Said the shady dwarf.
I resemble that remark.
I’ve noticed a marked difference since the swine flu outbreak of 09 - people are now more informed about the flu in general and less likely to conflate ‘a really bad cold’ with ‘the flu.’
But ‘a really bad cold’ can sometimes actually make you ill enough to require a day or two off work - it’s just that it varies so much that nobody would take you seriously, like in the Agatha Christie quote.