Shar is a receptionist — and self-described germaphobe — working at a financial corporation in Toronto. The coworker who covers for her during lunch was sick this week, Shar says, and must have noticed that “when I return, I take it upon myself to Purell the crap out of my mouse, keyboard, desk surface and even pens. (I cannot afford to get sick.)”
Adds Shar: “In my defense…I did think she was gone.”
related: My secretary, Sybil
123 responses so far ↓
#1
melissa
TEAM NOTEWRITER!
Apr 15, 2012 at 9:46 pm rating: 75
#2
Angela
The sickie and her germs should of stayed home. Tough shitsky.
Apr 15, 2012 at 9:48 pm rating: 88
#3
aquapt
If I had a cold, and I had to work at somebody else’s desk for an hour and touch all their stuff, *I* would be the one sanitizing everything before I left. Simple consideration, problem solved.
Apr 15, 2012 at 9:52 pm rating: 155
#4
Amber
I don’t find it offensive. The other woman was sick, so why should Shar have to expose herself to germs just for the sake of someone who’s over-sensitive? If she was making sounds of disgust and saying rude things, that would be one story, but there’s no harm in sanitizing your things if you know someone has been ill. Do you know how much bacteria hangs out on phones?
Apr 15, 2012 at 9:53 pm rating: 60
#5
Dara
If it was my desk, my co-worker would be lucky I didn’t lysol them down and stick clorox wipes up their nose before I let them sit down.
Apr 15, 2012 at 9:57 pm rating: 37
#6
JK
Did nobody explain to Shar that all she’s gotta do is “circle, circle, dot dot dot…”? Do they not have cootie shots in Canada? Surely it would be covered by their health care system.
PS. She can’t afford to get sick? I assume she means with something like the common cold where you can really only temper the symptoms. Otherwise, that stuff has to be covered.
Apr 15, 2012 at 9:58 pm rating: 12
#7
Hannah
People get colds. Hiding from dirt and germs is more likely to hurt your immune system than stop a cold.
Apr 15, 2012 at 10:04 pm rating: 69
#8
SeeYouInTea
I hate people coughing on things I have to touch as much as the next person, but people need to stop disinfecting the shit out of EVERYTHING. It is bad (from what I’ve been told) to always spray Lysol or whatever at the littlest cough. You’re creating superbugs that are becoming immune to disinfectants/antibiotics.
Apr 15, 2012 at 10:14 pm rating: 45
#9
Leah
I would have ended it with P.S. I licked the container that you just touched to get that sanitizer.
In all serious though, I would do the same thing. I work in a hospital and they request you sanitize before entering and leaving.
Apr 15, 2012 at 10:20 pm rating: 10
#10
mpfl
Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are not that effective at killing viruses. Simply wiping it down with water would be better.
Apr 15, 2012 at 10:20 pm rating: 0
#11
Omnivore
A relative of mine tsks tsks at me for using antibacterial hand wipes before we eat at a restaurant, claiming I’m killing all the good bacteria on my hand. Whatever. I’m not entirely sure she even washes her hands after using the washroom!
Apr 15, 2012 at 11:10 pm rating: 4
#12
Des
I have an immune-related disease (multiple sclerosis) and in defense of the “germaphobes”, any common cold that I get can make me very ill. My body will turn that common cold into something that requires sick leave. I don’t tell everyone at work about my MS, so to them I am probably the crazy lady with the sanitizer wipes who doesn’t wait for you to leave the room before she goes to town.
Apr 15, 2012 at 11:33 pm rating: 47
#13
Jasmine
I disinfect the shit out of everything on the desk when I start using a computer a sick person was using, too. Who gets offended by this?
Apr 15, 2012 at 11:48 pm rating: 24
#14
angry bird
Next time stay at home a*hole!
Apr 16, 2012 at 12:53 am rating: 7
#15
Dr.Chalkwitheringlicktacklefeff
The funny part being that a cold is caused by rhinovirus; there is literally nothing that can kill it. Not lysol. Not bleach. Not alcohol-based disinfectants. Nothing. It’s a massive waste of time to even try sanitising your desk. But still, feel free to try if it makes you feel better.
Apr 16, 2012 at 3:38 am rating: 30
#16
Dramamine
Am I the only person who lives and works in a country where it’s often viewed as “skiving” if someone stays off work from an office job with something as measly as a cold? I’d love to be able to do that but when someone comes into work with a cold, you makes jokes to them about how they should stay away from you and accept that you’re probably gonna have a cold soon too. I always found it weird how, in movies when someone gets a cold they commit to bed for days. I wanna move somewhere where it’s socially normal to do that.
Apr 16, 2012 at 5:10 am rating: 46
#17
havingfitz
It’s very easy to tell someone to stay home when they’re sick. It’s not always as easy to do: where I work you can call off once in a 3-month period (Jan-Mar) for example. Call off twice during that time, you’ll at least be written up and very possibly terminated. So the result is that everyone is sick because no one who gets it first can afford to stay home. I don’t care if you sanitize everything I touch: doesn’t bother me a bit, but please don’t judge me for dragging my germy ass in. It’s not my idea of a great time either.
Apr 16, 2012 at 8:27 am rating: 20
#18
Nathan
If you don’t want people trying to avoid your germs in front of you, don’t come to work sick!
Apr 16, 2012 at 8:30 am rating: 4
#19
AlfaCowboy
What poor traumatized little child would be hurt by someone sanitizing his or her own desk? How is that “mean?” Does the note writer personally identify with her germs so closely that she considers a rejection of said germs a rejection of her? Good grief. She probably gets separation anxiety from flushing the toilet, too.
Apr 16, 2012 at 8:57 am rating: 20
#20
Hermine
wtf people??? She’s not vomitting her guts all over the desk… She’s got a cold! And as it was mentionned before, viruses (or virii, depending on your snobism level) are not affected by alcohol, antibiotics or anything like this they are not considered alive until they enter the body and don’t have a cell membrane to disintegrate (which is the main mode of action of antibiotics and alcohol. So it was totally pointless and rude from Shar to frantically “sterilize” her desk.
Apr 16, 2012 at 9:07 am rating: 14
#21
Hapax Legomenon
What I’ve learned from the comments:
1. Neither I, nor anyone else, actually understand germs.
2. There is no consensus on whether or not getting sick is good.
3. If you say you have a cold, people will take you at your word, even though everything in the world starts out looking like a cold.
Apr 16, 2012 at 9:08 am rating: 51
#22
Courteny
Funny enough, I do the same thing to the person who covers my desk at lunch. But it’s not the germs, it’s their lunch they leave on my mouse, keyboard and all over my desk. I certainly wait until they’re gone before I wipe down my desk.
Apr 16, 2012 at 9:57 am rating: 2
#23
Dane Zeller
There is evidence now that there are virtual viruses that affect humans who comment on blog posts. The only prevention is to use a wireless mouse.
Apr 16, 2012 at 10:07 am rating: 9
#24
a-Arialist
With the exception of people with weakened immune systems, who really do have to be careful, the rest of you are all completely crazy.
All you need to do is wash your hands regularly and thoroughly. The rest of it is just ridiculous – wipes in restaurants before meals etc etc. I never use any of those things (but I do wash my hands often), and have only taken antibiotics (knowingly, anyway) twice in my 34 years. I am remarkably healthy – I haven’t had so much as a cold in about four years.
Can all the frantic germaphobe wipers and sprayers say the same?
Apr 16, 2012 at 10:19 am rating: 28
#25
JC
I wouldn’t have my feelings hurt if I saw someone doing it…I try to steer clear of other people when they have a cold and sniffles too.
I’m a bit of a germaphobe myself, so I understand.
I get really skeeved out if someone is coughing or sneezing and constantly wiping their nose in public. If I’m walking behind that person and they sneeze or cough, I move, because I don’t want to walk into their sneeze path!
Apr 16, 2012 at 10:45 am rating: 3
#26
TFA
I was going to write “Team Notewriter” until I saw this comment. Very good point.
Apr 16, 2012 at 11:14 am rating: 0
#27
Batman
I think what’s most passive-aggressive about this note is that it’s written in a notebook that presumable belongs to Shar, meaning that Germ-y germified the notebook, as well.
Apr 16, 2012 at 11:55 am rating: 15
#28
chrisinphx
I do the same thing, in fact, I take a Lysol wipe with me to the copier/fax/printer or whatever and wipe the buttons before I touch it. There are too many people walking around sneezing and sniffeling, on top of the people who dont wash their hands after using the bathroom. You would think in a professional setting these things wouldnt be needed but there are nasty ass people at every level.
Apr 16, 2012 at 11:57 am rating: 4
#29
deprogrammed
I agree with both of them. But the weird part about having a cold is you can unfortunately be contagious for a couple of days before you show any symptoms.
Apr 16, 2012 at 12:53 pm rating: 4
#30
Marge
LOL, I worked with a germaphobe and he was fun to watch. First times someone sniffled he pulled his t-shirt over his nose for the rest of the day. We would clean and disinfect for him all the time, between the kidding. Germaphobe I think is an illness too. We worked in a dirty, filthy warehouse but made sure he had one germ free computer in our area.
Apr 16, 2012 at 9:18 pm rating: 3
#31
Diomira
Guys, I think it just makes the note writer feel worse. She already feels bad being there and exposing folks. She knows she’s spreading her germs. Even if she wiped up her own germs, Shar here would wipe again. I can empathize and I don’t think it’s too much of social grace to ask someone to wait until their out of the room before you get your Hazmat suit on. Besides, she sat in your chair. I bet she coughed or sniffled and touched it. I have a job now that really encourages people to stay home sick instead of spread it around, so I’m blessed. But at my old job, there was very limited sick time available and you better save it for the day you really can’t come in. Most people worked the first few days of their cold/flu and came back before they were 100% because they couldn’t afford any more time off.
Apr 16, 2012 at 11:55 pm rating: 19
#32
Margo
Is it just me, or is the REALLY passive-aggressive person here the one who sanitizes everything in front of her co-worker instead of directly addressing the situation?
Apr 17, 2012 at 8:42 am rating: 18
#33
Jolly
I cover for the receptionist at my work, too, and when she gets sick, she disinfects her area before I use it. I haven’t gotten sick yet, but if I did, I would do the same for her when I am handing it back to her. Maybe instead of wasting your time writing a snotty note, you could use a little common courtesy to try and minimize the contamination YOU brought to HER workspace, so she doesn’t have to. As long as you don’t take care of it yourself, you have 0 right to be offended that she does.
Apr 17, 2012 at 1:56 pm rating: 6
#34
Amanda Blog & Kiss
The chemicals in Lysol scare me way more than germs that we all naturally carry.
Apr 17, 2012 at 4:32 pm rating: 11
#35
MDT
Team germophobe. I was a receptionist once and the person who would cover my lunch breaks was disgusting. She would leave her whole face of makeup and lip gloss caked on the phone each and every day. I wasn’t passive aggressive about it though, I was direct. I asked her to clean her mess before walking away from the desk.
Apr 17, 2012 at 6:38 pm rating: 3
#36
OHSue
Boy does my boss get pissed if you call off. Said if you have stomach bug you can come in because we have a bathroom. Funniest part is I work in a doctors office!
And our receptionist uses handwash all the time. Yet she licks her finger when turning pages and puts pens in her mouth so we have all been innoculated with her cooties!
And if a receptionist has a problem with germs she needs to get a job the back. You spend all day being approached by strangers who could be picking their nose just before they touch your desk, pen, etc.
Apr 17, 2012 at 10:28 pm rating: 3
#37
April
Pointed out that I have Lupus in another comment. Hopefully, I’m not the only one that hates when people then tell me “Then you shouldn’t work with the public!” That is just rude – telling me I can’t have my job. Right now, this is the only job I could get and you have the nerve to tell me not to take it? AND that it’s my fault for being offended that people come into the store with all manner of sicknesses that they want to pass off to other people without any shame??
Doubly funny, because I have been told that I could go on disability between my mental health problems and my other physical problems… but I choose to earn an honest wage. I don’t want to just leech off the other taxpayers. I will work as hard as I am able to… even though, there are obviously others who think a little depression gives them the right to lay around and receive checks from the government. Sorry, off the soap box. It’s just I saw at least one person mention this in comments somewhere and have had people say this to me in person… just annoying as hell to be given flack for wanting to work…
Apr 18, 2012 at 1:39 am rating: 9
#38
Beatus Mongous
The most important question is: What did she eat for lunch?
Apr 18, 2012 at 3:08 pm rating: 0
#39
Poltergeist
Put on your big girl panties notewriter. When you vomited as a child, did your mother have to wait until you left the room to clean it up lest she hurt your feelings?
Apr 19, 2012 at 1:43 am rating: 2
#40
Amanda6
Are germs the new tipping?
Apr 19, 2012 at 2:13 pm rating: 0
#41
Deris
Fun note for above, Medical personal do use water after surgeries. We even have a tool that flushes water over staples/stitches to clean it up after the patchwork. Open wounds are always -ALWAYS- cleaned with water.
Apr 19, 2012 at 4:10 pm rating: 3
#42
Madwoman Without a Box
I was always under the impression that being a Germaphobe was somewhat like having OCD, or somesuch. So, it’s a phobia/compulsion the bearer can do nothing about, right? If that’s the case, why are so many people vilifying Shar, who has admitted she is a Germaphobe, and has also said that she had thought coworker had left before she hosed down the desk? Genuine lack of understanding on my part, here!
Apr 21, 2012 at 3:45 pm rating: 0
#43
B
I have a roommate like that. She will avoid the house at ALL COSTS when anyone is sick. When she does come home, she lysols EVERYTHING. The smell of the lysol alone makes me want to throw up. It’s rude.
Apr 22, 2012 at 4:20 pm rating: 0
#44
Army of Words
With all the Purell she’s using, I’m gonna make a guess and say that Shar gets sick more often than the note-writer. Unless she has a disease that affects her immune system, she needs to get her priorities straight.
Apr 24, 2012 at 6:32 pm rating: 0
#45
Snowy
Jeez. If I was the sick one, I’d not only not be offended, I would’ve brought a package of Lysol wipes and started for her.
Apr 27, 2012 at 5:16 pm rating: 0
#46
Rumtopf
I had to stay home from my boyfriend’s bro’s birthday dinner today because I’m sniffling and a bit feverish(probably because I was on a packed out train to and from London a week ago, damn you, public, and damn you, crappy immune system!). I don’t want to get everyone sick along with me but I’m missing out on roast dinner.
Something I need to do, and suggest everyone else should check, is vaccination booster shots. Pertussis is the main one, no way do I want to catch that and accidentally infect an infant too young for their shots. Pertussis is not only awful for kids who survive it, it can kill D:
Sep 7, 2012 at 2:10 pm rating: 0
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