"Perfect" People Make Me Sick

This column was first published here on October 13, 2010.
Edited versions were subsequently published,with permission of the author,
in print and online editions of community newspapers across Chicago.

Newspapers love to report “human interest” stories on people with Lou Gehrig-like devotion to duty.

A paper in Rotterdam, New York told the tale of high school teacher and coach Rick Pepe, who retired after 37 years without once taking a sick day. When asked how he could never be sick for nearly four decades straight, Pepe gave credit to “the good genes and good work habits he inherited from his parents.”

Another paper in New York reported on the death of New York City garbage man Louis “Gags” Gagliotto, “an icon in the Department of Sanitation,” who worked on the back of a garbage truck from 1957 to his retirement in 2007. Not once in those 50 years did he take a sick day.

Then there was the story about Chester Reed, 95, the oldest employee of the U.S. Postal Service, who retired last July after 37 years at the USPS Processing and Distribution Center in San Bernardino, California. When asked if he ever worked sick in 37 years, Reed said "Nope, I'm pretty healthy. I eat onion sandwiches. It's very simple: You take two slices of bread, you put a lot of mayonnaise on either slice; then you cut a great big slice of onion and put it in between. The vinegar in the mayonnaise will kill the heat in the onion; and then you'll have a delicious sandwich, which is very healthy."

With all due respect to the homeopathic qualities of onions, I think Mr. Reed’s explanation is more a baloney sandwich than anything.

To be blunt, people who never, ever call in sick make me sick. Sometimes literally.

Because with the truly rare exception of perfect physical specimens who are never actually ill, people who never call in sick sometimes come to work sick. And they often spread germs and disease to me.

My husband shares my view. He typically refers to “perfect attendance” awards as the I Infected Others Prize.

Don’t get me wrong. I know that a lot of people who don’t call in sick when they should, do so because they don’t have paid sick days. No work, no pay---a terrible thing in this down economy, where folks are scrapping for every nickel.

And devotion to duty is a great quality, of course. But what worker-bee types never seem to remember is that their duty to keep the hive humming includes not spreading germs that makes other bees sick.

Because even if you think you’re tough enough to handle a case of influenza, others are not. There are literally millions of people in the Chicago area with fragile immune systems. Babies and pregnant women are at increased risk for serious complications related to the flu. So are people with asthma, diabetes, and HIV infection---as well as folks receiving treatment for cancer.

For them and for most people, the flu knocks you on your backside. It comes on like a Mack Truck and leaves you feeling like road kill.

I had the flu several years ago. I remember it like it was yesterday. One moment I was up and about, feeling fine. It seemed like only an hour later I was on my back, wrapped up in blankets, battling a chill I had never known before, and being attacked from the inside out. The virus was attacking my joints like a prize fighter hitting a bag in the gym.

I hadn't known such pain with an illness. My husband wrapped me in five blankets and I couldn't stop shaking. The fever raged on. I just wanted it all to stop.

What got me most is that I am certain I got infected by a co-worker one cubicle over, who hacked and coughed on several of us for a week and refused to stay home.

So this fall, do yourself and others around you a favor. Get a flu shot; and a pneumonia vaccination, if you’ve never received one. See your doctor, go to your local pharmacy or call your local health department. This year, shots are more available than ever.

You don't need to be Lou Gehrig, or even "Gags" Gagliotto. Just "think prevention" and think of the other guy.

Stay healthy, and see you next week…

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Joan Hadac is a Chicago news/feature reporter, editor and columnist.Read her online at www.citymomchicago.blogspot.com