Spewing Virus Factory

This entire week I have had a cold. Between my nose continually dripping runny snot and occasional sneezing fits, I should not have been working this week. I tried to be careful with hand washing, but when a drop of snot suddenly falls from my nose or I start sneezing in the middle of a procedure, I'm really nothing but a spewing virus factory. Sick patients are highly vulnerable to infections and the eldery with their weak immune systems could get pneumonia and even die from a cold. Aside from the ethical issues, making my patients sick with a cold increases hospitalization rates and costs money.

So, why did I work when I knew that I was sick and contagious? For the same reason that my coworkers also work under the same conditions, my employer doesn't want us to use our sick time. Even though we get 15 sick days a year, if we use more than 4 days, we get called into a managers office and "counseled." I've managed to stay under my 4 days, but just barely. I can't call in sick until January.

I'm wondering what's the point in belonging to a union. On paper we get all kinds of benefits, but we don't dare take advantage of them. Sometimes, I feel like I'm working for a sweat shop a hundred years ago.

Okay, it's not quite that bad, it's just that I'm feeling pretty cranky right now. I declined all social activities for this weekend so that I could rest and not infect my friends and now I'm all alone. If I could have rested during the week, I would probably feel much better by now and could have gone out. My rant is over now. Thank you for listening.