People suck

I was SO SURE I wasn't going to get sick this winter....SO SURE!

But then my cube mate, let's call her Mrs. Coughingstein, came to work with a fever and her absurdly dramatic cough.  She is 65 and has no apparent capability to cover her mouth when she coughs.  Ever.

She stood in the middle of the cube, ranting about how bad she felt...how sick...and then started coughing coughing coughing.... spraying those microscopic droplets all over my other cube mate and me, and our desks, and our phones, and our jackets, and everything.

I did my best to disinfect...wiping everything down with antiseptic wipes...when I got home that day, I started a vigilant self care program with immune boosting lifestyle measures (trying to get enough sleep, taking extra vitamin C, taking herbs).....but she got me.  She got both of us.

I even asked her to wear a mask on that day when she was spewing all over us, and she refused.  She said it's too hard to talk on the phone with one of those on.  WELL WEAR IT WHEN YOU'RE NOT ON THE PHONE!

I'd complained about her absurd, disruptive, attention grabbing cough a few months ago, and our boss's boss laughed me off.  She wasn't SICK then.....I should mention that she coughs like that ALL THE TIME.  It is extremely annoying and stressful to sit with her, since I don't deal well with abrupt, loud noises.  Never have.

Anyway, this time, since the offending party was actually sick, and clearly bent on spreading it....the woman who sits in the office next to our cube actually went to our top boss and complained about it....but to no avail.

My guess is that because of our company's very restrictive sick leave policy, no one can TELL her she has to stay home if she's sick...because, you see, we get penalized for a full year for any time that we call off sick.

So, instead of paying that consequence and protecting her co workers, she came in sick, coughed all over everyone, and got us all sick...and now WE all have those marks against us, instead of her.

What the hell?   My guess is she gets some kind of satisfaction out of doing it.

Anyway.....the lady in the office who complained had good reason.  She has health issues, and has to be really careful about getting viruses and stuff.   She's sick too, because Mrs. Coughingstein went into her office to ask about something, and coughed all over her, too.

And our supervisor got sick, too, because she went into HER office that day, too!

But no one can do anything about it. Or they refuse to.

I am not sure which.

I missed 2 days last week, because I personally refuse to go to work if I have a fever.....and my other cube mate has missed 3 days, so far.  Hers went into full blown bronchitis.

I went to the doctor last week, only to be told it's a virus. It has to run its course.  
She did confirm it isn't flu.  So there's that.

All together, I had 6 continuous days of low grade fever, lethargy, congestion, coughing, head ache, and sore throat.

Today, for the first time, my throat finally feels better, and the fever is seemingly gone for good. The bone deep tired feeling is better.  But I have blisters on, and skin missing from, my nose from the relentless discharge.  I can't sleep because when I lie down, I cough.

I hope she's effing happy.  I hope she gets something out of doing this to people.

Jeezus.