A recent Wall Street Journal article — an actual article, in the workplace/lifestyle section, not even an op-ed! — laments the recent trend of horrible, lazy workers who, umm … *checks notes* … tak…
Prepandemic, Fleetcor workers in their 20s and 30s took one or two sick days a year, she says. Now, it’s more like three to five.
So pandemic taught people how viruses spread and how not to spread them and coming to work sick is shameful, not a badge of honor. Still, 4 days a year isn’t enough.
I worked with a guy, Clint, who had been at the company his whole life, worked his way from the factory floor to head of accounting. The thing Clint chose to brag regularly about was that he was 60-something and had never taken a sick day. Instead, he’d roll in obviously sick, sneeze on everyone, everyone he saw that day would get sick, a few of them followed his stellar example and got more people sick. During those times, no actual work got done except Clint lamenting about how everyone was getting sick. “Must be the weather.”
I mean, it helped teach me. It’s not that I didn’t actually understand it before, it’s that I hadn’t internalized it (and how selfish it is to go around getting other people sick). My dad is one of the “I never take a sick day!” people and when you hear that enough as a kid, the “merit” of that sticks in your bones. It took me several years as an adult to really believe that I wasn’t selfish or lazy if I took a sick day.
I am interested, but ultimately it’s irrelevant, because our subjective experiences don’t really hold a candle to the entire “anti mask” movement, the culture you’re describing here, and slightly different but akin to that cultural aspect, the idea of “hustling” to chase fortune.
And that’s just the philosophy of it. There’s also the millions that most certainly just don’t understand shit about germs, mechanisms of how illness spreads, etc.
Didn’t every adult in the developed world not learn this as a child from their parents? Or failing that, at school? Are most people genuinely that stupid?
It boggles my mind that it took a world changing pandemic for people to learn basic hygiene! If people just washed their hands occasionally (start with after you go to the toilet) perhaps COVID would have never happened.
From the article
So pandemic taught people how viruses spread and how not to spread them and coming to work sick is shameful, not a badge of honor. Still, 4 days a year isn’t enough.
I worked with a guy, Clint, who had been at the company his whole life, worked his way from the factory floor to head of accounting. The thing Clint chose to brag regularly about was that he was 60-something and had never taken a sick day. Instead, he’d roll in obviously sick, sneeze on everyone, everyone he saw that day would get sick, a few of them followed his stellar example and got more people sick. During those times, no actual work got done except Clint lamenting about how everyone was getting sick. “Must be the weather.”
While I appreciate your optimism, you know there’s no way this is accurate
I mean, it helped teach me. It’s not that I didn’t actually understand it before, it’s that I hadn’t internalized it (and how selfish it is to go around getting other people sick). My dad is one of the “I never take a sick day!” people and when you hear that enough as a kid, the “merit” of that sticks in your bones. It took me several years as an adult to really believe that I wasn’t selfish or lazy if I took a sick day.
Did it change your dad? Just out of curiosity.
I am interested, but ultimately it’s irrelevant, because our subjective experiences don’t really hold a candle to the entire “anti mask” movement, the culture you’re describing here, and slightly different but akin to that cultural aspect, the idea of “hustling” to chase fortune.
And that’s just the philosophy of it. There’s also the millions that most certainly just don’t understand shit about germs, mechanisms of how illness spreads, etc.
Nah, unfortunately, he went in the other direction. He’s one of the ridiculous anti-mask kine people.
Didn’t every adult in the developed world not learn this as a child from their parents? Or failing that, at school? Are most people genuinely that stupid?
It boggles my mind that it took a world changing pandemic for people to learn basic hygiene! If people just washed their hands occasionally (start with after you go to the toilet) perhaps COVID would have never happened.