What Do You Do When You've Got a Cold?

[britishchef]

I have one and I know it probably won't be gone before my show on Monday. I'll try and make sure I've got something effective to take but I still wonder if I should be preparing food for a group! What do you do when you have a cold?

 

[toniascookin]

I live in Japan; and what the Japanese people do is they put on a disposable mask like a dentist or some sorta doctor would wear. So then other people won't get sick. Maybe you can get something like that; hope this helps
Tonia

 

[sarahmarie]

my boyfriend swears on Raw Garlic. just eat one clove. eww! if you can stand it, it will work.
I take DayQuil type medication and AirBourne (fizzy tablets to boost your immune system. everyone else in the house should take them if you are sick. They are yummy too! get orange. They are in the drugstone/grocery store by cough drops.)

 

[jrstephens]

Maybe you should try doing a demo where you are not preparing the food, like the lime and cucumber one. I have not had this happen to me yet, so, I cannot go on experience.

Just make sure not to wipe your nose !! LOL!!!

 

[ChefAggi]

Raw Garlic

my boyfriend swears on Raw Garlic. just eat one clove. eww! if you can stand it, it will work.
I take DayQuil type medication and AirBourne (fizzy tablets to boost your immune system. everyone else in the house should take them if you are sick. They are yummy too! get orange. They are in the drugstone/grocery store by cough drops.)

Ug I know where you are coming from.. My boyfriend works offshore on the oil/gas platforms. He too swears by raw garlic. He works in the galley and so he says he has one clove of raw garlic a day. He might have a point there cause he rarely has a cold or flu or is sick. Personally myself, I would rather gouge my eyes out with a spoon than eat a clove of garlic raw.. ugggg

Cheers

 

[jenniferlynne]

I'm glad you all started this post, because I am sick now too, thanks to the kids I babysit for and their Mother being too cheap to take them to the Doctor. It was all I could do this morning to drag myself out of bed. These kids have been sick now for over a week. She keeps saying she is going to make them an appointment with the doctor, but then never does. Yesterday one of them had a fever so I just knew they were not going to come today. I couldn't believe it when they showed up. As I type, that same kid is coughing his head off, probably all over my son. Her youngest (just turned 1) is napping and is having a very hard time breathing. His chest rattles when he breaths, but she insists it is just because he is teething. I have totally had it with babysitting. I will watch them the rest of the school year, only because their Mother is a teacher at the school my step-daughters attend, and I don't want her to treat them unfairly. After that, they are gone. I was supposed to go to a show tonight with one of my new recruits, and I am supposed to have my own show tomorrow night. They way I feel right now, I don't want to go to either one!

Sorry for venting!

 

[Veevahchef]

I'm glad you all started this post, because I am sick now too, thanks to the kids I babysit for and their Mother being too cheap to take them to the Doctor. It was all I could do this morning to drag myself out of bed. These kids have been sick now for over a week. She keeps saying she is going to make them an appointment with the doctor, but then never does. Yesterday one of them had a fever so I just knew they were not going to come today. I couldn't believe it when they showed up. As I type, that same kid is coughing his head off, probably all over my son. Her youngest (just turned 1) is napping and is having a very hard time breathing. His chest rattles when he breaths, but she insists it is just because he is teething. I have totally had it with babysitting. I will watch them the rest of the school year, only because their Mother is a teacher at the school my step-daughters attend, and I don't want her to treat them unfairly. After that, they are gone. I was supposed to go to a show tonight with one of my new recruits, and I am supposed to have my own show tomorrow night. They way I feel right now, I don't want to go to either one!

Sorry for venting!

Holy cow!

i used to run a dayhome, and I had it in my contract that if the child is running a fever or is blowing boogers everywhere (Ok, not worded that way in my contract)LOL They could not bring their child to my home as my entire household plus me, the babysitter would get sick, not to mention the other kids in my care. and I let them know, that if im sick, I can't take their kids either. (depending on how sick and whats wrong).

especially if the poor kid has a fever! They need their mom!

 

[Trish1953]

You might also try gloves, which most food handlers must wear to prevent transfer of disease from one person to the next. Second thing, I might indicate I'm wearing mask/gloves for the guests' benefit. That's a handy tip in case anyone has an impaired immune system and shouldn't be exposed to excessive germs. Third idea, have it be an "interactive" show and have your guests and/or host prepare the dish for you. People tend to buy more if they can "try" an item and this is a good way to get folks to participate.

As to fighting the cold, drink lots of liquids to flush out your system. To prevent a cold, I always recommend washing your hands a lot; using your own pen when writing checks at stores; and staying away from busy, enclosed places where it's easy to pick up someone else's germs without knowing it. Research indicates the places where there are the most germs: phones, door handles and elevator buttons.

Trish
Just signed first recruit!

 

[tlmcunning]

In the past when I had a show to do and had a cold, I would tell everyone at the show that since I was feeling under the weather, that tonight would be a "hands on show" where they would take turn using the tools to prepare the food and I would talk about each of the tools being used. I have seen good sales by doing this and the show host and guest appreciate that I am not touching or breathing on the food during the show.

Tracy

 

[jenniferlynne]

Holy cow!

i used to run a dayhome, and I had it in my contract that if the child is running a fever or is blowing boogers everywhere (Ok, not worded that way in my contract)LOL They could not bring their child to my home as my entire household plus me, the babysitter would get sick, not to mention the other kids in my care. and I let them know, that if im sick, I can't take their kids either. (depending on how sick and whats wrong).

especially if the poor kid has a fever! They need their mom!

I just watch 5, so I don't have any kind of a contract or anything. I have two that just come three days a week and they are the best. They never cause any trouble. Other than them, I seem to have trouble with any other kids I take in. I have let two other families go in the past because either the kids were total brats and destroyed the house, the parents were the difficult ones, or both! Most of the time it is the parents that cause me trouble. They don't want to miss work, so they will bring them over and dump them. When I realize they are sick and call them or email them, they make excuses. I finally had to tell my own cousin to hit the road. Her kid was a monster and she drove me crazy herself. She would actually email me and say "He coughed once this morning, so I want you to email me every half hour and tell me how many times he has coughed". Once she took him to the doctor 3 times in one week because she didn't think he was getting better fast enough (hello! They don't get better in one day), then told me she couldn't afford to pay me for the week because of his doctor bills. He is 3 1/2 now and I will still watch him every once in a great while on Saturdays if she has to work, and she will still call to check up on him. Of course now that he can talk, she doesn't talk to me, she asks me to put him on the phone so she can ask him herself if he is doing ok. You may think that is better than bringing him over sick. Well, if he had a fever she was pretty good at keeping him home, but if he was just throwing up or it was coming out the other end, she would still bring him. Nice huh? Thank goodness I had bought a steam cleaner for the carpet right before I started babysitting.

 

[heat123]

I've done shows with colds and also have had to cancel due to a very bad flu. When I have done them with a cold I usually take Tylenol Severe Cold or Flu medicine and it helps me feel better and less congested and helps my cough. You can also use gloves to help spread germs.

 

[bbauman07]

Airbornne (sp?) at first sign of symptoms. You disolve a tablet in water and drink every 3 hours. when i am already sick Zinc vitamins and Zicam(sp?). Lots of vitamin c.

 

[bbauman07]

As long as you can "practice" the proper hand washing I wouldn't worry about it. I worked as a nursing assistant for a long time, some times you have to go to work sick, but can't share your germs. Also don't touch your face, nose etc without washing your hands. (though I'm sure you know most of this)

I would take something for sinuses if you have a runny nose so you aren't oozing all over the food, and sniffing through your presentation.

 

[gilliandanielle]

I agree with Trish about having the guests cook for you! Tell them that you are sick so you don't want to prepare food. Let the guests sell the products and the sales will be higher. Also you can tell them that someone else needs to host so that you can do a proper show for them and get a booking. This will show you who takes the lead with talking about the products and making a recipe. Then you can tell her that she practically just did her first show and she should sign up to get paid to do what she just did!!

 

[jenf]

I had a bad cold about a week ago and I started taking Zicam at the first sign of the cold and it was gone in two days. This stuff is a miracle drug, but it is important that you take it immediately. I also think wearing gloves would make your guests feel more comfortable.

 

[bbauman07]

Airbonne works better then Zicam. You have to start taking it at the very first sign of sickness though. But you don't get sick at all. Zinc has the same effect, it is one of the ingredients in zicam.

I like all of the ideas above. I vote for the "hands on demo" guests tend to sell the products better then we do.

 

[LisaKIsrael]

I agree with the gloves, if nothing but for the gross-out factor. My understanding is that a cold is only contagious in the incubation period -- so that by the time you have the cold, you've already infected everyone. I'm sure that doesn't give the hosts for last week's shows a warm fuzzy feeling. Anyhow, if you are like me, drinking lots of water would help flush out the germs, and DayQuil or Advil Cold and Sinus are the best!!!

 

[chefmelody]

I did my biggest show ever when I was terribly sick with a cold! I took DayQuill right before heading to the host's house, and sucked on cough drops during the pre-show prep. Once I had the adrenaline of the show going, I made it through, but I was sooooo dead tired afterwards! I'm surprised I could talk by the end of it. It was in a huge kitchen/dining room/living room, and I was having to practically shout with my sore throat through most of it. There were 20 confirmed guests, though, so I wasn't about to cancel!But anyway, I used anti-bacterial wipes on my hands several times during the presentation, and if I had to cough, I made sure I turned completely away from the food.

 

[mommyhugz1978]

HOLY COW.. the nerve of some people...... As a mother if my daughter doesn't feel good she isn't going anywhere!!! She is five and my only child.... When will people start pulling their heads out of their rear end and pay attention to if their child is sick!!! though you might only watch five children... I would start a contract that way your proctected if anything happens..... never hurts to CYA yourself!!

 

[ihavethetools]

Whenever I get the first symptoms of any sort.......Zantac. I started using it a couple of years ago, and haven't had a cold!

But I'd do the hands on thing, and have gloves as well.

Kris

 

[twinmomjen]

I like all of the above ideas. I would think, though, that if a cold was really bad and you just didn't feel right doing a show you could call someone else in your cluster and ask them to do the show for you. This is my plan when/if I ever feel too sick to do a show. (Knock on wood!)

 

[scottcooks]

What would a professional chef do? Not go to work to infect the people he serves. If you have not ever taken a food handler's class, thing #2 they teach you is - don't go to work, sick. #1? Wash your hands.

You can spend about 45 minutes explaining to your host what to do, then drop off your kit and recipe, and they can do the show themselves. You can collect the orders from your host over the phone, then go collect your kit and checks in a few days.

You can also auditape yourself making a recruiting infomercial, and definitely send the ThankYou letter for hosts - to ALL the guests at the show, so they know what your commission was, Even Though You Were Not There, You Made $$!

It is effective, as long as your host is willing. My hosts who have done this said it was more fun in a way, because they weren't intimidated in trying the tools.

Don't Make Other People Sick - it's not nice. And, it breaks Cindy Langford's PC rule #2 - Be Nice! What's rule #1? Have Fun!!

God Bless - good luck.

 

[Paige Dixon]

I've used many of the above tactics in the past, but what about when talking makes you cough like crazy? This is also bad for the phone when we're sick. Nothing worse than calling someone up and then not being able to talk while they listen to your coughing fit! I've just had to put off the phone calls for a few days (bad for business!!) and talk as little as possible with a glass of water nearby during the cooking shows (bad for sales!).