Obligatory this-was-a-while-ago (almost a year) but it lingers on my mind sometimes and I figured this sub would be a good place to talk about it since I’ve seen a lot of stories I resonate with on here. Not looking for legal advice or anything at this point, I honestly just want to put it all behind me so hopefully getting it out all at once will help lol.
Some backstory: I’m in the middle of college right now. I had caught Covid at the end of 2021 and I started struggling with persisting health issues through 2022. They made it difficult to live by myself so I moved back home at the end of the school year. I promptly started applying to every job I could find; I literally made over 30 online applications and tens more in-person.
I didn’t get anything – not even a “no,” just NOTHING – from anyone for two months. Here and there I’d speak with a manager over the phone, or get asked to come in, only to get ghosted afterwards. I didn’t stop making new applications over that time either. I feel lucky that my parents are patient & financially stable enough to have supported me during that time.
Finally I heard back from an employer around late August – a relatively well known restaurant chain in the US. I don’t know if I could get in trouble for disclosing the name or anything but if you guys think it’s fine, I don’t have a problem with it.
I got asked to come in for an interview. I showed up at their earliest availability. Well, the restaurant was busy, to say the least. The assistant manager got me a table and a glass of water and said the manager should be 15 minutes.
He took almost an hour. Red flag 1.
When I finally got to talk to him the interview seemed to go fine and he offered me a job on the spot. Red flag 2?
I told them, I have some health issues and I can’t do a whole lot of heavy lifting or standing without frequent breaks. They said that was perfectly doable given the position (I was at the “bakery” counter so it was mostly plating desserts). The manager said yeah there’s hardly any lifting with this position, and you’re entitled to breaks as you need them. I’m thinking, perfect, finally after all this I can have a steady income again.
When I show up for training, I find out the person training me has only been working here for 2 weeks. Red flag 3. She does her best but obviously she didn’t know everything. There were videos and handbooks for me to reference but since every store is slightly different I was still missing a lot of important details.
Over the next week after my ‘training’ ended I was constantly getting corrected by my coworkers and finding out that I had things REALLY backwards. Additionally, with the way things were set up all shifts were 8 hours; there was no way to ask for a shorter shift. I started to notice I was really sore after work but chalked it up to not being used to standing all day.
Then they started scheduling me opening shifts by myself. It was the only type of shift I ever worked.
Opening my section involved a LOT of lifting. Every day I’d take 10-20 ten-pound boxes off tall shelves in the freezer to load into a cart, which I then lugged over to the counter to lift and unload it all into a fridge. In addition the closing shift would almost never replenish the things stored in the fridge in that section, so I’d also be washing & carrying large containers of fruit, gallons of milk, etc. Since I was doing it all alone I literally couldn’t take breaks as I was on a time constraint – things needed to be presentable before customers came in. Often times servers would be coming into my section to help me because it was just ridiculously overwhelming doing everything by myself.
I found myself having moments where I was physically no longer able to stand or hold myself upright. So, I’d take the breaks they told me I could have. Every time I did I’d get looks from the other employees or be questioned by the managers. “Didn’t you already take your 15?” Yes, and you said I could take a five when I needed to…
A month of working just below full-time hours (more than I agreed to. I was also in school), opening by myself 100% of the time. Every day my body would resist and I’d have to sit down for a while; it felt like my limbs were on fire. I didn’t call out once.
My manager had a hard time keeping his head on his shoulders and I was patient with him. But one day I was having an extremely hard time; I had to ask for help opening (lifting the boxes from the freezer), and he did; throughout the day I could feel it getting worse. I was so physically weak I could barely get anything done. Throughout the day I kept trying to get my manager’s attention; I was scheduled to work the next day and I knew I wouldn’t be able to in this state. He kept saying he’d “be with me in a minute” until finally I had to pull him aside at the end of my shift.
I told him, as you know my health isn’t great and I am feeling especially awful right now; this isn’t going to get better for me overnight and I need to call out for tomorrow.
This manager was usually nice but his face dropped. He started blowing up at me about how hard it is to cover sundays. He told me that accommodating me is too much of a burden on him & the restaurant. I’ll be real, I started crying right there. I’m glad I was wearing a mask. After I left I cried more at home. I am a fragile person, but being told I was a burden felt like an especially hard slap to the face.
The next morning I physically couldn’t get out of bed. I didn’t stand up all day. I used the company messaging system to tell my boss. ‘Hey, as expected i cant even stand up without assistance today. I do apologize for calling out on short notice but as you know I had been trying to get ahold of you for hours. It seems like this job might not be a good fit for me if my accommodations are a burden like you said.’ I didn’t go in for another shift.
I didn’t think to make a paper trail, I know there’s probably something I could’ve done but I just wanted it to be over. I now have a few new diagnoses and use a mobility aid to get around. My doctors think burning myself out at that job probably contributed to my overall pain levels now. All I can think about is how I would have taken any of the other jobs I applied for over that one but it was literally my only option. I’ve got a much less physically demanding job now and I definitely enjoy it a lot more.