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Holiday plans of goodness
Dec. 18th, 2012 10:56 amI'm hoping for an awesome day today. Short day at work, for one thing, and made even shorter by the fact that an hour of it will be taken up by a team meeting and another hour will be taken up by a one-on-one with my sup.
Less happy is the thought that today I'm probably going to have to confront the site manager about her BS attempts to punish me for being sick by reducing my hours again before we've had an official re-evaluation. Twice now I've been able to demonstrate that reducing my hours from 8.5 hours 5 days a week to 6.5 hours 5 days a week does not actually improve my attendance. When I get sick, I get sick. For a full day, no matter how many hours I'm scheduled to work. And while reduced shifts means that the site's stats look better because I'm missing fewer hours at a time, it stresses me out further because those reduced shifts just barely cover my rent and bills, so missing a day means I have to take overtime hours and work full-length shifts anyway, plus I get the stress of knowing that if no OT's available, I can't pay my effing bills.
Work claims that reduced hours are for my benefit, to allow me the chance to rest and recover more from crappy illnesses and the tumour and associated symptoms and all that. If they try to make that excuse again, I will throw it in their face, show them proof that it isn't the case, and if they try to reduce my hours again then that excuse just won't fly. And the only other option (especially since there's no medical documentation saying I should be on reduced hours) is that this is a punishment for being sick.
Which means I can bring in the Human Rights Commission, because that falls under discrimination based on a physical disability. They know about the tumour. They know I'm being treated for it. I gave forms to my doctor so he could fax info to them, and I made it clear to him that the only accommodation I need from work is for them to accept that my attendance may be crappy at times (when I can't stand up straight from pain, or when the meds make me want to barf my guts out, I can't go into work), and that I need additional unscheduled bathroom breaks. Anything else is on work's head, and I'm making sure they can't claim that it's for my benefit anymore. Because it isn't.
If they want to actually give me a reduced schedule that will benefit me, it ought to be 8.5 hour shifts 4 days a week, with that extra day off. More actual rest time, less chance I'll get sick on a day I have to work. But that wouldn't suit my workplace, because if I did call in sick some day, I'd be missing 8.5 hours instead of 6.5, and oops, there go the site's stats. I even suggested that schedule to them, back when they first did this to me, and even told them that at the time it would work better that was because I was still in therapy and that would make my therapy days easier. No dice. Not surprised.
Happy thoughts, happy thoughts.
Yes, short shift made shorter. The team meeting will be full of yummy food (someone's making chili for us, if I recall, and I'm bringing in a crate of clementines to share), and we'll be wrapping presents for the family our team's sponsoring for the holidays. We've got a ton of toys and groceries stockpiled for them, and I'm bringing in some last-minute stuff (bag of apples, box of tea, box of instant oatmeal, and a few other sundries), and I only wish I could be there when the stuff is delivered.
After work, I'm meeting a friend to go hang out with his friends, and I'm pretty proud of the fact that I'm doing this because social anxiety is a big thing with me. I'm getting over it, making adjustments and working through the worst parts, and I'm actually excited about going to spend a couple of hours with strangers who, by all accounts, are just as weird and crazy as I am.
After that, three days off work, because I made sure long ago to book Yule off so that I could ave a proper celebration. And from what I plan to do, I'll need those 3 days. Have to go out on Wednesday to pick up a final gift for someone, then I'll probably come home and bake some cookies. Maybe a log cake, since we can't afford an ice cream log cake this year and I recently learned how to roll cakes properly to make the log shape. On Thursday I bake some rolls to munch on, because fresh-baked bread is just that awesome. I'm thinking some regular rolls, then maybe some ham-and-cheese rolls, and I might experiment with sweet rolls if I have the time. And on Friday comes the big feast!
Ham (made extra delicious with apple cider vinegar), potatoes, carrots, peas, possibly turnip. Wine. For dessert, baked apples in cream, which are insanely tasty. Slices of homemade Yule log if we can stuff any more into ourselves by that point.
I expect a load of leftovers, especially of ham, so on my next day off work (which will be the following Wednesday) I'll probably end up making a ham soup. If we haven't devoured the rest of it in sandwiches or other things first. :p
Starting today, everything will be awesome. Awesome, you hear me!
Less happy is the thought that today I'm probably going to have to confront the site manager about her BS attempts to punish me for being sick by reducing my hours again before we've had an official re-evaluation. Twice now I've been able to demonstrate that reducing my hours from 8.5 hours 5 days a week to 6.5 hours 5 days a week does not actually improve my attendance. When I get sick, I get sick. For a full day, no matter how many hours I'm scheduled to work. And while reduced shifts means that the site's stats look better because I'm missing fewer hours at a time, it stresses me out further because those reduced shifts just barely cover my rent and bills, so missing a day means I have to take overtime hours and work full-length shifts anyway, plus I get the stress of knowing that if no OT's available, I can't pay my effing bills.
Work claims that reduced hours are for my benefit, to allow me the chance to rest and recover more from crappy illnesses and the tumour and associated symptoms and all that. If they try to make that excuse again, I will throw it in their face, show them proof that it isn't the case, and if they try to reduce my hours again then that excuse just won't fly. And the only other option (especially since there's no medical documentation saying I should be on reduced hours) is that this is a punishment for being sick.
Which means I can bring in the Human Rights Commission, because that falls under discrimination based on a physical disability. They know about the tumour. They know I'm being treated for it. I gave forms to my doctor so he could fax info to them, and I made it clear to him that the only accommodation I need from work is for them to accept that my attendance may be crappy at times (when I can't stand up straight from pain, or when the meds make me want to barf my guts out, I can't go into work), and that I need additional unscheduled bathroom breaks. Anything else is on work's head, and I'm making sure they can't claim that it's for my benefit anymore. Because it isn't.
If they want to actually give me a reduced schedule that will benefit me, it ought to be 8.5 hour shifts 4 days a week, with that extra day off. More actual rest time, less chance I'll get sick on a day I have to work. But that wouldn't suit my workplace, because if I did call in sick some day, I'd be missing 8.5 hours instead of 6.5, and oops, there go the site's stats. I even suggested that schedule to them, back when they first did this to me, and even told them that at the time it would work better that was because I was still in therapy and that would make my therapy days easier. No dice. Not surprised.
Happy thoughts, happy thoughts.
Yes, short shift made shorter. The team meeting will be full of yummy food (someone's making chili for us, if I recall, and I'm bringing in a crate of clementines to share), and we'll be wrapping presents for the family our team's sponsoring for the holidays. We've got a ton of toys and groceries stockpiled for them, and I'm bringing in some last-minute stuff (bag of apples, box of tea, box of instant oatmeal, and a few other sundries), and I only wish I could be there when the stuff is delivered.
After work, I'm meeting a friend to go hang out with his friends, and I'm pretty proud of the fact that I'm doing this because social anxiety is a big thing with me. I'm getting over it, making adjustments and working through the worst parts, and I'm actually excited about going to spend a couple of hours with strangers who, by all accounts, are just as weird and crazy as I am.
After that, three days off work, because I made sure long ago to book Yule off so that I could ave a proper celebration. And from what I plan to do, I'll need those 3 days. Have to go out on Wednesday to pick up a final gift for someone, then I'll probably come home and bake some cookies. Maybe a log cake, since we can't afford an ice cream log cake this year and I recently learned how to roll cakes properly to make the log shape. On Thursday I bake some rolls to munch on, because fresh-baked bread is just that awesome. I'm thinking some regular rolls, then maybe some ham-and-cheese rolls, and I might experiment with sweet rolls if I have the time. And on Friday comes the big feast!
Ham (made extra delicious with apple cider vinegar), potatoes, carrots, peas, possibly turnip. Wine. For dessert, baked apples in cream, which are insanely tasty. Slices of homemade Yule log if we can stuff any more into ourselves by that point.
I expect a load of leftovers, especially of ham, so on my next day off work (which will be the following Wednesday) I'll probably end up making a ham soup. If we haven't devoured the rest of it in sandwiches or other things first. :p
Starting today, everything will be awesome. Awesome, you hear me!
