Monday, February 2, 2015

Poppycock to Germs! Unless It's in My Office!

Image Credit - Pixabay.com
I am not a germaphobe!

I don't mind eating food that other people have cooked, even though I haven't personally inspected their kitchen.

I don't get all grossed out by sharing a drink with a friend or a family member.

I honestly think we need to knock off all this gibberish about hand sanitizers, disinfectant wipes, sprays and steaming surfaces. Now yes...they do have their place. Like hospitals and doctors offices. But I don't think you have to go into a restaurant and take out a wipe to wipe down your table and chair. I don't think you have to immediately reach for the wipes in your glove box or purse after shopping in a grocery store or Walmart or Target.

I know some of you will argue with that and insist that there are tons of germs out there and you never know what is growing on some of the items you touch in the stores. Poppycock I say! Pop-py-Cock!!!

We all need to build up immunity and the best way to do that is to be exposed to virus' and germs every day.

But that is not the point of my rant..the point of my rant is those people that KNOW THEY ARE SICK and still go out into public places.

People! This is the age of texting and emailing and faxing. You can do electronic signatures and take photos of documents and email them to people. You no longer of have leave your home while fighting Anthrax just to take a document to your insurance agent! Seriously people, you don't have to! We live in the age of technology for goodness sake!

Today I was swamped! It was a typical Monday. Phones crazy, emails coming in non-stop, clients wanting things yesterday. But I was handling it like a champ until a client came into the office and as I arose to greet him at the door to my office he offered me his hand. What can you do? I shook it. It's the age old greeting of client and insurance agent right?

Then as he was sitting down I asked him how he was doing and he proceeds to tell me how sick he is, how he's feverish and has been for a few days and he can't stop sweating and he's feverish and can't keep anything down and he can't quit coughing and it's hard to breath and he's feverish! Did I mention he had a fever? This is no allergy people, this was something bad and ugly!



While he's telling me all this he's breathing like he's just run a marathon and I can smell what he last ate in my nose so I know that I'm breathing in every sickness known to man that's in his body!

He was in my office about 45 minutes, the whole time coughing and dying in the chair right across from my desk. Now I'm not heartless. I'm so sorry for those that are ill, but STAY HOME! I don't want to get sick because you don't know how or won't use technology!

It was so hard to remain professional and get him taken care of and the second he went out the door I ran to wash my hands, grabbed the bottle of Lysol Disinfectant Spray and the can of Clorox Disinfectant Wipes and went to town on my desk, my chair, the chair he was in, my keyboard, my pens and all the air in my office. But you can't disinfect the crap I already breathed in. You can't disinfect your lungs!

So I can feel my throat all scratchy already! I just know tomorrow I'm going to wake up with plague or pneumonia!

People please...if you're sick, stay away from others ok? Just stay away. But especially stay away from your Insurance Professionals, they don't need to be sick!


 

8 comments:

  1. I DO NOT understand why people go out when they are sick. For heaven's sake, why? ANyway, I am not a germ-o-phobe either, but we had a family member undergoing chemo and they need to be germ-o-phobes while their immune system is down. That I understand. I hope you stay well.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, that's a whole different situation, when someones immune system is compromised. I know that's a big deal right now with all this measles stuff going on, there are children that can't be immunized. I know a lot of people go to work even when they have sick leave because they save their sick leave to take care of sick kids. I know the company I work for will pay us one weeks pay if we don't use any of our sick leave throughout the year, therefore a lot of employees come to work even though they are dying and totally non productive.

      Delete
  2. I sort of agree with your discussion overall, definitely on the overuse of sanitizers, and staying home if you are ill. But my own experience is that shopping carts and gas station filling nozzle handles are creepy places indeed. Invariably after grocery shopping or getting gas, my hands smell like perfume. If perfume is transferring, how many damned germs are transferring?

    My wife recently got very sick with "hand, foot, and mouth disease." It is extremely rare in adults. The doctor told her that it was running rampant in the school district where we grocery shop. The only place my wife could have got this was from the grocery cart. It took her a month to fully recover from that. So from my own experience I would not be too blasé about shopping carts.

    For those clients who insist in dealing with you when they are sick, keep a supply of infectious masks and examination gloves on hand. When they come in make an exaggerated display of installing your protective equipment, with the explanation that your other clients depend on you and you can't afford to get sick.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm sorry to hear about your wife's illness. Definitely one needs to be careful but not so much that you don't enjoy life. I carry wipes in my purse so I can clean my hands when I've touched the gas nozzle, shopping carts or eaten sticky messy foods, but for the most part I am not one that messes with my eyes or my mouth. I used to have a friend that would eat potato chips and stick almost half her thumb and index finger with each chip and then reach into the community bowl or bag with her fingers full of her spittle. So I can just imagine what germs she was leaving the bowl or bag.

      So far I'm not feeling sick so hopefully the guy just had allergies and not the flu.

      Thanks for stopping by and commenting Sextant!

      Delete
  3. I completely get this! I feel exactly the same about both issues. How will anyone ever develop an immune system if disinfectant use is rampant? A good dose of common sense is what's needed and people who are ill should stay home!
    PS I hope you wake up tomorrow without any ill effects from that client's visit!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Exactly, it's all common sense. We can't avoid all germs. It's important for people to build up immunities.

      Delete
  4. Work with public has its dangers. I don't think it's possible to impose on others to stay home when ill, but one can always look for a 'behind the scene' position , not in direct contact with the public.There are lots of such positions.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm lucky that now we do almost everything by phone, fax and/or email so I very rarely have to actually have the client in the office. But it just seems like my luck that the one client I have in the whole week to actually come in is that sick. Luckily I have great resistance as I did not even get a sniffle!

      Delete

Please leave a comment.I would love to know your thoughts!