It's not just hospital workers (although that's what TFA is about.) Plenty of people are required to get a flu shot that you wouldn't expect need it.

The one that surprised me are local refinery workers. There is one refinery in our region that produces virtually all of the petroleum based fuel consumed locally. If the flu were to incapacitate 50% of the employees, the refinery would have to shut down. These are trained people needed to produce a critical product, and the refinery wouldn't have the time to train temps to take over for them. Pipelines don't exist to bring in refined products from elsewhere, and the rest of the nation's refining capacity would be strained to meet the demand.

Refinery workers are exposed to a lot of things you probably wouldn't want to be exposed to, but viruses aren't commonly among them. It'd probably be a great place to work if you wanted to avoid contact with other people.

Incredibly low side effect rate, very effective, and a guarantee that you're going to get a mild version of the flu before everybody else does.

The reality is quite different.

The flu vaccine has to be produced several months before flu season. So, if the experts pick the wrong strains, or even if they pick the right ones and the flu mutates in that time, you're no better off.

In fact, you are worse off, as your immune system is likely to be worse off, trying to fight this new strain of the flu that is similar, but not exactly the same: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoskins_effect

For the last 18 years getting a flu shot has been a federally mandated condition of my employment and I don't even work in a health care related field--what the heck is the big deal with getting a flu shot?

Freedom to make one's own decisions about medical treatment is a big thing in the US, and people dislike when they are compelled against their will. I'm no exception.

Just about all the improvements in public health over the past few centuries has been from an understanding of disease spread, and modern nutrition. Most people can and will like out the overwhelming majority of their lives without requiring any form of medical assistance. Being cognizant of the spread of the virus has a much higher success rate in preventing infection than does immunization.

... at&t apologist.

> ... people come into the shop to pay bills where they have exceeded the 3GB, month after month. and what I find astonishing is that people who consume over 3GB/month of iPhone data take the time and effort to pay their bills in person.

The fees to review your case is minuscule compared to the medical costs right? Many lawyers will review this kind of thing for free because they view a patient walking up to their door and saying "an insurance company is screwing me can you help?" as a multimillion dollar opportunity they don't want to pass up. They might ask for a fee at first, but give them your number and say, "Give me a call if you have the free time to review my case". My advice is to at least call around.

yeah
but... wait this is just a video!!

wait until 1st april to the release :D