How the mighty have fallen

Well, maybe not mighty. But certainly fallen.

All day at work, I had a pain across the intestinal area. But I kept on working because I had stuff to do that seemed more important than going home to lie down and veg out.

This isn't untypical of many people. I read an article not too long ago that basically pleaded for common sense: if you're sick, STAY HOME! That way you won't spread the gift of whatever it is. But unfortunately, the article also pointed out that most often, if you've reached the point of feeling like you need to stay home, you've already passed it on to the rest of your colleagues. And fair is fair: they probably gave it to you in the first place.

So what's the problem here? There are many people who can't afford to take time off to be sick, for fear of losing their jobs. At least that's what can happen in any country where the "employee serves at the pleasure of the company". In many cases, this happy phrase gives management the pleasure of withdrawing their pleasure in the name of productivity or risk assessment. However, I have the good fortune to work for a library system where humanity and decency and understanding tend to take precedence over the bottom line. I wish all of the working people could be so lucky.

Ever since our common ancestor dropped out of the trees or slithered up on the beach, microbes have been attacking in an unrelenting effort to compete for resources and check the population explosion. OK, I'm no biologist, but that's what it feels like when your gut aches every time you move for a whole eight hours or so.

See, somewhere along the line, we began to subscribe to the theory that we are indispensable: that nobody else can do what we do, or at least as competently as we do. Ego is perhaps a defense mechanism, but at times it sure gets out of hand. We define ourselves in terms of the job we do and how well we do it and how dedicated to it we are.

Of course it could be incentives: some contracts give you a bonus in some fashion for not using your sick days. And while that holds out a carrot, the microbes are laughing themselves sick. And face it, when you're dragging your posterior through the day, you really aren't doing anyone much of a favor: in some way, they're likely having to compensate for your lackluster performance.

So go, my children, and be sick. But don't be sick at work. Give health a chance.

Noble thoughts. I wonder what I'll do if I still feel this way on Monday. They don't call me "Indispensa-Bill" for nothing. They don't actually call me that. I think that's what I call myself. At least that's my gut feeling.
---
Footnote: "Service 'at the pleasure of' an appointing authority is a term with legal significance, meaning that the appointee may be dismissed at will, with no need for a hearing of the making of any particular findings." Link