At work on Thursday, there were three people in my team who were "soldiering on" through a variety of illnesses. Cold and flu symptoms were rife: you couldn't go for 2 minutes without someone sneezing, blowing their nose or complaining about the throbbing headache they had.
What really shits me is the way they all refused to go home because they've already used up their sick days for either hangovers or apathy days. Instead, the buggers come to work, full to the eyeballs with mucus, coughing clouds of virus everywhere and passing their crap onto me! I've been working on an intranet project since the start of May, and it was due to be signed off and handed over yesterday. Instead of getting kudos from the management and the satisfaction of a job well done, I spent the day at home on the sofa, under a duvet, watching TV and basically feeling sorry for myself.
Why is it that you never remember how bad it is having a cold? It's like childbirth (albeit to a lesser extent). Your brain completely blocks out the memories of having a cold. You can vaguely recall it being uncomfortable, but it's always a lot worse when it comes around again. The simple act of swallowing, for example. It's more like trying to jam a roll of sandpaper down the inside of your neck than swallowing. Same with the nose. Yeah, you remember having to blow it a lot, and you're constantly aware that it could start dripping at any time, but you always forget how nasty it is when you're trying to get to sleep! You can't lie on your back, or it pools in the back of your throat, either choking you awake, or (apparantly) making a noise like the last inch of a draining bathtub. You can't lie on your side, unless you want to wake up with your face lying in a pool of cold booger.
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