TLDR: I spent 11 hours working outside in 103 degree weather, walked six miles, and didn’t make enough money to cover the copay for the ambulance bill.
Background: I’m a 20 year old trans man. Until recently I was an EMT, but due to months of sexual harassment by both patients and coworkers and being told that if I want to be in the medical field I just have to deal with that, I quit. I can’t handle being alone in a vehicle with men who can and will hurt me, particularly when those men will face no consequences for their actions.
So when I moved out of my parents’ house and into my apartment last month, I started looking for a new job. The one I found seemed ideal on paper. The position was “pet waste technician”, which is a fancy way of saying dog poop scooper. It paid $16/hr, which was more than I made as an EMT. And I would be working alone, which is preferable due to my current anxiety issues from my last job. At the job interview, my future boss told me that if I wanted, I could do a ride along for a couple of hours to see what the work is like, and that I could privately ask someone with the job title I was applying for questions about what the job is like. That seemed like a green flag, so I agreed. (I ended up getting the flu and having to reschedule the ride along, and the way the company owner responded to that was another green flag.)
I went to the ride-along, and the job seemed fine. We cleaned 12 yards, which amounted to a six hour work day with an hour long lunch break in the middle. I asked the other technician questions about the work load, safety, and paid sick days, and everything seemed fine. I asked the owner the same questions, and it all checked out. The work was a bit physically taxing, but I’m a young, fairly fit guy. I figured I could handle it. So I took the job.
Thursday was my first real day at work, and it was completely different. I was given the company vehicle, a company phone, and all the equipment I needed, and sent on my way. I looked at my schedule, and it said I had TWENTY TWO YARDS that I had to finish before sundown. I thought that it looked bad, but that maybe all of the yards were small. No. A lot of them were massive, and several had me do the front and back yard. The first eight or so houses, I was fine. But by noon it was 103 degrees outside. I drank water bottle after water bottle but I was sweating so much that I didn’t even need a bathroom break. I stopped at McDonald’s and got some food, but I still had 14 houses to finish in the next 9 hours, so I didn’t stop for more than 15 minutes.
There were also safety concerns over the dogs. One of the yards had in the notes section “My dog is mean, but if you don’t turn your back on him or try to touch him, you’ll probably be fine.” I was told at the ride along that any aggressive dogs would be kept inside while I cleaned, but apparently not. Halfway through the day my boss called me and told me that she forgot to give me the safety manual, and that she’d do it on Friday.
By 7:00 PM, I felt like shit (no pun intended). I was sunburned, nauseated, no longer sweating, dizzy, confused, and I had a splitting headache. I’m an EMT. I knew that I needed to get inside and rehydrate. So I called my boss and told her that I would not be doing any more yards that day because I was sick. She was “understanding” about it, and told me that I could finish the last five yards on Saturday. She also told me that I would have 26 yards the next day. I told her that there was no way I could possibly do that many. She told me that whatever
Considering that I was confused, I should’ve gone ahead and called an ambulance. But, well, I wasn’t thinking clearly. Considering the fact that my speech was slurred when we spoke over the phone, my boss should’ve called one for me. But she’d already shown complete disregard for her employee’s safety by giving me a 13 hour work day on one of the hottest days of the year, so why should she start now? So I drove the company vehicle the 40 minutes back to my apartment and miraculously didn’t crash.
I had to hold onto the wall to stay upright as I walked inside. I drank two cups of water, but I was feeling worse and worse. My headache was the worst I’d ever had (and I suffer from migraines), I started feeling cold, and I could barely string together a coherent thought. I couldn’t even remember what street my apartment building was on when I called 911.
Without going into too much detail about the health stuff, I had severely low blood sugar and was dehydrated. I was given glucose and saline and taken to the ER. After the ambulance treatment I felt a lot better (hypoglycemia is a quick fix and saline is magic) so I was discharged pretty quickly with instructions to rest and rehydrate for a few days. I told my boss this, and she pretty much responded with “oh no, you didn’t drink enough water! Get better soon ”
I haven’t answered her. I’m mad that she would blame me for what happened when she was having me work in inhumane conditions with very little training. I don’t know how to do file for worker’s comp, but I’m sure as hell gonna figure it out because I did not make enough money to pay for the ambulance bill. And I’m gonna quit that job. I’m so lucky that my parents are helping me with food and bills in the meantime. Idk what i would do otherwise.