In what was kind of a reverse of that, at a recurring temp job I had the experience of hearing a co-worker rather loudly complain to the supervisor about “people coming to work sick and making the rest of us sick”, and realized that he was pointedly looking at me! I had to explain to them that I had a Mystery Workplace Allergy—every day, I was fine until I got to work, and then within a few minutes of being there I was sneezing, wheezing, and coughing. Not to mention that my skin would itch wherever it was exposed to the air.
I never did figure out exactly what was causing it there. A co-worker’s perfume or hair-care products? Another co-worker’s strongly-fragranced laundry products? The cleaning solution used to mop the floors in the building? The various goods we were handling and shipping? Any of those could have been it, or all. Or something else entirely.
The company moved to the suburbs, which forced my “retirement” from that particular job. I had enjoyed the work, and they’d had me back again and again for multiple temporary stints, but it was a relief for it to be over.
