At home today... with an stomach flattening cough, sticky sputum and a nose that can put Rudolf to shame.
The URTI infection had triggered my RA and fibro symptoms. I am sore all over the place. My right wrist is swollen. Last night, my thumb and index finger was numb, and weak, ie pretty useless. thank goodness my left hand is still doing fine. so, dinner was prepared with my left hand, so is this post.
Did I mentioned about taking care, not to get sick?
Yes I did. And I took some pretty extreme measures.
- i kept myself warm.
- I avoid the peak hour bus/train. I have resorted to taking an earlier bus, and a later train so that I can avoid crowded carriages.
- I have been religious in my rest time.
- I ate healthity.
And so far it worked. Until a colleague fell sick.
The poor girl is new and had not passed her probation. Some intelligent person devised the rule that you dont get paid if you take sick leave while on probation. So this girl braved the commute and cold, came to the office every day despite being really sick. On some days she just tried to stay awake. She was just too busy blowing her nose and coughing to really do anything. We have tried to persuade her to rest at home, but once she said, "who is going to pay me if I stay at home?" , we all kept quiet. With Christmas around the corner and the economy in shatters, who would want to have less pay? Worse still, we all understand how anxious she must be in passing her probation
She had been sick for a more than one week. Within a week of her illness, the colleague sitting next to her fell ill, and he had to take 2 days off. Then the colleague next to him fell sick.. and the domino effect passed on. Almost 2 weeks later, it reached me. Last week, she finaly took sick leave, because her probation period is just over!!! By this time, everyone who sat near her or had frequent work contact with her had already taken at least 2-3 days off.
I wonder who came out with the idea of not paying people who are sick to stay at home. False economy!
