# Illnesses



## cacook (Jan 18, 2006)

So I don't know for sure until I get the test results back, but I have one of three things:

a)Mononucleosis
b)Strept throat
c)Some bacterial infection

Aside from how I feel...is it safe, contamination-wise, for me to go back to work? I can't afford to miss 4 days of work until my next doctor visit, especially with the weekend and my team being understaffed.


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## salliem (Nov 3, 2006)

I wouldn't.


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## dc sunshine (Feb 26, 2007)

I don't work in a kitchen, so I hope my opinion is worth something regardless- I work in an office - but if I ever had something like what you describe, my boss would tell me not to come in to work so to avoid infecting anyone else. Especially in your profession - better safe than sorry.

Can you ask your doctor their thoughts on this?


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## chefburd (Jun 28, 2007)

That sounds pretty grim fella...

I would take a few days off to r&r. Besides, I wouldn't want anybody in a food handling capacity breathing up those kind of germs over my clam chowder.

Get well soon.


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## fingerpie (Jun 28, 2007)

Sorry to hear about that, but I wouldn't want anyone coughing, spluttering all over my food.
Why don't you take a "summer vacation" ?


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

Don't go man. Look, we have to make a change. In all other profession you would be told to stay home. Our profession is different I know, but there's no reason for this kinda crap. The team will have to cover for you as you would cover for them.


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## chefguru (Jun 28, 2007)

Pull yourself together man! Out here in the Alsakan wilderness, we don't have the luxury of not going to work. It's cook or die.


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

or die and take everyone that's around you (including unsuspecting customers) with you? NOT cool, and not macho either.


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## kuan (Jun 11, 2001)

And that needs to change. No wonder chefs have bad family lives, bad health, smoke, drink, etc.


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## jigz369 (Apr 20, 2007)

Stay home! What if your illness isn't what you suspect and you end up causing a pandemic in your region? Is it worth it? I think not! There are managers who are there to pick up the slack when someone is off sick. Your illness is legit, don't try to minimalize it so you can work; your health and the health of others is of significantly more concern.


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## cacook (Jan 18, 2006)

I feel like such a sleaze staying home though. I guess I don't have a choice.


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## baconman (Jun 29, 2007)

No you don't! I wish that lady I met in downtown Hebron had felt the same way already! (scratch - scratch) :-(


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## foodnfoto (Jan 1, 2001)

Consider the fact that if you keep working through a case of Mono or Strep there is a good liklihood that you will lenghthen the duration of your illness.

Rest is the best treatment for Mono, or any illness for that matter.


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## cat man (May 7, 2007)

It is basically against the law to knowingly work with what is called an 'excludable illness'.

If what you have is not contagious, then you'll probably be ok, but get it in writing from your doctor.

A manager cannot allow a sick person to work with food. That's how the big HepA outbreak happened in the midwest a couple years ago.

Cat Man


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## headless chicken (Apr 28, 2003)

Over the past couple of months, my nose has gone on a bleeding spree when I have 2hours to do 8hours worth of work to do. If your manager has any senses, he or she will and should have you stay home and deal with issues at work themselves...this isn't simply common sense, its policy on labour laws and sanitation and saftey operational rules so it all applys even to non-unioned workers.

BTW, the bleeding nose was due to high stress spread accross 2 weeks of the same crap plus allergies.


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## whitey ford (Jun 22, 2007)

Chefguy and I agree on this one emphatically---don't go to work.

Sleazy to stay home?

Nope, it's sleazy to go work with items PEOPLE ARE GOING TO EAT while sick, possibly speading an epidemic. Imagine a customer with a compromised immune system (the elderly, people with AIDS, people undergoing chemotherapy) who ingests a glob of coughed up on the lettuce germs?

Strep and mono are infectious contagious diseases.

Plus, if you are sick and have a fever and are fatigued and feel lousy, you're going to do a lousy job.

If your manager/employer is unsympathetic, have your doctor write him a note or call him explicitly stating that you have to rest and recover, and not work with food for a period of time, pending the results of antibiotic treatment.

Please treat yourself even better than you treat the customers.


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## henri (Jul 3, 2007)

Call your doctor's office and have nurse ask doctor if working in public food service is safe for your condition. Some illnesses are not passed on easily and you might be ok. But follow the doctor's instructions; you could be legally liable if you work without knowing.


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

typhiod mary.......


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## ras1187 (Oct 3, 2006)

If I truly believe that I am sick with something very contaigious, I wont go to work. I do not want to spread any food illnesses to our customers. Fortunately I have been in good health so far.

Its the law here, so the bosses really cant say much should I come down with something bad.


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## cathy stapleton (Sep 28, 2005)

I don't work in the food industry, but what I will say is that, if it turns out to be something highly communicable and your employer has to put out some kind of public alert to people who've eaten in the restaurant during the time period you've been working whilst sick, he/she is probably not going to appreciate you're having come to work. (sarcasm mode on) That always goes down well. (sarcasm mode off)


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## crlevesque (Jul 16, 2007)

Anthony bourdain put it best

"In the kitchen world you call only due to dismemberment, arterial bleeding, sucking chest pains, or death in the _immediate_ family. If granny dies, bury her on your day off."


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## cat man (May 7, 2007)

That's only true until you go out of business because of an outbreak of ecoli from a sick salad line employee and the front page news

Cat Man


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## dc sunshine (Feb 26, 2007)

CatMan - ditto that. If someone knowingly keeps working with something communicable -they become responsible and liable, and if they have informed their employer -ditto for the employer.

Although its not on the same scale (well perhaps in some instances)- its along the lines of someone having unprotected sex when they know they have a sexually communicable disease. The consequences can be dire and its totally irresponsible and immoral.


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## cookingwithfat (Feb 12, 2007)

Not only is it not ok for you to go in for the ethical reasons, in most states it would be illegal for you to go in. Let me put it to you this way:

If you felt bad and went to work, but had no idea what was wrong with you, it would not be ok, but it would not be ethically wrong, or illegal. You could reason, "well, I figured I was just feeling a little run down from all the hours I have been working." Or something to that effect.

But, you have been to a doctor and have been told that you have one of three possible things, ALL of which are cause to keep you out of the kitchen from an ethical perspective and a legal perspective. If you take a couple of customers down and the Health Inspector comes in they are going to check your - and everyone else's - medical records, and they are going to find out that you knowingly put people at risk. 

This is how this plays out....

You lose your job, because the owners are going to fire you right away as a Public Relations reaction. The restaurant is going to be sued, and the owners are going to sue you in turn. Also, the customer who got sick is going to sue you. 

Now, I know you are concerned about missing four days when you don't know which ailment you have, but... you DO know you have at least ONE of those ailments. Fact is, all of them are going to knock you out of work for a minimum of a week. Mono will take you down for a month! In the end though, being out for four days is better than being sued twice and losing your job. Chances are slim that the worst case scenario I just described will happen, but why risk it?

Worried about the money? Take the time off, and go to the labor department and apply for medical leave unemployment insurance. Your employer has been paying into it, and you have been paying taxes. Now is the time you use it. 

I once tore all the ligaments on the left side of my left ankle at 3:00 in the morning, working, got out of the hospital at 6:00 AM and was back on the line cooking at 9:00 am. I get it man. I know you have to be tough... but you do not have to be dangerous. 

Get well soon.


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