sick at the same time. I was one of about 3 people who somehow escaped unscathed. It was knocking people right out too - many people who got it ended up bedridden for days they were so sick.

This was in late 2019. Many of us now wonder if it might have been an outbreak of covid before covid was being properly recognized.
 
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