Despite nearly coughing up a lung, Herman Nelson, an employee at Tritech in Kildeer, told his fellow employees he was not sick. The coughing was first noticed Tuesday in the restoom, where Mr. Nelson was trying to dispense paper towel to dry his hands. According to co-worker Niel Jergenson, “He attempted to reassure me between bouts of coughing and sneezing that everything was fine and I was in no danger of catching anything from him because he had merely inhaled some dust and his allergies were acting up. Luckily there are two paper towel dispensers in the restroom positioned several feet apart.”
Mr. Nelson’s wastebasket was also observed by a few co-workers and the nightly cleaning crew to be full of used tissues. “We always know who is sick or dealing with a divorce” commented Gabriela Hernandez, a janitor who works for LaGrange Management Group, the facilities management company for the Tritech building. “And Mr Nelson has definitely been sick for two days now.” She stated. Some of his cubicle neighbors were concerned. “After listening to him blow his nose every five minutes on Monday” said Cindy Williams who sits in a cube kitty corner to Herman, “I actually grabbed my laptop and moved into the lab. I’m probably going to stay there all week” she continued. “I don’t have a phone in there, but I can still check my voice messages via email, so it’s not like I can’t be reached.”
As of January 1, 2008 new employees at Tritech are given a pool of 20 personal days instead of 10 vacation days and 10 sick leave days. Yun Gang Xiang, Mr. Nelson’s manager thinks that this has caused less people to take sick days. “Herman is sick, I don’t care what he says. A lot of my guys come in even when they are sick. They don’t want to waste their vacation days sitting home in bed. I think this change has made us more productive.”