Need To Vent About Work

[Guest cassidy]

I am in pharmaceutical sales and right now my territory is 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours from my house. It is very rural - towns of 5,000 and they have very small health food stores. When I bring lunch to doctors my company pays for my food. They allow me to go to a separate store and buy food that I can eat and expense it. Before I got pregnant I would go to the grocery store and get a bag of lettuce, some lunch meat, cheese and salad dressing and make a chef salad. Now I can't tolerate salad dressing or lunch meat and I am having a hard time finding food to eat. On the days when I don't bring lunch to a doctor I bring a cooler and use one of the doctor's microwaves to heat food up that I bring from home and eat in my car. Now when I have lunches with doctors I go shopping on Sunday and buy stuff at my health food store to bring up in the cooler with me which is a pain because sometimes the lunches get cancelled and I have to pay for the food and sometimes ones come up at the last minute.

I asked to transfer to an open territory in my neighborhood. I would be 2-30 minutes from my house in a city with tons of good health food stores, doing exactly the same job. Right now I have a long drive on one road with not much traffic and since getting pregnant I have almost fallen asleep driving home. I have to get off the road and find places to pee everyday because I can't go that long without going to the bathroom. A couple of times I ate all my food and was shaking when I got home because there was no where to stop to get anything.

I asked to transfer and they said NO! Their medical doctor reviewed my doctor's note (on celiac & pregnancy) and said it wasn't a good enough reason. I think I have two good reasons and they are being unreasonable. I have had a hard time having a good attitude since they said no.

[CarlaB]

What was their reason for saying no? You wouldn't have to have health reasons to have wanted to ask for that territory!

[AndreaB]

I just hate it when employers are like that. My boss wasn't too nice to me my whole pregnancy. I later figured she was jealous because I was going to be a stay at home mom. She got mad because I didn't want to take a pain reliever for something sleep would fix.

Anyway, I forget how far along you are...I'm thinking 1st/2nd trimester. You need your food to maintain your energy and there are no two ways about that. If you are that tired that you may fall asleep at the wheel, that's not exactly safe either. Do you plan on staying home after the baby is born or will you need to go back to work. If you can stay home I'd highly suggest quitting your job when you hit your 3rd trimester. You will hit a sleepy phase again then. If you can't quit and need the insurance through your job (I transferred to my hubby's) then is it possible to go above whoever you talked to. Is there a chain of command?

It's hard to pack things to last all day that you can eat, especially if some stuff makes you sick. Definately try to have some quick things on hand in your car like lara bars, bumble bars....that type of stuff. What about nuts, raisins.....things that don't need to be refrigerated.

[tarnalberry]

Both conditions are covered by the ADA, so they're wrong saying that it's not sufficient reason for accomodation. You may want to converse with a lawyer about your options.

[Gamecreature]

Both conditions are covered by the ADA, so they're wrong saying that it's not sufficient reason for accomodation. You may want to converse with a lawyer about your options.

I'm sure there's no shortage of lawyers that would love to take on a case like that.

But another way to put it to them is to ask them if they feel your health and well-being is worth so little to them. If your condition results in an accident, they'll be stuck with the bill. I would think a little prevention would be worth it to them. But if it isn't, then you don't owe these folks anything.

I know it stinks to be so issolated and you can't find anything to eat. I've started creating an "emergency stash" of food for such situations. You mentioned being sick of salads, but how are you on fruits and veggies? I've found that adding peanut butter or cheese gives my snack the needed protein and I stay full longer. Then again, I've never been pregnant, so I may not be the person to ask.

[Guest cassidy]

You can't transfer for "no reason" so my direct manager told me to try this route. When they had to allow me to buy my food separate for the lunches it went all the way up to the senior vice president of this worldwide company for me to get an ok. I don't think there is any way, other than a lawyer, that they would reconsider and by that point I'm pretty sure no one would like me anymore and it would be a bad work environment. I can't quit and I make decent money so I couldn't get another job now. This company is very touchy about being sued so I was surpised that they didn't approve the request.

I have been having a very hard time eating anything. The smell of so many foods makes me sick. I try to eat something and have to spit it out because I just can't. I usually eat very healthy but all those things taste gross. I can't stand any veggies - I try - but I literally gag trying to get them down. I can't stand meat or peanut butter or anything sweet, even blueberries taste gross. I have actually been drinking milk - which I used to hate and boost, eggs and potatoes. I was at a meeting yesterday and the smell of the food was so bad that I had to leave the hotel restaurant and eat at the pool. My husband sits in the dining room and I sit in the living room when we eat dinner because I can't stand to smell his food. I have the second day of the meeting today and they are having a buffet lunch in the meeting room - I don't know how I'm going to stand it.

So, I try to have emergency food in the car but it is all so gross that I can't force myself to eat it even if I have a headache and I'm starving. It is 4am now and I've been up since 2 because I woke up to pee and I was hungry. I have eaten a banana, kefir, mashed potatoes w/cheese and I'm still so hungry that I will have to keep eating if I want to go back to sleep but by then it will be morning. I'm 12 1/2 weeks now and I hope this gets better soon.

[debmidge]

Part of the problem with a job that you do, Pharm detailman/woman, there's no hope of transfer unless there's an opening in the other area. If they have a person already working that territory then even if you didn't have celiac nor was preg. you would be out of luck.

Now you're not going to like this advice:

Part of ADA is that they don't have to accomodate all disabilities all the time. There's a loophole and it's "reasonable accomodation". If an accomodation is too costly and if they can prove it or there are no openings in another territory and they can prove that or if they feel you are underqualified for that spot they don't have to move you around and they have the law behind them. Get your hands on a copy of what ADA says and you'll see for yourself.

My advise is to 1) see a lawyer and ask him/her how to have your doctor word your note so that it takes a "stronger" tone -- perhaps the wording is too soft and management views this as you have a minor health problem (you've been working ok for them with this problem for how long?) and now you are pregnant (in their minds "Gee, a lot of women get pregnant and work and are ok). No one realizes the ramifications of mixing celiac disease with preg an a tough schedule/long drive. Getting a lawyer does not mean that yoy are going to sue them, you only need the lawyer to help you coorindate with your doctor so that your "note" is powerfully written and can rise above the loopholes.

P.S. I also want to add that management of every company only thinks of themselves and what's good for their bottom line. This being said, they could be thinking that they have no one to replace you if they move you over; and hence, this to them would not be a "reasonable accomodation."

Now if you landed up in the hospital due to exhaustion or something like that maybe they'll take note and want to adjust your position...sometimes it takes "shock and awe."

[MistressIsis]

also check with your labor board for your state. They may even be able to recommend a lawyer specific to your issue.

My last company we had several female sales reps, 1 finally got pregnant & we accomadated her, in fact we refused to allow her to fly or travel past a certain distance. She covered 4 states in the Southwest so it's a large territory

[Guest cassidy]

Part of the problem with a job that you do, Pharm detailman/woman, there's no hope of transfer unless there's an opening in the other area. If they have a person already working that territory then even if you didn't have celiac nor was preg. you would be out of luck.

Now you're not going to like this advice:

Thanks for the advice. There is an opening. I won rookie of the year last year and president's club for the highest sales in the state. The territory that is open is at the bottom of the list as far as sales and mine is near the top. The manager there wants me to transfer because apparently I know how to sell and that territory needs help. It isn't the local management that has a problem with this, it is a corporate rule.

I think you are correct about needing a stronger note if I wanted to get anything accomplished, I just don't know if I want to do that.

[lovegrov]

I'm no expert on pregnancy, but for a lot of women the nausea and inability to stand certain foods pass. If you're eating eggs can you carry (and eat) hardboiled eggs. Good protein and somewhat filling.

richard

[Gamecreature]

My wife and I saw a dietician when she was pregnant with her first child and her advice was very helpful for getting my wife through the pregnancy without too much rough spots. Unfortunately, most of the foods she relied on (crackers, etc.) aren't on a celiac's diet. However, I think you might be able to get your doctor to set up an appointment with a dietician to find some foods that will restore the balance in your system.

[tarnalberry]

The reason I suggested talking with a lawyer wasn't to start the process for suing them, but for advice on approaching your management. With the past history, it could be that your current management is being conservative (and short-sighted, legally) and saying no so that they don't draw outside management attention, and disregarding (or forgetting, unintentionally even) their legal obligations. Since you say there is an opening in your area, it doesn't sound like an unreasonable accomodation, but I don't know exactly how reasonable is defined per the ADA, and these are things a lawyer could help with, so you can talk the appropriate language to your management.

[kbtoyssni]

I wonder if they are also being stubborn about this because they expect you to quit once you have the baby. It would be a pain for them to transfer you for a few months only to have you quit on them. If you are planning on going back to work after the baby, it may help if they are aware of this. But I'm not a lawyer, and I'm not sure of all the legal details so you might want to run this by someone else first.

[CarlaB]

Since your immediate boss not only is behind you but wants you to transfer, too, I would get a new note with the help of a lawyer that is stronger. Tell your boss what you are doing. Be sure your note includes mention of how this is covered by the ADA as they apparently do not understand that. Also be sure it includes how difficult a pregnancy is for someone with celiac.