Tell HN: WFH is the future thanks to inconsiderate people | Hacker News Reader

Tell HN: WFH is the future thanks to inconsiderate people

12 pointsuser-extended21 comments

I'm very recent to the workforce (less than 6 months into my first job ever).

Today a co-worker came in with a constant, never ending cough. According to her "it's from singing too many Christmas Carols" this last weekend, but I doubt that.

She's obviously not wearing a mask, not even one of those cloth ones. Heck, she doesn't even cover her mouth when she coughs.

Not only it is annoying, but it's a reasonable health hazard I thought everyone post-2020 understood could be easily avoided if you stayed home.

Nobody cares, I'm the only one who's fully masked up.

I cannot fully WFH as I'm not in tech, but as an office worker, it's the future with these kinds of people.

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People have been coming into work sick from time immemorial. This isn't going to change anything.

For better or worse, COVID will be treated like the flu or cold going forward. It's not going away and adults aren't going to do the responsible thing.

What's beyond me is that it's ANNOYING. I'm at least 20% more unproductive thanks to the never ceasing (listening to it right now) cough. I do not understand why managers cannot wise up to this.

Assuming you are an American, what is your sick day policy? Does she have to use vacation time to stay home when sick? How much vacation time does she have?

I'm not American, thus, using vacation time as sick leave is illegal. However, what really aggravates the crust of all of this for me is the fact that my manager would be 100% ok if she asked him if she could WFH while she's sick -he's allowed other people to do this before, but nobody is gonna force her to.

It annoys me, too.

But you need to realize that, unless you work at some place special, in your company's eyes deadlines still need to be met, and taking sick leave is frowned upon.

In fact, taking too much sick leave can hurt your career. Many HR departments have a system that flags employees for sick leave "abuse". Our latest version of that software is enhanced with "advanced AI", so you know it's gotta be good.

Humans are not reasonable beings. Even you. Even me.

Is it right or healthy? That's definitely up for debate.

That’s literally how it’s been for pretty much all of human history, if you’re expecting human nature to change now you’re looking at an uphill battle. You’re welcome to keep wearing your mask, no one is going to stop you.

I would question the premise that the solution is for everyone to always mask up and never be exposed to viruses. Our immune systems are supposed to be exposed to viruses, that’s how they get stronger. Like anything else in the body it weakens if not exercised

I think it should be normal and expected behavior to wear a mask when you are in public but even feel a little off.

Way before the pandemic I would nudge away from people non-stop coughing on public transportation - even then it was considered rude to be spraying your aerosol around people going to their places of work.

I realize some people don't even have a choice of calling in sick, and while in the past wearing a mask would get you double-takes (what are you, a surgeon?), there is absolutely no excuse to not do so now. If you HAVE to enter public places while under the weather, wear a frigging face muzzler.

Have you considered that your reaction may be out of sync with the rest of the adult world that worked pre-covid? Your fear is likely a hieghtened reaction due to your life stage development at the time of a pandemic. Coming of age during something as life altering, albeit temporarily, as the COVID lock downs will have a more dramatic impact on your world view than those who grew up prior to it.

This is a 100% honest question and is not meant to be antagonizing or mean spirited:

At what point would you cease being “fully masked up”? What data or authority would you need?

Honestly, that's a really good question. I didn't mask up for the last 5 months. However, after seeing COVID incident rates and such for my region, I decided to it again.

So I guess low COVID transmission rates, i.e. the R0 number.

I, personally, agree with you. If you are sick, stay home. And nobody should have to use vacation time to stay home sick. Will some people abuse this to stay home when not sick? Absolutely. Let them stay home anyway. Better than getting the whole office sick. Also, you should be able to stay home if any family members are sick. Keep those sick kids out of school! Hopefully your work is such that you can work from home. Otherwise, better to be home than in the office getting other people sick.

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