Entry tags:

sick

Third time this winter. So not cool.

Working theory:

• immune system still borked from last time
• job stress from being only 90% sure I'll still have a job in six months' time(1)
• immune system further made unhappy by the vast amounts of dust I've been inhaling at work(2)
• heavy contact with student engineers who like to carry their library cards in their mouths, and also, perhaps more relevantly in this case, with a coworker who went home sick yesterday only when her sore throat overcame her normal determination to soldier on and infect the rest of us.

My alternative theory is that it was orange juice. Immediately prior to getting sick the last two times I've squeezed myself a whole heap of orange juice with my neato Kenwood food processor. Common knowledge says that orange juice is good for one's immune system but my anecdata clearly prove this idea highly suspect.

(1) Did I mention that? I mightn't have mentioned it because 90% is pretty high, all things considered. What's happening is that for budget reasons they're merging two of our library branches, and naturally they won't need as many staff once they're done. (In fact I think getting rid of some staff is also necessary for the budget to balance, but they've been coy on that thus far.) We guesstimate, pending actual word from real live management, that they'll need about 80% of those of us at my position; the other 10% is because the union will pursue various options for getting anyone made redundant a job elsewhere in the library system or university. Anyway, standard practice here for culling one's staff is to make everyone redundant and then make them all apply for their old jobs back. I suppose I should get my CV up-to-date, though what the point of "Same as last time you hired me but with the addition of the work I've done for you" is I really don't know.

(2) In order to fit two libraries' worth of books into one, we have to move piles of the stuff into storage. This is the older stuff that no-one uses, and you can tell that no-one uses because after you've worked with it for half an hour your hands are black.