I started feeling like crap at work last Wednesday and spent New Years Eve in bed with a fever and feeling like death warmed over. Never got a cough really, but had the shortness of breath, everything hurt, and was just so damn tired.

So, long story short, I had to get tested. Here in Chudistan where I live, there are shortages of tests. No one has rapid tests, no stores have at home versions, and the soonest I could schedule a regular test was Wednesday. Said test was a 20 min. drive away, which was just great considering I still felt pretty shitty.

So here I am, waiting for the results. I feel mostly better. However, work is bugging me constantly about said results. At this point I honestly don't care if I had the rona or if I just had, as a friend called it, the "basic bitch flu". And it shouldn't matter. I feel like shit, I called off work so I wouldn't make others feel like shit.

But, in the era of Covid testing, it doesn't work that way. If you're sick, it's almost worse than the old days of doctors' notes. Now, it's omg did you get tested. If you don't have the rona, you're probably not really sick. It's like Covid is the only illness left that deserves calling off work.

I understand that we are trying to prevent it from spreading, but for fucks sakes I am tired. I am still not 100% and if my test comes back negative I'll have to go back to work regardless since I don't have a fever anymore. If it comes back positive, I'll still have to go back to work because quarantine period will be passed. So, what the fuck does it matter in the long run? Why can't we just assume it was positive and get on with it? My $FASTFOOD restaurant is the only one in the area running close to normal hours anyway because the others are so short staffed. Closing for quarantine wouldn't really hurt anyone in the long run and would probably help the crew. We've been so short staffed and overstressed lately that I'm sure we'd just spread it faster anyway since stress fucks with immune response.