That's Sick!

What I hate about a cold is how foggy it can make you feel. You don't see straight, things can get blurry or fuzzy or you feel dizzy and need to get back into bed. What I hate more than having a cold myself is when a supervisor or manager gets one and they still come to work. I can only figure that it's a statement of toughness and of their inner drive to "get the job done" that they are showing off.

To me they are crazy, all it does is reinforce a social belief that you SHOULD, nay you MUST work while sick, otherwise you're nothing but the lazy person in the office who shows weakness at the first signs of adversity. "You are not management material because you stay home when you are sick, loser."

So what about raiding? Do people give any slack to somebody who is obviously sick and doesn't have all their mental faculties available to them? The other night while doing the weekly raid with a few guildies and some pugged players, we had some trouble because there were two people who were really, really sick. Just so happens that it was the main tank and his healer (me).

I can't say who was in a greater fog, but I'm not sure it mattered. He kept forgetting to use certain abilities that enable tanks to, well, tank. And I was so out of it I never even noticed I was in the fire until I couldn't cast anymore..."Hey, I died, how did that happen?"

The run was a failure, and DPS types were talking to us over vent as if we were complete idiots. We apologized and said that we just needed to get off and let everyone else find a way to succeed without us.

I felt so bad, but also angry. I guess raiding has become a business, or just a job, where there is no mercy shown to those who get sick and no allowed time off without attaching a social stigma to those persons.

Let me phrase my question this way: Are you cold blooded or do you have a heart?

I'm curious. My own experience tells me that many are unforgiving, but my experience is narrow and only mine. What about you? Would you show your understanding or rail against the sickos in cold-blood?