I work a very physical, high stress job. Seven weeks ago I fell down the stairs in my house and sustained a full thickness tear of my MCL.
Like most industries, my field is in trouble. People are leaving constantly due to burn out or leaving due to physical limitations as we age out because it is not sustainable.
When I initially fell the first words out of my mouth were “I’d rather be dead than not able to physically function at work.”
We have been so short staffed, busy and overworked. I had been coming in a hour earlier than the start of my shift on our busiest day while my coworkers had child care issues and came in an hour late (I’m not upset about this, I understand having children). These days were particularly horrible combined with my coworkers telling me all the things I should be doing differently.
I already have a lot of anxiety around work, and my physical abilities: in 2021 I found out I have 3 herniated discs one in each section of my spine, either caused by work or exacerbated by it. I was about at 90% when I tore my MCL.
I have never missed this much work, I’ve been employed since I was 16, I am now 37. Initially my coworkers seemed supportive. After the first six weeks (I’d been out for 5 because I worked with crutches and a leg immobilizer until I got my MRI) I thought I would return. After my visit with the doctor and talking with my supervisor we agreed to an additional two weeks until I could come back for sedentary duty because my foot is still swollen on and off that I cannot consistently wear close toes shoes which is a safety hazard.
Last week a direct coworker called to find out why I wasn’t back yet. I explained to her why and about how it was the smartest decision for me as I’m not sure I can come to work consistently and I have no PTO. She told me she understood and then proceeded to tell me that they were all frustrated and upset that I’m not back yet and that I’m “making myself look bad on social media”.
Now I am by no means a TikTok star. I have been posting story telling and makeup videos these past weeks because I’m super bored with a lot of time on my hands. It was already a mild hobby before I was injured. You know what I’m not doing in any of those videos? Anything physical, just me talking to a camera.
I asked if she would have liked for me to be miserable, and to not find any joy while being injured and unable to do anything physical. She claimed I was defensive and putting words in her mouth. The conversation went spectacularly bad and I lost my whole mind.
She ultimately said that she was just trying to convey how stretched thin and overworked they are and wanted to know if there was anyway I could come back sooner.
So I quit.
I start my new job the day I was supposed to return to my old job.
(I did talk to my supervisor and manager who agreed I’d done nothing wrong or inappropriate. This phone call was unsolicited and off the clock. They tried for a mediated conversation but the damage was done.)