• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

ask to leave work as had no insulin or meter.

H

homer190376

Well-Known Member
Messages
69
Type of diabetes
Type 1
hi, i have worked for the same company for 23yrs and have had type 1 diabetes for 17yrs, today i was working a 4hrs day and started early so would of left before lunch and for this reason left my insulin etc at home. for the first time i was asked to either go home and come back again with my insulin or go home and not return. I was so annoyed i left for the day. Who's in the wrong here? i have good control and i have never felt victimised before.
 
Hello @homer190376 and welcome to the forum. I wonder if you could give a bit more info about why you were asked to fetch your insulin. Presumably you told someone you'd left your insulin at home, why mention it? - perhaps they felt they needed to ensure your health & safety at work. Have you worked half-days before in similar circumstances without issues arising?

Edited by a mod to avoid confusion
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Hi, no hypo, and yes told someone no insulin as I was not intending to work past lunch. I work every Friday as a half day without any issues. Today was a one off on a Saturday!
 
I'm just trying to get this...someone told you that as you had no insulin you had to go and get it? I often go out without my insulin if I think I'm not going to need it, and at times regretted it! If you use a pen it may be worth taking it with you wherever, but I have yet to practice what I preach, but should, there are always times! Work wise, I have never kept my diabetes secret but have always kept my diabetes management to myself so have never been in that situation where anyone would even be aware of whether I had my insulin with me or not. Is this a new experience for you? You have worked there a long time so what made them all of a sudden concerned about your lack of insulin? Were you asked to work longer where you would have needed your insulin?
 
@homer190376 that is a bit ... odd. What is it that you do? If you don't mind sharing. The only context I can imagine this happening is if you work in a healthcare setting...

I would hope they were just trying to be "helpful" and being a bit overly paternalistic. But you were the one there so, obviously, have a much better idea of how it might have been intended. And, no matter the intention, it's how it made you feel that's the important thing - and you feel victimised.

You might tell me I'm being overly optimistic, but I really hope they were just trying to look out for you and make sure you had everything you need to do your job safely for you. While it is probably best practice to have all your diabetic gubbins with you all the time, you and I both know it doesn't always work like that and if you aren't eating, a few hours without insulin isn't going to hurt/is actually entirely normal. Take a breath, and figure out how to explain that to the people at work, who don't have the benefit of the in depth knowledge of diabetes that we do. And probably just heard: diabetic + no insulin = panic stations (because that's how it works in the movies).

Edited by a mod as post referred to has now been edited
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Hi, yes was asked to work longer than expected, but even then I informed them I could only work til lunch time as had no lunch with me nor insulin, obviously a mistake saying that?
 

Hi, office work, no machinery involved. And yes normally carry everything I need. I guess that's life?
 
I think if i only planned to work till lunch and had no food or insulin, 2pm would be 'my' personal max, (I start getting hungry by then, lol) As I said before, take your insulin with you anyway and a snack in case of working on, a couple of units (or whatever you take) with a snack will usually suffice an extra couple of hours. Of course if you didn't want to work on, you could of always said you had a prior engagement....
Yep, that's life I guess, hard I know at times when our 'non-diabetic' friends can carry on regardless
 
homer190376 said:
Hi, yes was asked to work longer than expected, but even then I informed them I could only work til lunch time as had no lunch with me nor insulin, obviously a mistake saying that?
Click to expand...

Ah, that seems to put it in a different light then? You were asked to do extra hours, said you couldn't because you had no lunch or insulin with you - and then you were told to go and get it. Is that right?

That makes sense that they'd make that suggestion then. As @NinaB73 has said, you might have been better off saying you were busy or something if you didn't want to work. Of course, hindsight is a wonderful thing.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
homer190376 said:
Hi, office work, no machinery involved. And yes normally carry everything I need. I guess that's life?
Click to expand...

Absolutely. Life sometimes gets in the way of best practice!

They might have just got confused and thought that you absolutely must have insulin all the time and thought that you needed to get it so you don't die. It's a pretty common misconception and generally people don't understand how diabetes works. If you think that might be the case, it sucks that you are in the position where you have to educate, but giving work a bit of an education on diabetes might be the answer.

Have a think about it, have a think about maybe having a chat with HR - hopefully whoever decided to send you home will learn something about diabetes.

Small admin question - how are you paid? I mean, are you still going to be paid for the morning shift that you were unnecessarily sent home from?
 
Wow

I work for the NHS and we have smart cards for our computers and our bosses have allowed people to go home to get it and then return!

I would say your insulin is more important than a smart card.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…