Sandy Supposes....

Karly Cooties

PROMPT November 27th

Things have progressed well in your town/city with the Pandemic. So well that you've been allowed to return to the office instead of working from home. Your co-worker Karly, is sneezing and coughing and refuses to wear a mask. Who do you call, or do you let it slide. Tell us why you would act that way.

         First of all, I wish to know why Karly is at the office when she is clearly ill. Is she indispensable? Could she not contribute via e-mail, messaging, Zooming, a simple phone conference? Does our company not pay for sick days?

         Perhaps poor Karly is a mother with ill offspring at home and the only place she can be sick herself in peace without constant demands is at the distinctly kid-free office. If she's going to be miserable, why not be miserable in a setting of her choosing? It could be one less headache for her.

         I'm not panicking and presuming Karly has Covid. There are a plethora of germs and viruses floating around ready and willing to pounce. She may well be suffering with a cold. It is still a common illness especially in workplace settings.

         So, she is sneezing and coughing? I'd be willing to bet she is congested, too. Her head probably feels like it is so full it'll explode. Her nose is an annoying non-stop dripping faucet.

         Yep, she should be at home, quarantined with her own incubating symptoms, but... The reality remains that Karly is present in the office. Sharing her germs. Probably contagious. Startling the rest of us with her explosive sneezes and raspy hacking. We wince. We cringe. We worry. When will I catch this? How productive could any of us possibly be in this atmosphere?

         I commiserate with the whole wearing-a-mask 'thing.' I do. I for one would not like to detonate a mucous bomb inside a mask. Ew! When I last endured a cold breathing proved difficult. My blocked nasal passages could not inhale enough oxygen and so, I resorted to mouth breathing / gasping. I can't imagine this would be ideal confined, inhibited by a mask.

         I'd be barricaded behind my mask and my stalwart desk armed with a bottle of hand sanitizer. I'd shoo Karly away. I'd send paper airplane messages soaring to her desk with encouraging words.

         Karly, save yourself and us. Go home! Take your illness de jour with you. It's not you, it's your germs we dislike. We care about you. Do you not care for us? P.S. Take the tissues. They're contaminated now. We have more in the supply cabinet.

         Wait, I have a boss and as such is he/she not mandated to be a problem solver, a leader, a decision maker? I suppose I would initiate a formal complaint requesting Karly be ordered to go home. It's not personal. It is a work safety issue.