I posted this yesterday asking for some insight or advice. I can’t afford to quit and this was the first job I was offered after three years of unemployment.
It is a medical office and so it’s slow, not really busy all the time, and it seems like they seem to just go off of that… he will go get a bagel and come back and eat it in the waiting room when nobody is around other than staff (me). He told me once I could go for my lunch… that was the one and only time I have had a full 30 min lunch. 15 min breaks have never once been mentioned.
This has become strange and difficult because he is not here a lot of the time, and I am “coverage”, so I really don’t get to eat, because he says I can’t leave the office empty. There is no fridge, microwave, or break room. When I do eat, I pack food with an ice pack in my bag, leave it with me, and eat at the desk when people aren’t around. I have a lot of severe health issues, am on a lot of meds, and need to have food in me at all times. Instead now I eat breakfast and dinner, suffer during the day and skip the medication I need to function, and usually end up throwing up dinner because it’s too much after such a long day with an empty stomach.
I posted yesterday and had a helpful comment. I wanted to ask my boss today and I was going to bring up the health issues as well, but I got a text at 4 am saying he had spent the night in the ER, he wouldn’t be in today, and I would have to cover. I understand health of course, but wtf can I do? I know this isn’t legal, I know I am not getting paid for breaks I am not taking… how do I address this? The small amount of food I bring I usually don’t get to finish because it is melted by the end of the day. They have no fridge, microwave, or anywhere to eat other than in the waiting room, and then this guy is barely around for me to address this in the first place.
It’s really messing with me… I guess I am older and more sick than I thought. I thought I would be able to skim through this and just snack through the day, but it’s causing some damage in the long run, and wasting food that I am buying with money I don’t have. I don’t know what to do, especially when I don’t even have the chance to talk to him about this…
Ps I’m in Ontario Canada