Coworker hacking up a lung but won't stay home!

[Mapper71]

My coworker has been sick for a week now and it's driving us all mad. First off, she doesn't seem to give a damn that she's getting others around her sick. She stayed away one day at the beginning of her cold, but that's it. She coughs like she has tuberculosis and is constantly blowing her nose. It's disgusting. When the rest of us take Airborne in front of her to give her the hint and then kind of laugh at her because of her constant cough (we laugh because why the hell doesn't she just stay home?) she got a little upset with us for laughing the other day and goes "Don't laugh, you guys are getting it next". The only reason we are getting it next is because you continue to come to work! On top of that, she is now chomping loudly on chips at her desk, in between coughs.

 

Really, isn't it common courtesy to stay home when sick? She could very well work from home.

[losangelena]

Ergh, I HATE that! That is one thing I do not miss by freelancing from home—no more disgustingly sick coworkers to hack all over me.

 

Can she work from home or something for a few days? Does she get sick time off?

 

Alternately, can YOU work from home for a couple of days?

[Mapper71]

Yes we can work from home if we absolutely have to. I could work from home, but I'd have to come up with a good reason to.

 

She is just someone who is all about herself anyways and doesn't really care about anyone else unless she can somehow tie herself into it. I've heard her burp and fart at her desk, she chomps and slurps her food, is a busybody and talks about the details of every coworker to show us just how much she knows about everyone. You'll say something to her about your weekend and she'll trump it by telling you the awesome thing she did. Her husband calls her every single day at about the same time just to chit chat. She's just one of those coworkers you can't stand all the way around.

[whichwayisup]

Why doesn't the boss send her home?

 

Or since you can work from home, go and work from home until she is not contagious anymore. You tell your boss that you do not want to work with someone who is sick and spreading their germs.

[amaysngrace]

I'll tell you the same thing I tell my kid living in a college dorm:

 

"Lysol is your friend"

[Satu]

Particulates from a cough can travel more than 20 feet, and can circulate in the air for an hour or more.

 

I should know, I've got Tuberculosis.

 

But don't worry, you can't catch it over the internet.