A quiet rebellion

I would be foolish to blog about my current work situation in any detail, as if I was traced, I would face disciplinary action. I take a number of appropriate steps to make sure this is unlikely to happen, however, I see no point in taking undue risks, given that there are already colleagues in strife for talking to the press.

However, I am angry. And disappointed. And hurt. And I need to feel like I have some control over my position.

So I've decided to embrace this years National Poetry Day fully, what with the theme being 'work'. So on Thursday, appropriate verses will appear on noticeboards, vending machines and on the back of bathroom doors.

I'm not going to be daft enough to choose anything offensive, but if anyone has any suggestions, let me know. My little token subversion will make me smile, and if it makes one other person smile, I think I'll have achieved something.

No, I won't be coming in on my day off with zero notice and on basic rate.

No, I won't be booking myself a taxi to come in, at my own expense, to 'help out' again.

No, I won't take responsibility for your failure to appropriately train and manage your staff.

I know this will surprise you because I've always helped you out in the past, but you can't do anything about it. So I'm off back to bed.

Query of the Week

I do genuinely try to sort out the customer queries that come up from our call centre, but sometimes customer idiocy knows no bounds. Particularly given that 90% of our customer are business professionals with qualifications that I can't even spell.

Thus did I goggle at the following over my morning brew today :

'Customer had £96,000.00 sent to him in March 2005. Can you write to him and confirm the account it was sent to, because he can't remember where he's put it.'

Hiatus

As you cannot fail to have noticed, I had taken a little break from blogging, more as precaution than anything else. This was primarily because the industry I work in has been under some, er 'media pressure' in recent months and I thought it wise to keep my head down.

But now I know I won't be getting made redundant (dammit, there goes the money I'd mentally already spent) I think it's pretty much clear to start up again.

All I will say today is that I've been very good at work. I haven't sent out a mass mailing reminding people that borrowing money is a privilege, not a right.

Sucker punch

After yesterdays little moan, I thought I'd re-read the maternity policy when I got into work. Beware, here comes a really big moan.

Ususal policy for all and sundry is that time taken for medical appointments must be made up or taken as holiday. I take holiday, because I've got no chance of making up the 60-70 hours a year I spend on appointments. So I use around nine days a year on appointments.

However, if I was optionally in need of appointments, i.e. ante/post natal, guess what? I would not be required to make up any time at all or to use holiday, and it would be fine for me to have these during standard working hours. I'd also get a £200 bung from the government for pro-creating successfully. Along with free dental and optical care for a year.

Trying to finish early to get to an appointment that HAS to fall in work time as hospitals are a 9-5 thing? Better have worked over or make the time up. Finishing at lunchtime to go to a room where somebody will teach you how to breathe correctly (somthing you really should have cracked by now to reach the age you are) - off you go.

And then we get the colleague who is on her third preganancy in four years.

That's 52 weeks at five days per week x 4 = 208 weeks
Say, nine months per prenancy on maternity leave = 36 weeks x 3 = 96 weeks
Lets posit an average of 10 days per pregnancy for appointments, morning sickeness, being knackered because you're carrying another human being around 24hrs a day = 6 weeks
Plus the minimum holiday leave each year of 22 days x 4 = 17 weeks (ish)

96+ 6 + 17 = 119 weeks over four years.
Thats 89 weeks AT work, and 119 weeks NOT at work over four years.

Believe me, my absence levels couldn't touch that. And remember, all the above is based on someone who doesn't take her full maternity leave allowance of 51 weeks per pregnancy, and doesn't take much time off compared to others I have worked with. At any given time we have at least 200 emplyees off on maternity leave.

And it's based on CHOICE. Which I don't have about my condition.

Now, I don't want you to think I believe my employer should just let me do as I please, I am aware that they are trying to run a business. I do agree that things like dental appointments and so on should be made out of working hours if possible or that time should be made up where necessary. I'm not a total idiot. However, my employer was aware of my condition and the cycle of hospital attendence when they employed me. Seven years ago. When I had six months off five years ago pre-and post op, I did volunteer for redundancy through ill health, but they declined.

So muttering threats at me now seems foolish at the very least.

It would be like buying a car with no brake pads and complaining that you keep hitting the garage door when trying to park up.

Working nine to five

Bugger.

I had a meeting at work to inform me I may be put onto the disciplinary process as a result of my absence.
I have been off quite a lot this year, I admit. I have always followed the appropriate procedure and obtained medical certification where required.

Here's the thing. My employer knew about my condition when they employed me. I was off for six months following surgery several years ago, and volunteered for redundancy through ill health. They declined.
I have seen company doctors and specialists, granted access to medical records, and complied with every request made of me. I have been sedated, intubated, injected and invaded.

What have I not done?

I have not made a choice to absent myself from my job voluntarily for 51 weeks, expected to be paid for at least half this time, and then demanded the right for flexible working on my return. Unlike any female employee who should choose to have a child.

And...

Further to the below, work called at 1.30pm to say that, owing to transport problems, they couldn't come and would need to reschedule AGAIN.

So, next time I fancy a random day off, can I give them a call and say that I can't make it to work today because of transport problems?

Bah and double humbug.

Pick a number, any number...

The home visit from work (absence of over a month triggers a visit from HR) has been changed again. They haven't changed the day, but have changed the time.

My workplace are good. They haven't sacked me and pay me for several months when I'm ill, which I appreciate and am grateful for. But I've planned stuff today around the original time, and it would be nice if they could just stick to the plan.Inability to keep to arrangements is something that irks me. I find it inconsiderate at best and damn rude at worst.

Also, being geared up for a home visit puts me under a little pressure, and stress is not good for Crohn's. And it's just such a blah. There will be some small talk, then they will ask if there is anything at work they can do to help, or if anything has happened to make me ill. And, as in numerous return to work interviews, occupation health consultations and 'counselling' interviews, I will say no.

And I will explain that Crohn's disease is an auto immune condition that is chronic, and will continue to flare up on and off for the rest of my life. I'm one of the unlucky ones who has never managed to get into full remission. I've explained all this to the same people on *thinks for a moment* more than a dozen occasions. I've handed over literature, notes from specialists and web links.

I've gone to private consultations with a doctor of their choice in a town 20 miles away. Interestingly, he was quite bemused to see me in a nice but 'what do they expect me to do/say about it?' way. I've given them access to my medical notes, GP and specialist.

As I said, I'm grateful that I still have a job. However, I did make my condition known at interview stage, and it was their risk to employ me.

It's just that if I have to go through my medical history one more time, very slowly, so that it can be written down on another form, spelling out the names of my medication and explaining what it is and what it does, I might just loose the plot.

Should I just type it all up and have twenty copies run off and laminated for future use?

The procedures went well, nothing unexpected turned up, and I go back to the specialist in two weeks for biopsy results. The sedation was unparralled. I will blog more about this another time. In the meantime "Keep on taking the tablets".

I'm entering the state of suspended animation that comes with a long term absence from work and social life. I've been here before, and I'm doing my best, but I'm having extreme mood swings, sometimes affected by outside influences. The swings vary from happiness to utter despair.

The despair end of the spectrum is facilitated by the utter selfishness of two of my 'friends'.

One, we'll call her Kate, has always been fairly useless at being proactive in friendship. You know, the sort of person you speak to regularly as long as you ring them. She married one of my friends, moving from a different area, so we became friends by default I guess, but over the years, I thought we'd become quite close. In the last six months, I have become increasingly resentful of making all the running and have significantly cut down on the amount of times I call her. Result? I've heard nothing from her for weeks, since I last called. I know, with friends like this.....but I also know that when a crisis hits her, my phone will start ringing.

So how do I deal with this? In one respect, I'd like to let her know how much her disregard of me hurts, and say that this is why she has lost touch with friends from university (they got fed up of always being the ones to contact/make arrangements) and that this is why she has no other friends (she's been introduced to lots of people, who later on, have said to me in passing 'Kate never rings me/rings me back. Can't be bothered with that. Shame really, I quite liked her'). In another, I know I should just leave it and be unavailable when the inevitable occurs.
Which will be hard, as I've know her husband for 15 years, and If I ditch her, I ditch him.

The second is more hurtful, because the behaviour is out of character. I can only assume I have done something to offend (brain racked, nothing found) or that he just can't be bothered.

I know all the above will be magnified by the fact that I'm a bit ill at the moment and that I'm stuck at home a lot. I'm trying hard not to sink into a depression, but some days it's just really difficult. But I have other excellent friends who are good at giving me a swift kick in the pants when required. I think it's time to book a foot/butt contact and get myself together.

I had a doctors appointment on Wednesday. The usual receptionist was back in place.

Me: Hi, I have an appointment with Dr Raj at 4.10?
Her:(smiles)Hello, is it name?
Me: It is.
Her: Would you like to go straight in?
Me: Thank you.

And it's that easy.

Also on the postitive side, the conversion of the derelict building next door is going well, judging by the amount of noise created. I'd especially like to commend the chap who was cutting new stone with an angle grinder/stillsaw at 5.30am yesterday morining.