I work in a hotel restaurant and have really bad hayfever at this time of year. Therefore I often have sneezing attacks and my eyes water a lot. And whilst I dont sneeze all over everybody I am still sneezing which is something I cant help. I cant go home for having hayfever, the management would never let me so I have no choice but to go to work and deal with my hayfever and other people will obviously have to deal with me sneezing. I didnt realise it may be causing people issues, maybe it is...
Chronic cougher at work driving everyone crazy. What to do?
- Thread starter schadenfreude
- Start date
I would talk to the co-worker and find out what the story is. If the condition is truly medical and chronic, chances are she is aware of how her cough could make people feel uncomfortable and she's probably embarrassed about it. If you bring it up in a light-hearted but concerned way (concerned for her, not for you) then it might clear the air, so to speak, and maybe you can all come up with some sort of solution. On the other hand, some people are truly not aware of how their personal behaviour can affect others, but in most cases, if you bring it up in a non-confrontational way, they will become aware and will try to address it so that everyone is a bit happier. Coughing/sneezing/spluttering and otherwise orally/nasally ejecting fluid/spray is not great for others' health and it's not unreasonable for people to be concerned by it. It is however important that everyone acknowledge an element of compromise will probably be necessary (as is usual).
I would not recommend that you participate in a group-whine about this co-worker with your non-coughing colleagues. That sort of behaviour, where you form teams against a person (at my work, I call it clumping) is not healthy and is honestly quite childish - 'everyone' b****ing about so and so, it's gross, yuck etc etc etc' - it's not appropriate behaviour in a group of adults and joining in or even allowing it to pass unremarked implicitly gives your consent to it and allows it to persist. None of it will get you or any of your co-workers to a solution and it just allows b****y people to be b****y instead of helping.
Best of luck, it's not an easy scenario to be in. I have a couple of staff at work who have colds at the moment and I just keep it upbeat, remind them to cough into tissues, wash hands, use antibacterial wipes etc. None of it is chronic though, so it's a little different to your situation.
I would not recommend that you participate in a group-whine about this co-worker with your non-coughing colleagues. That sort of behaviour, where you form teams against a person (at my work, I call it clumping) is not healthy and is honestly quite childish - 'everyone' b****ing about so and so, it's gross, yuck etc etc etc' - it's not appropriate behaviour in a group of adults and joining in or even allowing it to pass unremarked implicitly gives your consent to it and allows it to persist. None of it will get you or any of your co-workers to a solution and it just allows b****y people to be b****y instead of helping.
Best of luck, it's not an easy scenario to be in. I have a couple of staff at work who have colds at the moment and I just keep it upbeat, remind them to cough into tissues, wash hands, use antibacterial wipes etc. None of it is chronic though, so it's a little different to your situation.
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I don't think the OP is self-absorbed at all. She isn't only complaining about the coughing, she's complaining about the impact it's having. Chronic condition or not, there are more appropriate ways to handle oneself. The co-worker can make an effort to limit the noise, and she can most certainly make an effort to cover her mouth at least around food.
The co-worker is the one who's self-absorbed thinking it's fine to cough all over food. I don't know any work environment where something like that would be considered acceptable! It isn't bad to have a cough, it's bad manners to not make an effort to cover the mouth. It's horrifying there's people who agree that just because she may have an illness that's not treatable, it gives her the right to be a health hazard or just generally gross, and that she even deserves sympathy for it O_O
That said, the other co-workers should find more appropriate ways to handle this than making nasty remarks. Deaf or not, it's just spiteful.
The co-worker is the one who's self-absorbed thinking it's fine to cough all over food. I don't know any work environment where something like that would be considered acceptable! It isn't bad to have a cough, it's bad manners to not make an effort to cover the mouth. It's horrifying there's people who agree that just because she may have an illness that's not treatable, it gives her the right to be a health hazard or just generally gross, and that she even deserves sympathy for it O_O
That said, the other co-workers should find more appropriate ways to handle this than making nasty remarks. Deaf or not, it's just spiteful.
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Absolutely. Clumping together and b****ing about someone isn't 'dealing' with that person or issue though. Talking to them about the problem frankly and supportively is.
I don't think there is much you can do to get her to stop coughing. It seems like it is something she can't control. On the other hand, she should always cover her mouth or step away if she's around food or a large group of people.
Well put
Love this term...'clumping' so true and so worthless and it just creates 'fake drama'.I was thinking about this last night...and fully admit, I missed the part about her coughing on the food....
but this where I don't get the whole 'fake drama' of it all. If I had been there, I would have said (in a polite way)..."Oh, my! Don't cough on the food. Let me get you a tissue to cover your mouth, you might not realize you're coughing all over the food." Really, what is so hard about that? And it upfront deals with the issue, in a polite, useful manner.
As others have said, just talk to her...it doesn't have to be some big confrontation....just communicate...honestly, 9 out of 10 interpersonal problems could be solved if people just talked.
OP, read another post & aren't you working in a doctors office?
Guessing with her being hard of hearing, she might not understand how loud she is. Does she have health insurance? Her throat has to be hurting like crazy, would think there is something that can be done to give her some relief.
Guessing with her being hard of hearing, she might not understand how loud she is. Does she have health insurance? Her throat has to be hurting like crazy, would think there is something that can be done to give her some relief.
Exactly. Making assumptions about the source of the cough isn't going to help matters, and it's certainly not going to help the situation when people are talking and gossiping amongst themselves instead of speaking to the sick person directly.
I don't think anyone here excused the co-workers coughing when she is around food, I believe that everyone was of the general consensus that this needed to be dealt with ASAP as that is disgusting and impolite to cough all over communal food. Even if the cough is chronic the co-worker can cover her mouth when she is around food, or even ask someone else to fix her a plate if she is having a harder time than normal coughing. I know I would offer to get someone what they wanted if they were coughing/sneezing due to a health issue or just because they were feeling under the weather so that they wouldn't have to get up and to keep the food as sanitary as possible. Perhaps the OP should try doing this next time.
I don't know if she realizes how loud she is.
I mention the obesity because her body habitus isn't doing anything good for what is obviously an already compromised airway. It's taking an already bad situation and making it worse. She obviously has chronic bad allergies. I cannot imagine coughing like that all the time is fun. Her throat has to hurt like hell! As for health insurance, she is a full time employee, so I don't know why she wouldn't have it, which is why the onus is on her to be proactive and manage her health issues.
If the people in our department were doing something fairly mindless like data entry, then maybe I wouldn't be as irritated by the constant disruption. However, these people are concentrating and interpreting medical tests. Do you want someone to be distracted while they're deciding if you have cancer or not?
Even if we were doing something as mindless as putting the heads on Barbie dolls, I still think it's rude to let your bodily functions rule. I won't even blow my nose out in front of people. There's no need to. You simply excuse yourself and deal with your snot/cough/fart/whatever in private.
I more or less agree with what Bitten wrote in post #17. I would talk to the co-worker about it and find out if it's a medical condition or not, and then try to come up with a solution. Good luck with whatever you choose to do, and I hope it gets sorted out. I can only imagine how annoying it is.
Well with chronic allergies there aren't many things that help. She may be on another medication that causes gross as it is post nasal drip which causes a lot of coughing and throat clearing and the wetness in the cough.
I have horrible year round allergies, and am allergic to everything, and I was prescribed a drug that does this.
So she may have already taken care of the health concerns.
I would just chalk it up to life in an office, and talk to her about covering her mouth around the food.
I have horrible year round allergies, and am allergic to everything, and I was prescribed a drug that does this.
So she may have already taken care of the health concerns.
I would just chalk it up to life in an office, and talk to her about covering her mouth around the food.