Sick in Temp Town

Started a new project today, as I mentioned previously, and right away one of the hot-button topics of Temp Town came up. One of the women sitting near me is sneezing and blowing her nose constantly, yet saying she is not sick -- it's "just a runny nose." Her friend, sitting next to her, keeps saying that when she is sick, she stays home so she won't get other people sick. This is the age-old Temp Town argument -- stay home and lose money, or go to work, make the money, and maybe make other people sick.

Most temps opt for the money. I don't view it like that, and after listening to these two women for a while, plus another temp or two who chimed in, I gave what I view as the final pronouncement, which took a totally different approach:

"So I'm supposed to stay home when I'm sick and let my family get sick? But I actually like them. I'm going to go to work and get a bunch of strangers sick instead."

The truth hurts, baby.

Almost a Stripes moment

One of my favorite moments in the movie Stripes -- I know you saw it, so please don't lie to me -- is when they are out in the rain and yuck and Bill Murray suggests it is a bad day for a hike as it is the cold and flu season. Coincidentally, the French-speaking commenter who is willing to make up for Canada's lameness also commented on a post in which I mentioned The Boss's lament, which applies to temps everywhere, "you don't work and you don't get paid." Maybe this ain't Darlington County, but this is Temp Town, and winter's coming, which means a whole lot of temps will be thinking about The Boss's admonition. Long story short, temps who get sick this winter will come to work anyway because they can't afford to stay home and not get paid. They will, because of our cramped work spaces, make other temps sick, who will come to work for the reasons previously stated and make other temps sick, until eventually some sick-ass temp tries to infect me and I have to get medieval on him. Seriously, I can't believe that in DC there isn't some jackhole scientist studying the common cold, the flu or some such shit who realizes that temps are the perfect laboratory. Fucking contagious diseases R us. Should start any day now. I would cheerfully accept some federal grant money to study why I don't get sick under these conditions. Mostly, I think, it is because I make it clear to any sick fuck who comes near me that I will cheerfully kill them if they come close enough to infect me. But NIH might not think that is a legitimate influence on disease vectors, so grant money might not be forthcoming.