What's a good way to handle this situation with my boss?

If your job involves working in close contact with people, it is better to stay home so you don’t infect a host of other people.

If you can’t contact anyone, at least wear a mask and wash your hands regularly.

Suck on hard candies, take Tylenol to lower temp., drink hot tea and lemon as you work.

Addendum: During quiet times, nap on the bar.

Your health should be paramount and because when you’re sick, you’re not going to function well in any capacity and if it’s someting possibly infectious, now it’s a possible hazard to those around you. While it’s true that there isn’t someone to cover for you and it causes a dilemma of sorts, you would hope that common sense prevails dictating that you shouldn’t be working in your condition and hopefully your employer would realize this and be understanding.

If you absolutely have to be there, I’d go with @gailcalled‘s advice above and just try to take it as easy as possible along with taking meds and using precautions.

Ugh, the whole combination of being sick + a holiday + work has to be the worst, by far. I agree with @gailcalled on the mask and hand washing. At the very least the hand washing is vital. I would also continue to attempt to get ahold of your boss. They may not be thrilled, with it being a holiday and all, but it sure beats spreading sicky germs around to the general public. I imagine if you are as ill as you’re describing, your boss can’t be terribly mad. It isn’t as if you’ve made it up just to get a holiday off.

Good luck, and feel better soon!

Make a showing at your work. advise your boss that you are sick and you are afraid you will infect him, the other workers, and the customers. let him see this for himself. he will let you go.

@noelleptc: Wipe off all make-up. You want to look as terrible as you feel.

Agree with @gailcalled again. As much as I know how disappointing it is to undo a nice makeup job, I can’t help but feel like you need to gather as much sympathy as possible from your boss. Even a great boss is going to be at least a bit grouchy about having their holiday interrupted by an employee. Though, I say “tough!” to that, it comes with the territory. The responsible thing to do is to allow you to go home and get well, but, odds are they will still be grumpy about it.

Keep your illness to yourself. A good boss will notice you are under the weather and appreciate your extra effort as this time of year can be tough on businesses with people wimping out over a sniffle or two, Load up on OTC remedies….run the sink with hot water and a little vicks…throw a towel over your head and deep breathe some steam for 10 mins…and tough it out. Wash your hands a lot to not pass on too many germs.

Do watch out for your symptoms getting any worse than they are and you know what to do if they do! Hope you feel better.

If you can’t call off before hand go in and once they see how horrible of a condition you are in they should send you home if they have any regard for your well being and that of the customers. I don’t think covering it up is a good idea. You’re only going to feel worse once you get home, and probably infect some other people while you’re there….who wants to be sick on Christmas? Hope you feel better!

Stop at a drugstore and get a mask; that should get you sent home, unless they’re short-staffed today, and are desperate for workers. In which case, when you’re better next week is a good time to ask for a raise.

Take an over the counter cough suppressant medication.

couldn’t you get a doctor’s note?