TIFU by Infecting the Workplace with COVID

Last week, my mother had my cousins down to the house to stay. I wasn't entirely excited about this as it was going to be an extremely hectic two weeks for me at work. I was retroactively denied time off due to understandable circumstances, and my workload was about to triple, but I had it in writing that I was likely going to get the newly available supervisor role with this trial period went great. Massive pay bump too.

What this meant was I wasn’t going to be able to see my gaming cousins much, which was an absolute bummer, but I still had some evenings we could talk. At least, I thought that was going to be the case. Anytime I got home after work, they were in the spare room together gaming with each other on their Switches. I was able to join in on their LAN games, but they never once left the room unless it was for the bathroom or something.

I never asked anyone why they kept to the room. It just didn’t cross me. In my house, when the door is closed, they want privacy. Admittedly, I was a little disappointed, as I was under the understanding they were into board games and was hoping to play some Settlers or 7 Wonders with them. Since my brother moved out and my friends across the country, I’ve been a bit starved for board gaming.

This went on for the whole week, the only time I saw them was when they went to the Bathroom we shared. (IMPORTANT)

Friday at work was an extremely busy day trying to get everything done before the weekend. I was rushing between everyone making sure things kept going, and my adrenaline was extremely high. I didn’t even register that anything was wrong until I got home that evening and absolutely crashed.

I felt weak, dizzy, my strength absolutely sapped. As a result, I didn’t even talk to my parents, I just called it an early night and went to bed.

I was feeling absolutely horrible Saturday, fever, headache, upset stomach, and the water I took with my medication tasted like a Switch Gaming Cartridge. I was sick. I went downstairs to get something light to eat, and my dad pushed one of the COVID test kits into my hands. That's when the shoe dropped.

The reason why my cousins were not leaving the spare room was because they were quarantining themselves. They caught COVID from a wedding they went to five days before they came to visit, and no one bothered to inform me. Hell, I am kicking myself that I didn't realize it out sooner. Worst off, I was sharing a bathroom with them while my parents were using the downstairs bathroom. I didn’t ask, no one told me. It just completely slipped my mind.

Of course I had it and the next three days (Saturday, Sunday, Monday) was hell on Earth. Despite having all my shots up to date to say it was the worst I felt ever would be an understatement. It could have been a lot worse, but today, Tuesday, I felt good enough to return to work with proper precautions in place to ensure it would not spread…

But it was too late.

Remember when I said that Friday I was rushing between everyone to make sure things kept running. This involved handling things, passing it to others, talking to others, and ensuring quality of prints. Where I live, COVID Regulations are not mandatory, it's basically “Use common sense, if you have it, wear a mask, clean up your area, don’t be an idiot.” Now we can add “Don’t be an uninformed MORON” to that list.

It started with two people calling in sick. Then, one by one my team started feeling sick and ill. Some were more resistant and able to continue working, but a lot just asked to leave early. Someone used one of the tests provided by the company, and yep, they have it. Not just them, but after they were confirmed the rest of the team took the test and everyone save for the one person I don’t interact with caught it (and I don't think thats going to last long). Because the one person I don’t interact with was the only one who didn’t catch it, it was easily traced back to me as Patient Zero.

My boss said he is going to stick up for me, argueing their should be no disciplinary actions against me for being careless or not adhering to due diligence. I was genuinely uninformed, and the moment I learned I emailed my boss to do a wipe down of the facility, but it was too late. Right now I am sitting in an empty print shop, three quarters of my team missing, still have a headache, and brainstorming with my boss about how we are going to get out of this mess.

Right now the only thing that has been set in stone is Face Masks and Hourly Wipe downs are coming back into effect, which the team is just going to absolutely love but won't help right now.

I don’t think I am going to get that Supervisor position. I am sure my direct boss will stand up and fight for me, but an entire facility shutting down from me, that’s going to be hard to ignore.

tl:dr Read the F'ing room. If it looks like a quaratine and squawks like a quaratine, take precautions and ask questions.