Random Rants ΟΔ: broken record

[hobbsyoyo]

California also has mandated sick leaves (which as I understand, is pretty rare in the US) and has the same clause about not packing it with PTO unless you go above the requirements.

Unfortunately, since there is no paid vacation mandate here, a company can lump PTO and sick days together as long as the combined package offer more than the mandated 3 days of sick leave.

Since my employer offers 3 weeks of combined PTO/sick leave they can legally do this. The same will happen in Washington because 52 hours (1 hr per week) of sick leave is less than what most employers offer in PTO so they can legally lump them together if they so choose.

 

[Synobun]

Time to seize the means of production, friend.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I (mostly jokingly) advocated for a union when someone got asked to work a couple of weekends with no notice. It's an exceedingly rare instance that we get asked to work weekends (and usually is related to an upcoming launch - as this request was) so it's not really a big deal.

 

[rah]

When the company I work for got bought our new French overlords changed our time off.
Before I got 4 weeks vacation and 2 week pto time that could be used for anything and for illness.
They didn't like that so the gave us 23 days vacation, 2 extra holidays a year, and 5 sick (only use of sick and lose em if you didn't use em)
This irritated a lot of people. Since those 10 pto days were ours regardless. And as a manager I'd prefer them be pto days since the only thing different between a sick day and a pto day are the sound effects "I'm not cough, cough coming in today" and it encourages lying to your boss.

Now in year 2 of the new policy, Chicago comes along and mandates that all large companies in the city must offer 10 sick days a years.
You can bet more people will be sick this year.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I found out recently that the housekeeper/organizer person who helps out twice a month is an anti-vaxxer.

So that's even more incentive to get a flu shot ASAP; according to the news last night it'll be available in the pharmacies after October 15.

 

[Snerk]

If only it was possible to get a cold/noro shot as well.

 

[Takhisis]

So you get a vaccine every year against the same disease?

 

[Synobun]

So you get a vaccine every year against the same disease?

There are over a dozen influenza strains every year. Flu shot covers the most dangerous/prevalent one.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

If only it was possible to get a cold/noro shot as well.

Yes!

So you get a vaccine every year against the same disease?

Yup. Influenza mutates at a frightening rate and the mutations tend to mean you don't have lifelong immunity after even multiple exposures.

 

[Takhisis]

But is it that necessary or effective?
X-post edit:

Yup. Influenza mutates at a frightening rate and the mutations tend to mean you don't have lifelong immunity after even multiple exposures.

The above still stands, I suppose.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Yes and yes. Have you had the flu before? If you're not sure then probably the answer is no. It's not like a worse cold. It sucks the life right out of you and can linger for a full week. For the most part only children and elderly are at real risk but there have been specific outbreaks that have killed hundreds of millions of able-bodied adults. I believe there was one in 1918-1919 that was almost as costly in lives as WWI itself was. They called it the Spanish Flu in the US, not sure what it was called in Argentina but it was a global outbreak so likely Argentina was hit and gave it a name.

I have only had it once in my life and that was enough to make me ready to take precautions to never get it again. I haven't caught it since I started getting flu shots although three weeks ago I came down with a sudden, high fever and complete exhaustion that may have been the flu. The only reason I'm not sure if it was the flu is because it passed in a day - the symptoms lined up with my previous illness, just not the length or severity.

What I have right this second is a particularly bad cold but not the flu. My nose didn't really run with the flu like it is right now, which is what always happens when I have a cold. With the flu, I just couldn't eat or move and I had a fever in the 100's for 7 complete days and ached something fierce. I lost a bunch of weight coming out of it and it was at least a couple of weeks after the illness passed before I fully recovered.

Since then I've had 5 or 6 flu shots but haven't had one yet this year. So I wonder if I did get catch the flu three weeks back but I've got some limited resistance from all the flu shots I've had since the first time I caught it.


Anyways, if it's not obvious by the length of this post I definitely believe it is necessary and effective to get a flu shot every year.

 

[Synobun]

But is it that necessary or effective?

For normal people not really, but herd immunity plays a part here. If you get a flu shot, there's less chance of you spreading it and, if you do get it, less chance of it being deadly.

 

[Snerk]

A flu shot once made me feel quite ill for a couple of days. Since then I've been a little hesitant in getting the shot every year. Although most often I've had little or no immune response to a flu vaccine.

 

[Synobun]

That response is a good thing.

 

[Takhisis]

Yes, I've had flu, with actual muscle pain, headaches, eternal congestion and so on.

The herd immunity aspect is one I'd not considered.

 

[Snerk]

That response is a good thing.

Feeling crummy is not a good thing. I get the shot to protect myself from crumminess. Of course getting a real flu would naturally score loads and loads higher on a crum-scale. But still.

 

[Zkribbler]

In the 70's, I moved to Hawaii the year they were administering dud flu shots, i.e. these shots gave people the flu. This provides me with the perfect excuse to never get a flu shot again.

 

[Zkribbler]

We will have to send for a replacement power unit from Germany.

This morning I put down a P2,000 deposit (~$40)

How much will the total price be? No one knows. When will it get here? No one knows.


Related good news. We're using the little TV until the replacement power unit gets here for the big TV. Cept, the little TV won't play sound from the DVD player. Today our electronics guy came out. Here got the DVD sound working, and even fixed the good-quality DVD player which never worked right.

 

[Tee Kay]

Got a flu, boyfriend got the same flu, complicated feelings about work, complicated feelings about people, artists block, financial pressure, the house is a mess, and to cap it all off the weather is starting to warm up. I'm not a happy Tee Kay right now.

 

[MaryKB]

I was involved in my first ever car accident last week, I was on my way to my pharmacy to pick up my prescription refill, when this pickup truck completely stopped in front of me, and I pressed my brakes as hard as I could but my car just didn't stop in time to avoid hitting him. My car wasn't damaged, but his back window completely shattered. I'm glad at least Michigan's a no-fault state so I don't have to worry, but I was given my first ever traffic citation and I was fined $130 for failing to stop.

I was really shaken up and I took that day off from work (my employer doesn't have any problem if you use one of your sick days as a "mental health day")

And well I drove my car home okay, but next day I couldn't start it. I had my friend come over from work and he took a look at my car, he couldn't see any damage but he didn't understand why it wouldn't start up. He said he heard it turning over, but he thought it sounded like I don't have gas going into my engine, but he couldn't see a leak or anything anywhere.

But on Friday I did manage to fix it! I was googling and I learned about something called a "fuel injector switch", and you can trip that if your car senses you've had an impact. I guess it's supposed to stop gasoline from pouring into your engine in case you're in a bad accident as a safety feature, so I just had to find where that switch is and press it in, and my car worked again! [Am I too old to collect my Girl Guides' mechanic patch?]

And I'd decided it's time for my car to go, I've had that for almost 15 years, and honestly I'm rather sad.

(My rant continues as a Rave: https://forums.civfanatics.com/thre...guins-and-a-dozen-moar-besides.634183/page-40)