I got a nasty cold just before the holidays and I'm still sipping tea and sucking down grapefruit like they're the base of the food pyramid. My hands are bone dry from squirting sanitizer on them every five minutes. And, to top it off, the guy who sits next to me at work has threatened to stab me in the throat with a pencil if he catches whatever stubborn sickness has been strangling me the last few weeks. (Luckily, I have a sense of humor).
I could have called in sick until I was totally germ free. But then I wouldn't have worked since oh, about Dec. 18.
I'll admit I hate calling in sick -- mostly because I spend whatever time I'm not zonked out worrying about how far behind I'll be when I get back. But I also hate the fact that everyone around me has to suffer listening to all the coughing and sniffling. And I wouldn't wish this on anyone (well, maybe a few people, but they don't work with me).
My point in all this rambling is that I'm the least of their worries.
Cubicle walls separate me from my co-workers. I don't touch their keyboards or telephones. I'm constantly washing my hands and squirting sanitizer on them. I've wiped down my whole desk twice since coming down with my cold.
What I want to know is whether they've ever tilted their head while waiting in the self-check-out line at the grocery store and noticed how the light reflects all the nasty smudges on the touch screen you MUST touch in order to complete your purchase? Do they ever clean those things?
Have they ever thought about how many people have touched the communal pens available for signing your receipts? I don't even want to think about how many ears, mouths, noses and other places they've been before they're offered to me. (Insert shudder here).
My story for the cover of tomorrow's living section includes a woman who doesn't go to movie theaters for fear of lice on the seat headrests. She declined to include her photograph because she thought people would think bad things about her for her quirk. I'll admit that the movie theater is one place I've never thought about catching anything, but I suppose she's right.
I guess the best we can do is just try not to think about it too much. Or keep a bottle of hand sanitizer in your pocket to douse yourself with when you do.
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