As the plague got worse, people began to do worse things. Some people refused to help sick family members. Other people forced sick servants to leave, even though they had nowhere to go. Eventually, if one person in a home got the plague, the whole family was forced to stay in the home. A red cross and the words "Lord have mercy upon us" would be painted on the door. Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary: "the plague [is] making us cruel as dogs to one another."