| Problems with work
Hi all,
I hate to seem like I'm moaning, but I'm having real problems with work and I could really use some advise.
I've been in my job for almost 2 years and I really enjoy it and get on with the people I work with. I work on a busy clinic that runs on a drop-in basis, so there's no telling how busy it'll be on any given day. The problem I've regularly had is getting the opportunity to have a break besides my 30 minute lunch in the middle of the day. Usually there are two of us to cover the clinic, each taking half the day and covering the other person's lunch and breaks. What my employers fail to understand is that I still need some kind of support when my co-worker is off, so that I can still take a break when I need one without the pressure of huge queues of people forming. I've raised the issue a couple of times and they sort of roll their eyes and try to accomodate me. Then the other day another colleague came up to me saying that they were scheduled to work with me one day, but they wanted to have the day off and the manager said they could only do that if I was "willing" to work on my own that day, with the implication that I'm work-shy and act a bit of a princess who doesn't want to be worked to hard. I was so upset by this; I'm not a manager, I'm not in charge of scheduling, so why in the world would they put the pressure on me to decide whether someone else can have the day off? I've explained the support I need from my employers and why I need it, so to be made to feel so incompetent was really upsetting. I know I have the right to get this support from my employers under the Disability Discrimination Act (UK) and eventhough I didn't need to, I told them from the point of interview that I have type 1 D and that I would neeed to be given regular breaks to help maintain my health.
I'm going to see my manager about this next week and want to be able to approach him in a clear, stable manner, but I'm so upset by this that I was hoping to get some advise about how to make my point without breaking down in tears or exploding with anger. I just feel really ridiculed and harrassed for being honest about my needs. I'm not overly comfortable with the idea of diabetes being a disability, but I can't imagine how I would be able to carry on in this job without the protection of the DDA, so I can understand why it has been classed as one.
I'm so sorry for ranting, I'm just at the end of my tether. Any help would be very appreciated. Thanks so much.  | 
