Sick for the Holidays

Once, on the morning of my first day of work as a massage therapist at a large day spa, I woke up with a cold.

Should I go into work sick? Breathing on clients, close contact, hands all over people? I did not want to get people sick. But I couldn't "flake" out my first day.

Calling in sick on your first day of work simply isn't done. I took daytime cold symptom drugs, vitamin C, slid some de-puff stuff under my eyes and went to work. I felt guilty about having a cold, but I tried my best to make sure I didn’t pass it around.

It’s different now.

Just before Thanksgiving I had house calls lined up like limos on Oscar night, before, during and after the holiday. Nice thing about Thanksgiving is that relatives and feasts and shopping tend to make people so stressed they want massages. And they don’t want to drive.

I felt a little tightness in my chest during my third massage at the office the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. I had felt a dry, tickly throat all day that I blamed on allergies and the desert winds. Now I was not so sure. I sat down at my desk and listened to my breathing. That slight, binding-like pull in the chest told me I was getting congested.

I canceled the last appointments of my Tuesday schedule and went home sick, thinking if I took enough immune-boosting stuff I could beat the sludge in my chest and the pain in my head.

Next morning I sat down in front of the mirror and looked at my puffy lids and watery eyes. Should I go to work? No way! My first client was going to have elective surgery in a week. Another client had just finished chemo, another has killer work stress and a spouse disabled by lupus.

I picked up the phone and made the calls.

It's better to be responsible about one's health, or lack of it, than expose people to the crud. Everyone understood, and they were more than happy to make appointments for another time.

These days I'm more independent, and it is better for the long-term karma of being responsibly infectious. Principles come first, as do the clients. The rest of world can spend the holidays passing the crummies around the workplace, but I’m not going to add to the septic soup.

I wonder, sometimes, how massage therapists handle this one. Is it OK to work sick? Does it depend on where you work? Where do principles go when you are worried about your pocketbook? Do you tell the clients and give them a choice? What about when you work for someone else?