So last night, I found
myself shivering. Tucking under the blankets further, I was surprised to find
that I was a bit nautious. Sure enough, after one dry run, I ended up sharing
the contents of my stomach with my toilet. I was really glad that I had spent
some time cleaning a few days ago.
After returning to bed, I
gave my wife a rundown of my symptoms …. And it seems like I have caught a case
of H1N1. A few minutes later, we heard my son get up. Because the dog was in
the way, he ended up horking over the dog as opposed to the toilet.
So we’re both sick now.
Actually, it’s not as bad as the flu I had last year. That one had this way of
making you feel better, only to make you pay for it when you exerted yourself
later in the afternoon. I ended up missing several days of work. As I am just a
temp, it meant days without income for me.
Of course, the temp agency
sent me a guideline for calling in sick a few weeks ago. It talked about the
importance of not infecting other coworkers, and also reiterated that I was to
call in to both my assignment supervisor and the temp agency if I was going to
be out sick.
One of my coworkers, who was
a regular employee, was complaining about people who were ‘thoughtless’ because
they reported to work ill. I had to explain to her that it often wasn’t a
matter of choice—and that for many of us, a missed day of work meant no money.
She was still a bit defensive about it, even when I pointed out that not
working for several days meant that some temps wouldn’t be able to pay rent.
I read in a article a few
weeks ago that something like 55 percent of America’s workforce did not have
any paid time off for illness. This fact was cited as a possible reason that
the H1N1 flu was going to spread so quickly. I think they’re right. Society
puts too many demands upon us, and it’s hard to even take a few days for
recuperation.
If I don’t feel well on Monday, I won’t be going to work. I’m fortunate enough to be able to still pay my bills, even if I do miss a couple of days of work. I am glad, though, that I’m sick on a weekend, and not a weekday.
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