Common Courtesy...Common Cold

So, today, I'm going to spend a little time on my soap box.

After a little research, I have learned the origin of this strange little phrase. Years ago, soap was delivered to stores in sturdy wooden crates, which were recycled for many purposes (e.g., the Soap Box Derby, where children once made racing cars by attaching wheels to the basic box). One of the common uses of these crates was to use it as a portable "stage" where the orator would stand on it and make speeches.

I don't intend to stand on a crate, but I will make a little speech about something that bothers me. Yesterday at the rec center after work, I was exercising away and about 20 minutes into my workout a guy gets on the treadmill beside me and is coughing. And coughing. Constantly. And not covering his mouth. And he keeps coughing. And I look at him. And I look at him again, every time he coughs.

And I just got angry. Really. Folks at work have witnessed this soap box before. If you're sick, stay home. Don't come to work or to public places and get the rest of us sick. Some people, I believe, think they're heroes by coming into work while they're sick. That the workplace won't survive without them for a day or two. That's ridiculous.

What happens when that one person comes in and infects the rest of the office and everyone else is out sick?

Or, when that person comes to work and ends up getting sicker because he or she pushed too far and ends up being out for several days because he or she didn't just stop and get well?

So, my message is, don't be a hero. Stay home in your PJs, eat chicken noodle soup, and curl up on the couch with a blanket and box of kleenex and let your body heal.