Caring about people

I hope my coworkers are okay.

1) A person I work with on a day to day basis has been coughing, feverish, listless, with a sore throat... and you folks all know the field I'm in; she can't just Go Home. Oh no. If we hadn't been ALREADY about 30% short-staffed for the past SEVERAL MONTHS then maybe, but as it is, nope. (Going home when sick is SUCH a white collar privileged minuscule-minority-of-real-people concept!) The other day I brought her some ginger honey throat-soothing drinks and a lunch-sized Malaysian curry food unit in tupperware. She was pathetically grateful. I will be in at work again tomorrow, and I can perhaps see (or at least hear gossip about) how she's doing. I hope she's improving. There's no way they can spare her off shift.

2) A person I used to work with at least weekly was missing last Monday because she had taken a bad fall. She can't get in to see the ortho doc until mid next week, but there's concern for the rotator cuff and she may need surgery. She's got enough trouble (back/spine issues). She doesn't need this. (Why yes, she's still working too, apart from the Monday of the injury.)

Aside from just handing people food, there's really not much I can do. I can merely sit here and hope they're all right.

So many times in life, that's all we can do.