A rant!

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spudsmom

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We had a substitute clerk breaking down the mail this morning because one of our other clerks was going to a passport fair.(He could have cancelled).

The sub brought her sick son to work with her.

We have all been trying to stay healthy. I, for one, have been avoiding public places as much as possible. If I do go to the store, I don't touch door knobs, or counters, wipe down shopping carts and use sanitizer after shopping. I'm waiting for availability of H1N1 vaccine so that I can be in the maternity ward when my Grandson is born next month.

H1N1 is rampant in the schools here. I sure don't appreciate it being brought to me, in a small office, where we are being "held captive" to his germs. He was coughing all over the place, not covering his mouth, touching everything on our accountables desk. He was sick and missed school yesterday from being sick, so she needed to make arrangements for him today. Bringing him in to expose us was NOT an option, she should have cancelled.

I caught the OIC when she got to work and voiced my displeasure. It's a safety concern and the PO takes that seriously, or is supposed to. She said that she would send them home immediately. But the sub said she wanted to do this and that before she left, and the OIC did not put her foot down, no backbone. I should have threatened to file a greivence, but I don't want to make waves amongst friends either. But the OIC should have insisted that she leave NOW and admonish her for putting us all at risk.
 
snake_lady

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Wow.

I completely understand being stuck for a babysitter, but to bring your sick child to your workplace? I'd be peeved, and don't blame you at all for being upset that she did that.

IMO you did right by voicing your opinion. People who are sick need to stay home, not be in public spreading their infections around.

I hope you don't get sick, and hope that this worker learns not to bring her sick child to work.

I'm surprised that she even thought this was acceptable. Sometimes I really don't understand why people do the things they do.
 
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spudsmom

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Originally Posted by Snake_Lady

Wow.

I completely understand being stuck for a babysitter, but to bring your sick child to your workplace? I'd be peeved, and don't blame you at all for being upset that she did that.

IMO you did right by voicing your opinion. People who are sick need to stay home, not be in public spreading their infections around.

I hope you don't get sick, and hope that this worker learns not to bring her sick child to work.

I'm surprised that she even thought this was acceptable. Sometimes I really don't understand why people do the things they do.
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The regular clerk could have come to work, if the sub had called and said that her only option was to bring her germ spewing child to work. She said that she could have taken him to her mother's or her sister's, but that would have meant getting up earlier to do so, and she didn't want to inconvenice them. He had missed school the day before, so it's not like it came up first thing in the morning. Grrrr!!!!!
 
pushylady

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That would've ticked me right off. I can imagine myself getting a hand santizer bottle and squirting it all over him to make a point....

Just off on a tangent here, but what the heck is a passport fair?
 
nekomania

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I would file a complaint to a higher up. Your workplace should be a safe environment without someone intentionally exposing you to a potentially life-threatening sickness.

I remember being at work at my old job, stuck at the fitting room and a mother comming in with her young teen daughter and confiding in me that they she was comming down with the flu while her daughter was just getting over it!!!

I wiped down everything with sanitizing wipes after they left...but I couldn't believe that someone would be so careless as to spread their germs around in a public place like that...
 
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spudsmom

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Originally Posted by pushylady

That would've ticked me right off. I can imagine myself getting a hand santizer bottle and squirting it all over him to make a point....

Just off on a tangent here, but what the heck is a passport fair?
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Usually takes place at local colleges. Postal clerks that are authorized to do passports will go and do a bunch of them, as a group. We could have had our clerk cancel that and would have been no hardship to the passport fair. He could have came in and broke down the mail and let the mother of the sick child and herself stay home, where they belonged!!!!!
 
calico2222

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I agree that a sick child brought to work is unexcusable (I can just imagine what that would cause in MY work, sick or not!) but, did your OIC (or anyone else in authority) realize she did that? Since you said you caught your OIC when she got to work, she may not have realized she did that. And, who else was in charge when she got there with a sick child? THAT is the person you have to talk to.

How long was the sick child there before she got into work? Was it minutes or hours? If it was hours, then I can understand letting your coworker finish what she was doing. After all, the damage was already done, the germs are already there. If it was minutes, then that's a different story.

Either way, I agree it wasn't right but you have to think about who to blame. You OIC (if she knew she was doing this before hand), the supervisor on duty who should have had the sense to send them both home, or the mother that brought a sick kid into work with her before you file a complaint.
 
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I would have been really ticked off too. The lack of intelligent thought sometimes amazes me. Since her child was sick the day before she had plenty of time to make other arrangments and if she couldn't make them then she should have stayed home. Not only so she didn't bring a sick child in to infect everyone at your work place but also so that the child could rest and get better. I am always amazed at the amount of people who will drag their children all over the place and then wonder why their children take so long to get well. Well gee, maybe if you had kept them home and made sure they got their rest, they would get better faster.
 
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spudsmom

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calico2222;2752393 said:
I agree that a sick child brought to work is unexcusable (I can just imagine what that would cause in MY work, sick or not!) but, did your OIC (or anyone else in authority) realize she did that? Since you said you caught your OIC when she got to work, she may not have realized she did that. And, who else was in charge when she got there with a sick child? THAT is the person you have to talk to.

How long was the sick child there before she got into work? Was it minutes or hours? If it was hours, then I can understand letting your coworker finish what she was doing. After all, the damage was already done, the germs are already there. If it was minutes, then that's a different story.

Either way, I agree it wasn't right but you have to think about who to blame. You OIC (if she knew she was doing this before hand), the supervisor on duty who should have had the sense to send them both home, or the mother that brought a sick kid into work with her before you file a complaint.[/QUOTE

You are right about the damage already being done. The sub clerk came in at 5 am to break down the mail. There was no supervisor, the OIC came in at 8:30. In hindsight, I should have just walked out the door at 5:45 and said I won't be exposed to the safety issue. But then who would do my route...my sub that has a compromised immunity system? I wouldn't do that to him. The fault really lies with the mother. She should have stayed home with her son, where he would be more comfortable. Gotta feel for him. She knew my fears of H1N1 with my daughter being close to delivery, and the scarcity of the vaccine here. She even told him "Don't get close to Cindy, we don't want her to catch it!" Like that did any good, he kept coming over to my case and talking to me and doing his imitations of cat noises, which were quite good BTW. He is a great kid, but he was a sick one....and I don't want to get it or spread it.
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mrblanche

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There are good reasons my brother calls children "disease distribution units."
 
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