'Have fun': Boss lives to regret not accommodating injured worker before busiest day of the year

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Brad Dickson • Managing Editor
Jan 26, 2024 9:00 AM EST

Being injured stinks... and that's something that doesn't even need to be said. There's nothing like being injured to make you appreciate all those times you weren't before. And that's just in your personal life… Chances are your employer isn't going to be particularly understanding, even if you have all your bases covered and have whatever doctor's note your employer requires and covered; legal protections are provided in your area. Yeah, depending on the duration and severity of the accommodation you require, you're going to catch that much more flak and that many more passive-aggressive comments from your boss.

Your boss's reaction aside, at least society and the general public seem to be pleasantly understanding about the whole thing. I say this as I've recently been hobbling around with a broken foot, and I'm happy to say that people have never been nicer. I've had more random conversations with strangers than I ever had in my life over people's curiosity about what I did, how it happened, and how it all was going. That being said, I'm well aware that you can get the occasional random Karen accosting you for no reason—especially when you have a non-visible injury or disability.

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  • 01
    Posted by u/azewonder 11 hours ago Oh, we're going to be really busy this week? Too bad y'all couldn't accommodate me... TL;DR wrist injury from job, boss won't accommodate, gave her a docs note excusing me from work 2 days before a big event A few years back, I was working at a hotel. My job was the shuttle driver for airline crew, and I also had to load and unload their luggage.
    via u/azewonder
  • 02
    About 6 months into the job, my wrist started hurting from handling the loads of bricks that airline crews liked to pack. I ended up having to file a worker's comp claim, but there was no one else to handle the luggage, so I struggled along for a while. I'd asked to be moved to a front desk position, but was offered laundry, which would not have been much easier on my wrist.
    via u/azewonder
  • 03
    A couple of months of going to doc appointments and getting MRIs, I finally decided I'd had enough and had a doc write me a note stating that I needed lighter duty. Yeah I should have done that much earlier, but the boss (Beth) wasn't being helpful at all and I knew that would be the end of my working there.
    via u/azewonder
  • 04
    In the meantime, a front desk position had opened up, which my boss promptly filled without asking me if I wanted it. I went into her office to ask about this apparent oversight and got some corporate speak in response. A bit of context - the hotel was right next to a major highway. I knew the back roads between the airport and the hotel,
    via u/azewonder
  • 05
    so traffic jams on the highway weren't a huge deal to me. When I went into the boss's office to have the above conversation, we were 2 days away from having the President visit the city. That meant that most traffic would come to a standstill, but airline crew still needed to get to their flights.
    via u/azewonder
  • 06
    After my boss gave me a thinly veiled, corporate-approved " off", I pulled the docs note out of my pocket. "I'm sorry, I can no longer perform the job of shuttle driver. You've offered me laundry, which won't work, and didn't want to work with me on a front desk position. Have fun in traffic on Thursday!"
    via u/azewonder
  • 07
    The shocked Pikachu look on her face was priceless. She called another manager into the office to try to get me to stay, laundry was mentioned again (get it through your thick skull that laundry will NOT help an overuse injury on my wrist). I simply pointed to the note and said "I can't do anything that will be hard on my wrist. I've asked more
    via u/azewonder
  • 08
    than once about front desk, which I'm more than capable of doing, but I guess that's not an option now that Beth filled the position." I heard later from a coworker that Beth herself had to do the shuttle runs that day. I enjoyed my day on the couch and occasionally checked to see how screwed traffic was.
    via u/azewonder
  • 09
    Imaginary-Yak-6487 · 10 hr. ago Nice. I had a major of a manager at a grocery store I worked while in high school. I was one of many seniors graduating that year but the only one the went to a different school. There were 3 high schools & mine was graduating first.
    via u/azewonder
  • 10
    He had put me on the schedule for the night if mine but had me off with the others. I told him I was graduating the night before them. He call me a liar. I said no, I go to A school & they go to B school. He called me a gd liar this time & even a couple of my coworkers told him I didn't go to their school & that I went to A school. He said if I didn't come in then I would be fired.
    via u/azewonder
  • 11
    Thing is, my stepdad was really, really good friends with managers boss, who was the district manager. I was really time I asked my step dad to pull some strings for me. I was scheduled off & walked the | & this is the only stage. The demoted to an assistant manager & moved to a different location. I saw him 629 manager got once after that & me being a snot, flipped him off. Reply Share ●●●
    via u/azewonder
  • 12
    manwoodlover - 11 hr. ago Nice work. 120 bobk2 · 10 hr. ago It's all in the wrists 4 Reply Share 95 Reply Share
    via u/azewonder
  • 13
    ME Silvercloak5098 - 9 hr. ago Christ. was that woman's problem? You couldn't have been more clear. 108 Reply Share azewonder OP. 9 hr. ago I know, right? I think she got the point when she realized she'd have to drag her out of bed early and do my runs in awful traffic lol 134 ●●● Reply Share
    via u/azewonder
  • 14
    BusinessAdvance2296 9 hr. ago Could it be considered as a workers comp claim and have it fall under the boss not adhering to a disability claim? 47 Reply Share
    via u/azewonder
  • 15
    Radiant_Beyond8471 8 hr. ago So what other duties did they have you do instead after you showed them the doctor's note? 22 Reply Share azewonder OP. 8 hr. ago That was the end of working there, the only other position they had open was laundry. Since there were no open positions that I could perform, there was no job for me there. 43 Reply Share
    via u/azewonder

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