Onset

It feels as though I'm honing for another cold.

I posted earlier that "there's no worse way to spend a sick day than actually being sick". In fact there is: spending a day at work being sick.

My work involves writing and comment on industrial safety, and lately a topic of concern, along with the soi-distant coming epidemics of avian flu, regular flu, rockin' pneumonia and boogie-woogie flu comes a rising concern about "presenteeism".

Presenteeism refers to the tendency of some people (particularly men, but women are by no means immune [a-hem]) to drag-ass into work despite their raging fever, open and suppurating sores, or the fact that they're spewing blood, vomit, and viruses from every orifice.

This idiocy is probably the greatest boon to disease ever. The psychology of the tough guy will doubtless be a major factor when the Next Big Epidemic arises.

However--workplace sickness policies in North America are also largely to blame.

Economics, it is said, is about scarcity. By assigning limited numbers of "sick days" we create scarcity and commoditize them. They acquire value.

So: "Why waste my valuable sick days being sick?" When I could be fishing? Working on my Nash? Trying to scour up parts for my Yamaha U7e?

Instead we drag ourselves in to work until we are not just at death's door, but standing in the foyer investigating his umbrella stand.

This is where it gets really stupid: When you're infected with the flu you aren't contagious at the worst stage. Nope--when you feel the worst you couldn't give it away, not if you saved up a vat of your snot and dipped someone in it (I am not reccomending this in any way).

It's when you first start sniffling that you're passing out viruses like a clown scattering candy into the crowd at a parade.

Or when you finally "pull through". On the first day that you wake up and realize you're finally a hundred percent better, all your viruses are making a run for the lifeboats, having been trounced by your immune system, once it figured out what the problem was and who those rude strangers in your lymph nodes were. They're looking to find a new home in someone whose immune system might not notice them for a bit.

At both of these times, you're probably at work.

How many people do you meet? How many surfaces do you touch in that time? How possible is it that you're starting the cold that'll have the whole world sneezing?

So we need to change sick day policy. Why not have a number of "sick weeks". Say four per year.

Under this system you would be obligated to stay home as soon as you felt off colour. You would remain home through the ensuing immune system unpleasantries and return to work only three days after the cold wore off. Then you couldn't infect anyone else.

The math goes like this: current system, one person takes three days off but infects three more people who each take three days off. Cost: 12 person-days.

Metro system: one infected person takes a week off. Cost 7 person-days.

Personally, since you only pass on the viruses when you're feeling well, I suggest staying completely away from work until you feel sick.

However it's a moot point for me, as I have not yet worked here long enough to accumulate any sick days anyway.

Besides, where else should I go to blog?