Anonymous wrote:Totally get that folks are upset. Big problem here is that some bosses simply don't care. They want folks at work, not in bed regardless of the conditions.

Read that many companies and bosses say they want sick employees to stay home but in reality expect them to be at work. And in this economy, employees are concerned about taking any time off from work and are not taking vacation time either.

My boss came to work when he knew he was coming down with the flu. Fever, chills, and runny nose. He is a dentist. Of course now 3/4 of his staff is too sick to work, and God knows how many patients he infected.

Where I work they give awards to people who save the most sick days, aka, reward people coming in sick. What drives me nuts, is the people who come in, obviously very sick, cough, sneeze and touch everything, say they can't do anything because they feel bad, hang out just long enough to call it a day, and then go home. Why come in at all?

I know a few people who are reasonable in most aspects of life, but seem to think if they say "I am not contagious" it makes it true.

Do you have an occ health unit in your building that could help provide info on proper protocol? He's an idiot, so I'd involve hr or his boss in order to get him to stay home. I wouldnt worry about anyone getting in trouble. Not getting sick is more important.

From his contradictory stories, he's a liar, but not all types of conjunctivitis are pinkeye or communicable, so bear in mind that if hr are idiots, they might buy his lies.

Anonymous wrote:Can I play devil's advocate here? I recently had the flu and was out for four days (plus a weekend, so it had been 6 days since I got the flu). I can assure you there was nowhere else in the world where I would rather have been but my bed - truly - but my supervisor made it clear that I HAD to be at work on that Monday because we had a big presentation that had been planned for months. No if's and's or but's about it- if I was not on my death bed I had to be there. And of course, my assistant got the flu a week later and I felt horrible because I am sure I gave it to her. But really what could I do?? Get fired over this?

OP here. PP, that is a tough one and it sounds like you were put in a terrible situation and of course, your colleague was, also. I think it's hard to say what the "right" thing to do is when you don't really feel like there is a choice so we start rationalizing. For instance, maybe you would have put your foot down if you knew your colleague was the mom of a new baby for instance. However, you were talking about 6 days of having the flu, by which time, i don't know, is it getting better / less contagious?

Anyway - I do understand that some people feel irreplaceable (and some bosses feel their employees are irreplaceable as yours did, and forced you to come in) and although I'd put my foot down if at all possible, that's just me, and really I'm in a work environment (and so is this person, who is at work with pinkeye) where we are not pressured to work while ill. That's just the thing - there's no justification here.

Anyway, I get that you felt like you had no choice and that's unfair. I can tell you that this is not the situation here. I know his direct reports and our company has a really family / life / employee friendly culture. And, people who work with him more directly told me why he stayed - it was an ego thing. I actually was like "man, what has he got going on that is that important?" AND, they said, nothing. That they're actually have more downtime than usual right now. He just thinks everyone is overreacting because "it's just pink eye."

No, we're not feds. Large trade association.

Can I play devil's advocate here? I recently had the flu and was out for four days (plus a weekend, so it had been 6 days since I got the flu). I can assure you there was nowhere else in the world where I would rather have been but my bed - truly - but my supervisor made it clear that I HAD to be at work on that Monday because we had a big presentation that had been planned for months. No if's and's or but's about it- if I was not on my death bed I had to be there. And of course, my assistant got the flu a week later and I felt horrible because I am sure I gave it to her. But really what could I do?? Get fired over this?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Americans do not call in sick for fear of being thought of as lazy. It is a mark of pride to push through anything and be back on the laptop and cell 2 hours after giving birth.

Or they need their full paycheck.

OP here. I agree with this but this guy is salaried with really generous vacation (we all are).

Op he is a DICK. Are you a fed? Why haven't you told him? If not name the contractor and we will tell him to take his ass home.

Anonymous wrote:I understand coming into work when you are coughing/have a cold, because those symptoms can linger several days and it's not practical to think you aren't out in the world, but pink eye is insane. I've had it twice and within a few hours of getting drops the symptoms subside considerably. At least wait until then....can't imagine coming into work when it is full on flaring up.

That said, I wouldn't worry too much about it getting it. It is very contagious, but it's hit or miss. It's been in my daughter's daycare room 3x in the past 6 months and she hasn't gotten it, and she didn't get it when I got it last year either, nor did my husband or other daughter.

Right - pink eye is potentially contagious for up to two weeks, and I agree it would be impractical for him to wait it out that long. But yeah - basically he said he'd been to a doc and wasn't, then I mean, it was INSANE the things he was touching, touching his eye, shaking people's hands, leaving the eye wipes around, I mean if you need to wipe an infection out of your eyes every 4 minutes you should not be putting that out there. It's just wrong.

Thank you for the reassurance. Of course, my eyes are itchy. I know I'm just imagining it though as I don't think you catch it in one day. (right?)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Americans do not call in sick for fear of being thought of as lazy. It is a mark of pride to push through anything and be back on the laptop and cell 2 hours after giving birth.

Or they need their full paycheck.

OP here. I agree with this but this guy is salaried with really generous vacation (we all are).

Anonymous wrote:http://www.allaboutvision.com/faq/pinkeye-contagious.htm

Sounds like the contagious period passes within 24 hours of starting the drops if it is bacterial. I'm not saying your co-worker isn't gross for leaving his tissue on the copier. I'm just saying that it is possible he is telling the truth about no longer being contagious according to his doctor.

Actually, from that link:

But determining how long pink eye is contagious and how long you or your child should stay home can be a little tricky. Generally speaking, it should be safe for you to return to work or for your child to return to school or to a day care center if the obvious symptoms of pink eye no longer are present — usually in three to seven days.

This means that eyes should be clear of yellowish discharge and matter on the eyelashes as well as the corners of the eyes. Also, the pink color in the white of the eye should be cleared up.

Contagious Pink Eye Treatments

Topical antibiotic ointments or eye drops work to clear up infection in pink eye only if the source is bacterial. In this case, you need up to 24 hours for the eye drops or ointment to start working and for the infected person to no longer be contagious.

If the source of the pink eye is viral, then the infection will need to run its course. In this case, you can relieve symptoms with lubricating eye drops to soothe irritation. Applying warm or cool compresses (whichever feels better) to the outside eyelids, with eyes shut, also can help relieve pink eye symptoms.

So - basically, this guy told people it was viral and just had to run its course. THEN he said it was contagious. His eyes are red like the devil and weeping and he is absolutely in the yellow crust phase. It's very easily visible. So the drops, if he has them, for his "viral" infection won't do a thing about the contagious nature. AND, everything else I've seen (CDC webMD etc) say that you're contagious as long as you have symptoms. On top of that, he only started taking the drops this afternoon according to him.

So even if he was wrong about it being viral, he's full of shit about not being contagious.

I've worked with pink eye. I don't touch my eyes though and wash my hands frequently. And I certainly don't have a nasty eye boogie tissue that I leave laying around.

I understand coming into work when you are coughing/have a cold, because those symptoms can linger several days and it's not practical to think you aren't out in the world, but pink eye is insane. I've had it twice and within a few hours of getting drops the symptoms subside considerably. At least wait until then....can't imagine coming into work when it is full on flaring up.

That said, I wouldn't worry too much about it getting it. It is very contagious, but it's hit or miss. It's been in my daughter's daycare room 3x in the past 6 months and she hasn't gotten it, and she didn't get it when I got it last year either, nor did my husband or other daughter.

Anonymous wrote:Please, just don't do it. And if you DO, do it, please have the courtesy to stay away from people and stop touching things if you can.

Long story short, a man in my office has a case of weeping conjunctivitis. He's touching his eyes and then touching everything in sight. He left his eye goop hankie on the printer. It is so fucked that I can't believe my eyes (no pun intended). His employees are begging him to go home but he's not leaving. I plan on not going in tomorrow.

I know this seems nuts, because who would do this, right? I wish I were trolling or BSing, but I'm not.

I think it is one thing to not know how contagious you are or basically to just think that your need to be in the office is so great that it trumps other people's right not to get sick. But to walk around touching things and not keeping the germ-rag off of the fucking printer, homeslice? I have three little kids, and if I get pinkeye because I touched the computer then rubbed my eye before I knew that there was eye slime on the printer, they'll probably get it to. And then, because I'm not a dick who will go to work contagious or send a contagious kid to school, I'm gonna have to take off time from work myself. All because this asshole what - didn't want to use up his vacation? Thought he had to be there and couldn't bother to even try NOT to touch shit?

I'm pissed.

Conjunctivitis is pink eye? I think the health department in your state might say he has to go home.

Totally get that folks are upset. Big problem here is that some bosses simply don't care. They want folks at work, not in bed regardless of the conditions.

It's jacked up but if you have mouths to feed go in. Now the pregnant hefer who came in sick while I was pregnant BUT she used her vacay time for Disney... I was not wishing her well. Bword.