Ok, I don't report off unless I'm in the hospital. One of my workers calls off when he has the sniffles. I want to know, since I do have a cold.....HOW sick is too sick to have someone working with meat? If I have to blow my nose I leave the cutting room, blow my nose, wash my hands and sanitize then get a new set of gloves and go back to cutting...... but just curious am I making matters worse by staying at work when sick, or should I stop showing up sick? I feel if I'm able to goto work, I should. I'm sure I'm going to hear about this from someone somewhere.....
Being an owner/cutter I would always do the same. Only way I would miss work is if I were unable to walk. That was when I only had a couple other employees. Now I have several more and as much as I hate to see them off, I would rather they stay home and keep that cold or flu bug away from the rest of the employees. The last couple of years we have had a bug hang around work for over a month with everyone taking a turn feeling like garbage. Now I prefer they take a day or two off and get over it, then hopefully the rest of the crew does not catch it. The hardest part is getting them to always take care of themselves so they dont get so run down that they catch every little bug. I would say its up to you how you feel, and how contagious are you. Somewhere there is a happy medium.
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I'm not a vegetarian, but have eaten many animals that were.
I have a very good attendance record. I work when I'm sick. I went 20 years never calling in sick or being late. During that time I was told (on perfect attendance) "that and 50 cents will get you a cup of coffee". I still don't call in sick, but I have missed time for surgery.
Anyway, if you are sick, try to stay off the phone. I think that's where a lot of germs are spread.
a couple weeks ago i had a bad cold. i mean a bad bad cold. i was miserable but i didn't miss a day of work due to it and yeah i am pretty sure someone caught it from me even though i tried not to spread it around but oh well i am pretty sure i caught it from someone else there too. colds are part of life you only call in sick if you seriously can't function on the job. most people don't get that sick very often. I also had people constantly calling in claiming to be "sick" like "i'm sick cough cough sneeze sneeze i'ma gonna stay home today" then they come back the next day "hey you are all better now!" i started telling those frequently sick people that something must be seriously wrong with them if they are sick that often they better get a note from their doctor saying they are good to return to work cause i don't want to be responsible.
This post brings to mind one I been meaning to post, about 10 years ago, here in the state of Georgia, the Dept of Agr sent out a letter to all Store Managers that any employee came to work with a fever, nausea, cough, sneezes or diarrhea they were to be sent home. I have yet to see one send a worker home even through I bought it to their attention. We had some very sick employees at times. Needless to say before a few days went by, it had ran through the market and every one was sick for a few days.
Which brings the question, any of you ever heard or saw a letter about this??
Once before this letter came out, I caught the flu with some bug mixed into it, At the time I was short a cutter, only had a wrapper and clean up man, I caught this crap on a Wed. I was so sick I could only work a few hours at a time, then would go in my office and lay on a table and sleep a hour or so, get up work a few hours, then back to sleep, I made it to that Sunday when one of my live in ladies finally got me to the ER, I was in the hospital three days. My wrapper, girl friend, & clean up man was lucky, they never got it.
We got the same letter a few years ago. It's a joke. They want us to call of if we are sick but we aren't allowed sick pay or call anyone in to cover missed shifts. They want robots....
It's a hard question. I was brought up Old School. That you never ever call in sick. I've worked with pneumonia, mono and 104 degree fever. I used to think it was tough. Now I think it's stupid. You're just infecting the whole crew and half the town. But how do you call in sick, knowing you're leaving your crew short-handed? What if its a weekend or busy holiday? I think it's the manager's call. I'll still show up willing to work, it's up to the manager to take one look at me and say "get the hell out of my meat shop." Not that it ever happens.
Leon, it's on the manager's daily checklist: are there any employees showing signs of illness? Also every health department class says no one is to work with a cold, fever or diarrhea.
I remember when if someone called in sick, you always thought they were lying. You never thought "oh no! Fred is sick, I hope it's not serious" The fact was, Fred found something better to do. Maybe they're lazy and just didn't want to get out of bed on time to make it to work. We had a guy in the early 80's who was one of very few with video equipment in those days. He was moonlighting on Saturdays video taping weddings. You would never be surprised when he called in sick on Saturday or any day. Certain people call in too much and it make the rest of us look bad when there's a genuine illness.
Maybe I told this following story before?
The guy who called in a lot: He called in one time when the supervisor was there. They had just been talking about him when he called. The manager told the cutter to hold on because the supervisor wanted to talk to him.
Supervisor: (on phone) "Is it as matter of life and death that you can't come to work today"
"sick" cutter (on phone) "well, is it a matter of life that I do come in today?"
I seldomly miss especially now that I have so much on the line. When I was at the shop before this one I did miss an entire week right before Christmas. I hurt my back and shifted my hips 11mm in a sledding accident. For a week I was shuffling around like a 100 year old man. I hated missing because I knew the crew was busy as hell, but I knew I'd be doing more harm than good. The first day I went back it took me three hours to do up some oysters because I couldnt twist my back. I had to scoop the oysters up and shuffle sideways to drop them into the cups. Finally being on the hard floor so long I told my manager I was ready to go, I was not being productive, hurting, and not earning my wage.
I understand both sides. One perspective you've got to go to work to get the job done and collect a check.
But also any food safety video you see tells you any hint of a minor cold, minor ailment you need to stay away from food.
i agree with meat monkey its the managers call if the manager tells me to go home i will but if i feel i can work i ll come in and work. and leon I never heard of such a thing from the DOA i say unless they can require the compnay to pay us for the time we missed they just can't make that mandatory. some of us got mouths to feed we don't have to luxury of missing a day of work even though we really wish we could stay home. is the DOA going to send me a check so i can feed my kids because i am little short that week? I doubt it. so until they come up with something like that iw ould tell them to shove that letter up their asses.
I know we all work when we sick, we need the money to take care of our family, I have seen some come to work I wish hadn't because they were sick enough to give me their ****
I'm so glad to see other have gotten "the letter"....I got it when I worked under Federal Inspection......and now that I am a manager, its hard for me to have people call off sick when I show up to work sick......I was amazed to see so many replies on this... I know most of us work with short staff...and I hate calling off sticking someone else to work on their day off.... BUT my wrapper/cleanup guy, reports off for his new girlfriends grandma being sick.....YET, my Dad was in the ICU near death, and where was I??? AT WORK, I went to the hospital after my shift...Where are the younger peoples priorities???? Thanks for letting me know I"m normal by not reporting off!!! BESIDES..... Sharing is Caring !!!!! LOL Tia
they always tell u when u start a new job dont come to work with a cold or something that comtaninated teh meat.......but most places if u acually called in sick they will hold it against you.......and people say they cant but yes they can......
