I (M30) have been working this nighttime security officer position for an office complex downtown in my city (in CA) since last March while taking classes during the day. The lack of sleep, weird hours, constant sitting, and on-the-go diet have lead me down an unfortunate path of putting on about 125 pounds in that time frame until now. I didn’t really even realize how bad it was getting until recently, especially coupled with my boss’s remarks and threats. Just for reference, in case this is more serious/feasible than I’m imagining, THIS was me when I started the position versus this week.
I’m still able to do my job just fine, I think, as a lot of it is monitoring screens or hanging at the front desk, and half of it is patrolling the premises and keeping an eye on things. Rarely have I ever had to deal with much riff-raff or physically intervene with anyone. But my boss has recently begun threatening that if I don’t start losing some weight, that he will have to terminate my role with the company and promote someone or hire someone else as he claims my weight is interfering with my performance. “Who’s going to be afraid to confront a guy who looks pregnant with triplets and could probably barely jog?” he recently said. I feel like this language in the workplace is also inappropriate. He comments on the food I’m eating and makes jokes to others.
In some kind of patronizing motivation, I guess, he also refuses to order me custom larger sizes of our uniform. He has upsized me from the original Medium up through XL, but would have to order a special uniform bigger than this to fit me properly now, but will not. I’m still being forced to squeeze into the XL and can’t even button a single one of the buttons. I look ridiculous and it’s very embarrassing. I have to patrol looking like THIS and get looks and embarrassing comments all the time from passersby and coworkers. It feels like harassment. He’ll even send me footage from our security cameras of me and say things like, “A security guard can’t be a whale. You better look skinnier every time I send you a new video.” He’s threatening to even take away my complimentary access to the building’s vending machines which I totally rely on sometimes.
Does he have any merit in all of this? Would any of this actually fly, or would I be able to legally push back in any way if he decided to folllow through with these plans? I would appreciate any insights. Thank you.