- Messages
- 2
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
- Treatment type
- Pump
Hello everyone. I have had a horrendous day at work. I’m so angry and upset. I’ve never been treated this way, and I’m struggling to get to sleep. Since I can’t sleep, I thought I would share with you all my experience.
Today my supervisor came up to me during work. She said: “Some staff members feel uncomfortable with you injecting yourself in front of them. From now on, you will need to treat you diabetes in another room.”
I was confused. Firstly, I have never injected myself in front of people. Heck, I haven’t injected myself for over a year now; I wear an insulin pump! I then realised she was referring to when I prick my arm to check my glucose level. I did that today at lunch, after a co-worker had told me to join them at their table with the other staff members (I was the last one to get there, so I ended up just grabbing a chair and sitting outside their circle while they chatted).
I was shocked, I was upset and I was angry. I kept myself together for the first thirty minutes, but then I ended up bursting into tears. Someone told me to go to the back room, so I did. The person asked me what was wrong, and after I told them what had happened, they said: “I didn’t realise you were so sensitive”. She left, telling me to take all the time I needed to calm down. Another female co-worker came into the room. She repeated what my supervisor had said, and then continued to say that I was blowing this all out of proportion, that there were ‘plenty of rooms’ in the building that I could use to check my glucose levels in the future. When I told her I didn’t feel that I should have to do that (still crying), she frowned and said that I was being rude, that I wasn’t thinking about the position I was putting other people in. I felt like I was talking to a brick wall. She left.
Another co-worker comes in. She ignores the fact that I’m crying and goes to get some water. She then says, her voice bored and exasperated, “So are you just going to stay in here now, or are you going to take over from Lisa who is covering at you workstation?” The question surprised me. I said I didn’t know. I’m just trying to calm myself down. “Well I need to know so I can start delegating people.”
I went back to my workstation, my breath hiccupping, doing my absolute best to not cry in front of customers.
None of these women seemed to understand why I was crying. They thought they saw an overly sensitive girl crying over something silly. They saw me as someone wasting time and causing them issues. They saw me as being rude.
Why was I the only one who saw discrimination?
I’m going to send a letter to my manager tomorrow telling them how I feel. Has anyone here had similar experiences?
Today my supervisor came up to me during work. She said: “Some staff members feel uncomfortable with you injecting yourself in front of them. From now on, you will need to treat you diabetes in another room.”
I was confused. Firstly, I have never injected myself in front of people. Heck, I haven’t injected myself for over a year now; I wear an insulin pump! I then realised she was referring to when I prick my arm to check my glucose level. I did that today at lunch, after a co-worker had told me to join them at their table with the other staff members (I was the last one to get there, so I ended up just grabbing a chair and sitting outside their circle while they chatted).
I was shocked, I was upset and I was angry. I kept myself together for the first thirty minutes, but then I ended up bursting into tears. Someone told me to go to the back room, so I did. The person asked me what was wrong, and after I told them what had happened, they said: “I didn’t realise you were so sensitive”. She left, telling me to take all the time I needed to calm down. Another female co-worker came into the room. She repeated what my supervisor had said, and then continued to say that I was blowing this all out of proportion, that there were ‘plenty of rooms’ in the building that I could use to check my glucose levels in the future. When I told her I didn’t feel that I should have to do that (still crying), she frowned and said that I was being rude, that I wasn’t thinking about the position I was putting other people in. I felt like I was talking to a brick wall. She left.
Another co-worker comes in. She ignores the fact that I’m crying and goes to get some water. She then says, her voice bored and exasperated, “So are you just going to stay in here now, or are you going to take over from Lisa who is covering at you workstation?” The question surprised me. I said I didn’t know. I’m just trying to calm myself down. “Well I need to know so I can start delegating people.”
I went back to my workstation, my breath hiccupping, doing my absolute best to not cry in front of customers.
None of these women seemed to understand why I was crying. They thought they saw an overly sensitive girl crying over something silly. They saw me as someone wasting time and causing them issues. They saw me as being rude.
Why was I the only one who saw discrimination?
I’m going to send a letter to my manager tomorrow telling them how I feel. Has anyone here had similar experiences?
