AnnO'Neemus
Is so vanilla
I started a part-time job last November. (I couldn't accept a full-time position, because I had a weekly therapy appointment for PTSD that clashed with the full-time shift pattern.) It turned out there was a six month probationary period. (Every other job I've had in recent years has had a three month probationary period. I think years ago, your job was permanent from the off, but anyway...)
Sickness
Unfortunately, from around early February, I had around six weeks off work, with gynae/gastro problems, which had been grumbling along with low level pain for a couple of years, for which I took OTC painkillers, and my GP had made non-urgent referrals that had fallen through the net during the pandemic. But early this year I developed acute pain and in the space of about a month when to A&E three times and each time they basically told me to fuck off back to my GP, because it was something I had already raised with them. I found that baffling, because surely the symptoms becoming more severe, acutely painful, should mean investigations are now urgent?
Anyway, chasing up colonoscopy that had been cancelled during pandemic and not rescheduled, and also chasing up another ultrasound (they previously did one that found gallstones, but said that my lower abdomen was 'too gassy' to see properly, but then another one hadn't been rescheduled, because pandemic. I managed to get them done while I was off sick.
Ultrasound found fibroids. I've previously had surgery, about 15 years ago, to remove some. I've - finally - got an appointment with a specialist next month, to see if I need surgery again or whether they can just be shrunk with hormones.
Colonoscopy showed diverticulitis and also polyps (the latter removed and sent to the lab, and they lost the result, should have taken 2-3 weeks, but it ended up taking around three months to confirm the polyp wasn't cancerous, so that was a bit of a fraught time). I'm wondering whether a lot of the acute pain was maybe something stuck in the diverticulitis pockets? I'd been on a health kick, eating bread with seeds, eating nuts and seeds. I'm wondering whether taking the litres of laxative stuff to prepare for the colonoscopy flushed stuff out of my system and reduced the pain? Because I've not had an acute attack of pain since then, although still grumbling along.
I then developed Covid-19-like symptoms, which I thought I might have caught at the clinic during the colonoscopy, because the sedation and pain relief didn't work and it was excruciating and the nurse came and sat right next to me and held my hand. I offered to work from home, but was told I couldn't and to take more sick days (ended up taking two more sick days at their insistence, because of the way shift pattern worked out, and because of negative tests). I had previously worked from home for a few days (internet/phone problems with the system at work) and have subsequently worked from home (power outage in the building/local neighbourhood), but manager doesn't like me hot-spotting off mobile, even though it's just like connecting to a WiFi router. * shrugs *
Then back to work. I've been taking Solpadeine (codeine-based OTC painkiller) most days for months, even though you're only supposed to take it for three days.
I found out they don't pay full pay for sick leave, only SSP. They ended up giving me a company loan so I could pay my rent, which I paid back over the next two months.
Lateness
Had been 15 minutes late, twice. Once because the evening before I'd sent a message saying I'd just got a prescription for sleeping tablets from my doctor, so I might be a bit late the next morning. I woke up late, groggy, but was only 15 minutes late. (I'd been going through some stressful housing stuff that triggered my PTSD and was having a bout of insomnia on top, hence needing the sleeping tablets, as I felt like shit.) Another time I was 15 minutes late because, I think I'd mislaid my keys. I usually hang them on a hook as soon as I get in, but if I'm bursting for the loo as I'm running in through the door, I sometimes, dump bag/keys somewhere else and they get mislaid. I couldn't leave to go to work, because it's the kind of door that you have to physically lock, it's not a Yale lock that self-closes. Frantically hunted them down, was only 15 minutes late. NB: I've always made up the time.
My probationary period was extended by a further three months, which I agreed was fair enough.
In the last two and a half months:
Sickness
Had one day sick a couple of weeks ago due to getting an ear infection (had phone appointment with GP and got prescription for antibiotic/anti-inflammatory spray), only one day off due to shift pattern, had been using the spray a couple of days and symptoms had eased a bit (bit still struggled a bit with hearing).
Lateness
I was five minutes late one day last week. I phoned while en route. I'd mislaid my glasses while going from bedroom to bathroom to kitchen to sitting room while getting ready. I can't use computers without them, so I had to stay and find them, which made me five minutes late. Line manager said she'd have to log my lateness. I said I'd make up the time, of course, but line manager said not necessary. I had a shorter lunch break and made up the time anyway. I'm getting the kind of feeling that they're the kind of company that says 'Not a problem' and 'Not necessary' but then holds it against you.
Targets
The job doesn't involve sales, but we do have to meet targets. Sometimes I meet my weekly/month targets, sometimes I don't, but we've had a lot of new starters over the past couple of months, so it seems like the number of 'successes' are being spread between more and more people. And as a whole, we didn't meet the department's target for the past two months, so not just me, I'm not an outlier in terms of performing badly.
We've been under pressure to do lots of overtime in recent months, because the company's expanding, and they've taken on increased targets from existing clients and also new clients, and there's been a bit of a mismatch, in that they're recruiting, but it takes time to train people and get them up to speed, so there's a bit of a lag between increased workload and getting more staff onboard and up to speed to deal with that increased workload.
I've personally felt under a lot of pressure, (a) to make up for the unexpected shortfall/hole in my bank balance/pay off credit card debt run up while I was off sick for nearly two months and also (b) to prove I'm a 'team player' trying to help meet my personal, team and also company-wide targets, and also (b) to try to avoid being sacked at the end of my probationary period, in just over two weeks' time.
What's the likelihood of me being 'let go' after having one more sick day and being late five minutes in the past three months? (On top of my previous sickness/lateness.)
What's considered 'normal' amounts of sickness and lateness?
I've been struggling, in all honesty, with the pressure and the anxiety, feeling a constant sense of unease and fear at the prospect of losing my job and not being able to pay my rent. Plus, all the work, all the hours of overtime have taken a toll too. I'm only supposed to be part-time, but have been working full-time or more than full-time hours. I suppose some folk might think, Well, that's not so bad, full-time hours isn't being overworked. But I'm on the autistic spectrum and it's working in a high-pressured, target-driven call centre. I've worked in sort of call centre environments before, albeit not target-driven or so high pressured in that sense, albeit in that job a new project coming online doubled our workload, so it was hard work, and in one job I did fairly quiet night shifts.
The jobs I previously had in much more different, less-pressured call centre environments, it took me and the other new starters about three months before we stopped feeling permanently knackered. This type of call centre role is dealing with more fraught people though, and I think that and all the added pressure over money and targets means I'm finding it exhausting.
Because I'm on the autistic spectrum, 'people-ing' really takes it out of me. To spend eight hours full-on people-ing in such a high-pressured, target-driven environment, often talking to people about emotionally fraught situations, having to empathise with them - and I do empathise, many people think that us folk on the spectrum don't/can't, but that's wrong, I feel a very heightened sense of social justice, and really feel for people, perhaps too keenly, so it really takes it out of me. It really uses a lot of 'spoons' (see disability spoon theory) for me to do so much people-ing and masking and I'm fucking shattered. And yet in fear of losing the job that's knackering me.
The uncertainty about the probationary period being extended and not knowing where I stand is getting to me, adding to my anxiety and emotional and physical exhaustion. (And someone else is being disciplined, might be being sacked for something, they're currently suspended, so that's adding to my fears about being let go too.)
Any reassurance or feedback along the lines of 'I'm my experience, you're fucked, start looking for another job now' would be welcome.
Sickness
Unfortunately, from around early February, I had around six weeks off work, with gynae/gastro problems, which had been grumbling along with low level pain for a couple of years, for which I took OTC painkillers, and my GP had made non-urgent referrals that had fallen through the net during the pandemic. But early this year I developed acute pain and in the space of about a month when to A&E three times and each time they basically told me to fuck off back to my GP, because it was something I had already raised with them. I found that baffling, because surely the symptoms becoming more severe, acutely painful, should mean investigations are now urgent?
Anyway, chasing up colonoscopy that had been cancelled during pandemic and not rescheduled, and also chasing up another ultrasound (they previously did one that found gallstones, but said that my lower abdomen was 'too gassy' to see properly, but then another one hadn't been rescheduled, because pandemic. I managed to get them done while I was off sick.
Ultrasound found fibroids. I've previously had surgery, about 15 years ago, to remove some. I've - finally - got an appointment with a specialist next month, to see if I need surgery again or whether they can just be shrunk with hormones.
Colonoscopy showed diverticulitis and also polyps (the latter removed and sent to the lab, and they lost the result, should have taken 2-3 weeks, but it ended up taking around three months to confirm the polyp wasn't cancerous, so that was a bit of a fraught time). I'm wondering whether a lot of the acute pain was maybe something stuck in the diverticulitis pockets? I'd been on a health kick, eating bread with seeds, eating nuts and seeds. I'm wondering whether taking the litres of laxative stuff to prepare for the colonoscopy flushed stuff out of my system and reduced the pain? Because I've not had an acute attack of pain since then, although still grumbling along.
I then developed Covid-19-like symptoms, which I thought I might have caught at the clinic during the colonoscopy, because the sedation and pain relief didn't work and it was excruciating and the nurse came and sat right next to me and held my hand. I offered to work from home, but was told I couldn't and to take more sick days (ended up taking two more sick days at their insistence, because of the way shift pattern worked out, and because of negative tests). I had previously worked from home for a few days (internet/phone problems with the system at work) and have subsequently worked from home (power outage in the building/local neighbourhood), but manager doesn't like me hot-spotting off mobile, even though it's just like connecting to a WiFi router. * shrugs *
Then back to work. I've been taking Solpadeine (codeine-based OTC painkiller) most days for months, even though you're only supposed to take it for three days.
I found out they don't pay full pay for sick leave, only SSP. They ended up giving me a company loan so I could pay my rent, which I paid back over the next two months.
Lateness
Had been 15 minutes late, twice. Once because the evening before I'd sent a message saying I'd just got a prescription for sleeping tablets from my doctor, so I might be a bit late the next morning. I woke up late, groggy, but was only 15 minutes late. (I'd been going through some stressful housing stuff that triggered my PTSD and was having a bout of insomnia on top, hence needing the sleeping tablets, as I felt like shit.) Another time I was 15 minutes late because, I think I'd mislaid my keys. I usually hang them on a hook as soon as I get in, but if I'm bursting for the loo as I'm running in through the door, I sometimes, dump bag/keys somewhere else and they get mislaid. I couldn't leave to go to work, because it's the kind of door that you have to physically lock, it's not a Yale lock that self-closes. Frantically hunted them down, was only 15 minutes late. NB: I've always made up the time.
My probationary period was extended by a further three months, which I agreed was fair enough.
In the last two and a half months:
Sickness
Had one day sick a couple of weeks ago due to getting an ear infection (had phone appointment with GP and got prescription for antibiotic/anti-inflammatory spray), only one day off due to shift pattern, had been using the spray a couple of days and symptoms had eased a bit (bit still struggled a bit with hearing).
Lateness
I was five minutes late one day last week. I phoned while en route. I'd mislaid my glasses while going from bedroom to bathroom to kitchen to sitting room while getting ready. I can't use computers without them, so I had to stay and find them, which made me five minutes late. Line manager said she'd have to log my lateness. I said I'd make up the time, of course, but line manager said not necessary. I had a shorter lunch break and made up the time anyway. I'm getting the kind of feeling that they're the kind of company that says 'Not a problem' and 'Not necessary' but then holds it against you.
Targets
The job doesn't involve sales, but we do have to meet targets. Sometimes I meet my weekly/month targets, sometimes I don't, but we've had a lot of new starters over the past couple of months, so it seems like the number of 'successes' are being spread between more and more people. And as a whole, we didn't meet the department's target for the past two months, so not just me, I'm not an outlier in terms of performing badly.
We've been under pressure to do lots of overtime in recent months, because the company's expanding, and they've taken on increased targets from existing clients and also new clients, and there's been a bit of a mismatch, in that they're recruiting, but it takes time to train people and get them up to speed, so there's a bit of a lag between increased workload and getting more staff onboard and up to speed to deal with that increased workload.
I've personally felt under a lot of pressure, (a) to make up for the unexpected shortfall/hole in my bank balance/pay off credit card debt run up while I was off sick for nearly two months and also (b) to prove I'm a 'team player' trying to help meet my personal, team and also company-wide targets, and also (b) to try to avoid being sacked at the end of my probationary period, in just over two weeks' time.
What's the likelihood of me being 'let go' after having one more sick day and being late five minutes in the past three months? (On top of my previous sickness/lateness.)
What's considered 'normal' amounts of sickness and lateness?
I've been struggling, in all honesty, with the pressure and the anxiety, feeling a constant sense of unease and fear at the prospect of losing my job and not being able to pay my rent. Plus, all the work, all the hours of overtime have taken a toll too. I'm only supposed to be part-time, but have been working full-time or more than full-time hours. I suppose some folk might think, Well, that's not so bad, full-time hours isn't being overworked. But I'm on the autistic spectrum and it's working in a high-pressured, target-driven call centre. I've worked in sort of call centre environments before, albeit not target-driven or so high pressured in that sense, albeit in that job a new project coming online doubled our workload, so it was hard work, and in one job I did fairly quiet night shifts.
The jobs I previously had in much more different, less-pressured call centre environments, it took me and the other new starters about three months before we stopped feeling permanently knackered. This type of call centre role is dealing with more fraught people though, and I think that and all the added pressure over money and targets means I'm finding it exhausting.
Because I'm on the autistic spectrum, 'people-ing' really takes it out of me. To spend eight hours full-on people-ing in such a high-pressured, target-driven environment, often talking to people about emotionally fraught situations, having to empathise with them - and I do empathise, many people think that us folk on the spectrum don't/can't, but that's wrong, I feel a very heightened sense of social justice, and really feel for people, perhaps too keenly, so it really takes it out of me. It really uses a lot of 'spoons' (see disability spoon theory) for me to do so much people-ing and masking and I'm fucking shattered. And yet in fear of losing the job that's knackering me.
The uncertainty about the probationary period being extended and not knowing where I stand is getting to me, adding to my anxiety and emotional and physical exhaustion. (And someone else is being disciplined, might be being sacked for something, they're currently suspended, so that's adding to my fears about being let go too.)
Any reassurance or feedback along the lines of 'I'm my experience, you're fucked, start looking for another job now' would be welcome.
