I’ve been rocking an awesome cold for almost a week now so I haven’t been up to anything. I can barely stand to watch TV. My Atarimax 8Mbit flash cart came in but I haven’t had a chance to try it. It’s on the to do list for this weekend.
I get sick more often than most people. Whether it’s due to my parents smoking when I was a child or just some natural reason my immune system seems weak. To make matters worse I also get sicker than most people do as well. Some people, my father especially, believe that my problems stem from the way I bother to take care of myself. I don’t dress warm, I don’t blow my nose enough, I don’t eat orange skins, I don’t take vitamins, I don’t drink positively charged water, and I don’t lower my glucose intake. I’ve heard a lot of crazy reasons why people think I get sick and I’ve tried a lot of crazy things to prevent myself from getting sick. But I seem to just be designed this way.
I make full use out of my sick policies. I always feel guilty about it but at the same time I should feel angry for working in environments that spread germs like the black death is in style. What I wouldn’t give for fresh air sometimes. There are two kinds of attitudes bosses have towards sick days. The first is that there is no such thing and it exists on paper alone and you’ll be going in if you have pneumonia. The second attitude consists on germphobia and wanting sick employees home and as far away as possible. I’ve worked for both kinds of places but I’m glad I currently work for the latter.
Taking a week off for a ‘common cold’ probably seems outrageous to even the most liberal of office settings though. This confuses me however since the shortest of colds lasts 6-7 days easy. People come in and work the ‘less bad’ days usually. The last time I did that I wound up in the Chicago ER and was sick for almost a month. I had been sick for a week prior to a business trip and was markedly better in time to jump on the JetBlue flight to O’Hare. The next day arrives and the stress of travel I guess gave me terrible bronchitus. I got winded just walking to the bathroom to vomit. I’ve never felt so bad in my life and I’m actually frightened of ever feeling that way again.
I make it a point to take an extra day or two to recover from these damn viruses now. I think it’s probably worth it in the long run. Time can always be made up later while healthy but I really think that people need to be a little less willing to work while being sick. But that’s just the opinion of someone who’ll catch your cold if you sneeze in the next state!