Cold & Flu Etiquette

Another old speech. This one was done in 2009 for the Toast Masters program. I think it was 10-15 minutes long.

DISCLAIMER: You cannot hold me responsible for the accuracy of statements made in this speech. I am very open to any feedback/comments.

Image Source: http://www.bolivianexoticwoods.com/treatment-and-therapy/treatment-with-a-cold-and-flu.html

Our next speaker up is Ash. Ash typically considers herself a fairly healthy young girl. However, having recently recovered from the flu, Ash is going to share with us her perspective on what she considers as acceptable social protocol when it comes to catching a cold. Please welcome Ash.

In today’s social climate where every time a person coughs or blows their nose, society is very quick to point their figure and go “Oh my god you’ve got swine flu, Get away from me!” Now I myself, am a very strong believer in that people regardless of whether they have swine flu or just a common cold or flu, should just stay at home! It has an impact on work place productivity, effects the lives of others and by not staying at home you are assisting the disease in spreading further amongst our population. This applies in our work, personal and public lives.

I am aware that a lot of people, myself included feel guilty to take a sick day from work. Thoughts start running through our heads such as, “Oh how can I afford to take time off work…I have so much work to do….I have meetings I can’t miss…Who’s going to do my work for me…I’m going to start getting behind…my colleague might think I’m weak for chucking a sicky..I’m not that sick….I can suck it up and still go to work.” However, what we’re all failing to consider, is the knock-on effect that our decision has on others. While it may seem to be a little less productive to have one person home sick, it is far better than having whole entire work group home sick.

A prime example of this happened while I was offshore a couple months back. The offshore crew on the facility I work for  work 3 weeks/3 weeks off. It was crew change day and one of the guys on the oncoming swing came to work with a mild sore throat. He thought it would go away and he felt pressured to come to work because he didn’t want to let his work team down by them either being a man down or having to find a replacement to come in his place under such short notice. As the days progressed he started coughing up green phlegm and was so crook that he couldn’t get out of bed. Unlike a normal office space, the offshore environment is very contained, and when just one person is sick, the whole crew can become sick. And surely enough this is what happened. Guys offshore were trying to do everything they could to avoid getting sick, like washing their hands with soap between every meals, chewing on garlic,  distributing out envelopes full of vitamin C tablets, spraying eucalyptus through the air conditioning vents. But none of these measures were enough to stop the sick plague that ensued. People were dropping like flies. So instead of potentially being one man short, the facility was 9 men short!! This had a severe impact on planned work activities for that week. The 9 sick men had to be quarantined in their bedrooms until they either recovered or the next helicopter came to take them off the facility. Things got so bad that un-sick passengers who were traveling back home on the same helicopter were having to wear breathing apparatus’s on the journey home.  This example quite clearly demonstrates the impact of just one person being sick can have on the productivity of an entire workforce.

I strongly believe that staying at home when one is sick should not only apply to our work lives but it should also apply to our personal lives. My bf, fell sick a couple weeks ago and as per usual he became very melodramatic. We’d made plans that Friday night to meet with one of my highschool friends for a movie night and he rang me up the day before explaining to me how sick he was. How he had a sore throat, killer migrane, runny nose…etc. After explaining to me in quite lengthy detail how sick he was, he then asked, “So are you going to come over to look after me?” I recalled the previous year when he’d gotten sick and he made me go over and look after him. And no matter how many vitamin C and Echinacea tablets I chewed, what followed next was not unlike a game of badmington where a week later I fell sick, just as he was recovering he got the cold back again from me, then as I was recovering I got the cold then I passed it onto my friend. This whole vicious cycle may have been avoided & nipped in the bud, if he’d just stayed home from the start.

Finally I think people in a public forum have a duty to society, to where feasible, adopt social conscience and prevent further propagation of sickness in our population. Did you know that when a person sneezes there is 9 meters of sprayage! Did you also know that flu germs survive on cold surfaces for up to 2 weeks. Just think about that next time you go open a door handle, grab onto a handrail or press the button of a lift.

Now you might be thinking that I sound like a bit of a germ nazi but I assure you that I am not. I don’t go around carrying dettol wipes in my purse or wear gloves and cover the phone with a plastic bag when a family member is sick (don’t laugh – my boyfriend’s mum does this!). I just think, that practicable measures should be taken where possible when one is sick. It is a sick person’s duty to do no further harm unto others. So next time you are sick, grab that cold or flu bull firmly by the horns, with both hands & proudly stand strong & claim, “Thou shalt go no further than here” and then do us all a favour ….and stay at home!