"This thinking and that of Mach is disturbing. EVERYBODY faces the same "challenges" when they are "the least bit sick". Almost every work environment (office, factory, etc) has to deal with the same issues of "passing it on" or "hindering their own healing" but the mentality in other environments is that if you are healthy enough to be at the beach, you sure had better be at work instead. The added "vulnerability" of F/A''s also came up on a recent flight where the F/A''s were complaining to me about how their managment was insensitive and didn''t realize that their workday was actually longer than x-hours because they had to drive into work. "So does everybody else" was what I would have liked to have said but I was polite. It''s very disturbing to me that there are some (probably a vast minority-hopefully) that have this thinking about work rules. If you''re too sick to work, you''re too sick to leave the house/hotel. The beach will "hinder" your healing more than anything. And what about "passing it on" to others at the beach? Isn''t that a concern? Or are you just that much more compassionate towards your co-workers? "
Ch 12,
A couple of points. First, as I mentioned, if your caught bricklaying while on a back injury sick leave, you should deal with the consequences.
Second, if any pilot or flight attendant starts justifying arguments on a days
work with added commuting time, they are wrong and in the minority. We are paid to show up for work rested and healthy. Even if that means coming in the night before and staying in a hotel.
Now on to sick use for flight crew. The points you made do not take into the account the differences for flight crews relating to illnesses. As a pilot, I can''t comment for the flight attendants, but even a slight illness can have a great affect on safety in the cockpit. For example, a minor head cold. In over a decade, I never had a cold that would have kept me out of a ground job. I have had more than few that I have flown with and finally just called in sick with all of them now. With even a minor cold, an ear blockage can occur very easily. It can happen very suddenly and be very painful along with a near total loss of hearing. Shuffling papers at a desk while waiting for the Sudafed to kick in is a rather benign event compared to deviating around TRW''s and diverting due to low fuel while barley being able to hear the other pilot speak.
I''ve had this happen to me in South America. Oxygen masks aren''t designed to "hack" into with a cold. Things just don''t go very smoothly while trying to clear your mask while flying and not suffer the effects of a 14,000'' pressure altitude at 5:00am.
The "runs" are another example. The over the counter remedys might work well at your desk, but they have different effects after 9 hours at a 8% humidity level. Added to that is the security issue of unneccessary cockpit door openings and lack of the crewmember in the cockpit.
These are just a couple of examples. It is different for flight crewmembers. Simple problems can have a devasting effect. I know of one "company guy" who didn''t take sick leave due to a head cold. He self medicated and ended up on total disability when the pressure changes fried the balance functions in his ears. This is one example. I never could figure out why this company would have a 1st year flight attendant hack all over a 35 year 777 captain so he ends up taking enough sick leave in a short time equal 6 months of that FA''s pay.
Just stay home.
09 AM A77IGW wrote:
06 PM A77IGW wrote:
