Ugh!

So, what's up with people coming to work when they are sick??  WBKR saleswoman Amber came to work late last week with an upper respiratory infection.  After a visit to her doctor, she learned that the infection had become pneumonia.  She eventually went home, but only after exposing all her co-workers to PNEUMONIA!!!  I'm glad she didn't have the Bubonic Plague.

Then, WBKR saleswoman Traci (who also happens to be my neighbor) announces that she too feels horrible and is seen walking around the office with her version of whooping cough!  Yes!  Traci too came to work and exposed the rest of us to her unpleasant brand of funk!

Now, lo and behold, I woke up this morning with what appears to be the flu!  And where am I?  At work!  Why do we this?  I think I have the answer.

If you guys have ever won prizes from us, you have likely met Tabatha, our receptionist.  Now Tabatha's never met a sick day she wouldn't take.  In fact, last year Tabatha was off "sick" about 127 days.  To her credit, Tabatha HATES germs and wages war against them on a daily basis.  I have seen coughing/sneezing/wheezing listeners walk into the front office and, as soon as they're gone, Tabatha will get her gigantic Sam's Club-sized can of Lysol and scrub that front counter like it just got finished working the swing shift at a plutonium plant!  Tabatha is a total germophobe and is dedicated to keeping her work space free of bacteria and evil-devil viruses.

But even Tabatha occasionally comes to work sick.  In fact, I've seen her up front with a nose as red as a babboon butt and eyes as glassy as Whitney Houston's.  I've watched her answer the phones looking like a hot, Mindy- McCready-mug-shot mess!  And this is the girl who normally lives in a plastic bubble!

So, why am I here today?!  I woke up at midnight trembling and twitching like a patient on "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew!"  Yet, here I sit in the WBKR broadcast studio hacking like a llama!  I could have stayed home today, sprawled all over the couch.  I could have curled up in a blanket and watched a "Judge Judy" marathon today.  I could have spent the day packing for my trip to St. Jude tomorrow.  Or, I could have spent the day trying to figure out what the lyrics of "Hello World" mean!  But I am at work!!

And, I know why!  I have been with WBKR-FM for 13 years now and I get five weeks of vacation/sick/personal days a year.  I am not going to waste one of those days on a day when I feel like a big pile of dog poo!  I am going to use those days off when I feel like going to the beach, or on a cruise, or to THE US OPEN (booked my trip last night, by the way!!)!  I am going to use my vacation days for VACATION, not to writhe around in my loft like Linda Blair in "The Exorcist!"  You know what?  I am now sitting here thinking about my vacations I have planned in 2011 and, almost instantly, I'm feeling better.