When to go back to work?

[cjsmith]

If you have a cold and you feel not-100%-rotten but not-100%-healthy, when do you decide it's time to go back to work?

I'd been thinking that as soon as I don't have a fever any more, it's reasonable to go back. 99.6 this morning, so by that standard I'm still home.

Rob saw his doctor this morning & randomly asked about "the cold with a lot of coughing" that's going around. The doctor said "Yeah, I've had that for two months."

Comments

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Since you have Clue, I shall endeavor to pick your brain even more. Is 99.6 enough of a fever to count? 99.2? Anything at all? Again, thanks muchly.

[therobbergirl.livejournal.com]

Given how hard you drive yourself at work, I suggest that anything higher than your regular temperature is enough to count. You need the break anyway, but more to the point, you push yourself very hard at work and might relapse if your body's not finished defeating the viral horde.

[cjsmith.livejournal.com]

OK, I'll be good. :) I can do some amount of work from home, which will help assuage my guilt. (Dang but I'm good at that guilt thing.)

[shadopanther.livejournal.com]

A relapse is one of my hypotheses for what's happening with my sinuses. Until a couple of days ago I thought I as 99% better, with maybe just residual allergens as an irritant. A couple days ago I came down with a sore throat. I went to work Friday & Saturday anyway since the tasks I had at hand for those days didn't involve talking. Today I stayed home from work because I figured that between having the congestion & sore throat plus not sleeping well, I'd be pushing myself too hard at work & just asking to get sicker. I stayed home & slept instead.

Like others I've used presence of a fever as a cue not to go into work. Other cues I've used to stay home have been when I've been too sick to safely drive or function on the job. The hardest time for me to make such decisions is when I feel borderline as to whether I can make it through the day or not. ...and then it doesn't help that on my job, I don't get sick pay, so if I don't work I'm out that $ I'd be getting on my paycheck. (Which is yet another reason that I need a different, better paying, job.)

Being able to work from home is a good option! ...Especially for those borderline cases when you feel that you could do some work but are not sure how long your energy will last or want to be courteous to your coworkers in case you are contagious.

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

And you'll probably enjoy it more too :)