I have great employers (I know they read the blog, so I have to say this) who are very supportive with regard to my diabetes. They don’t have a problem with hospital appointments and so on. So diabetes at work isn’t problem at all. Is it for you though?
My management and organization has been all in turmoil lately, with a continent-wide consolidation and reorganization going on, so I’ll reserve judgment about my new/current management.
That said, the people I work with have been very nonchalant about it, and I think they’ve had as many or more expected and unexpected outages due to ;
My immediate management (ie in the department rather than in the university) are extremely supportive of my diabetes, are always happy for me to take time off/move my hours etc for appointments, and are (almost) overly worried they might be putting too much work on me/stressing me out [they never have, and I have assured them I’d let them know if they were!].
I’d give them 10/10 for People Management skills.
As opposed to my last lot, who insisted on all time out being worked up in advance, and objected to my being ill without notice (? yes, they expected advance warning of being out of the office for _all_ reasons, including emergency medical ones. I didnt last long there.)
My boss is a complete ass and mega slave driver, so I usually just stick 2 fingers up to him and tell him I’ll see him later. Oh the joys working for yourself! hehe
A lot of people I work with know nothing about my pancreatic challenge. Never made a point of hiding it; just don’t let it get in your way.
I do occasionally get the “Are you ok, or do you have to inject?” – questions.
Well, we know the answer, don’t we? We are OK, because we inject!
I manage a good team of staff around me and in general they try to help with my DM.Taking unscheduled breaks and time off is no problem as I work my ass off!
“Do you need something to eat” or “need your lunch early ??” are all helpful prompts.
But why oh why do they think it strange if I get annoyed or dont feel like not singing “zippady do da” round the office!
“No I dont need anything to eat thanks ! I am alllowed to be irratated you know, EVEN IF I AM DIABETIC”
I am sure you all know what I mean!. Anyway, think I better check my Blood sugars ?
Yesterday I had a bad hypo at work. We’ve just moved to a new building, and I’d emptied my desk drawer of emergency work sugar, so I asked a colleague to walk with me to my car to fetch my emergency driving sugar. Normally I wouldn’t ask for a chaperone, but I felt pretty bad, and it’s quite a long way to the car park, including crossing a building site. So off we went, but half way there she stopped and asked “is this because you’re afraid of the builders?”! Turns out she’d missed the part where I said my sugar was low, and just thought I was really weird!
I think most of my colleagues forget I’m diabetic 99% of the time!
Poor you perhaps in the future you should just let yourself hypo or pretend to!! Think of the fun you could have swearing, shaking, rolling around on the floor; not to mention the unfocused eyes due to double vision and then verbal/ threatening behavior after being plied with something sweet to drink. Almost makes you want to have an extra couple of units. Let us know how you get on and what you got away with!
I like your thinking! Maybe I could skip faking the symptoms and just loudly demand that people bring me stuff- cake, chocolate, wine, presents… they wouldn’t know the difference!!!
To be honest, I forget I’m diabetic quite a lot of the time too. Injections, etc., are so commonplace I hardly notice doing them. I only really remember when something goes pear-shaped resulting in me feeling rotten!
I think I dont ever forget I’m diabetic – it’s so part of my fabric of being that it’s part of my description (like name, age, haircolour, medical situation etc), rather, I forget that being diabetic makes me ‘different’ in the eyes of other people.
Sorry for the shameless bump of this topic. I have found that my bosses are all ok with it and dont mind me occasionally taking a few extra liberties. The only people i have had problems with are the security guards. There office is next door to the medical fridge and i dont think they ever learnt to read at school as i ;
my boyfriend has been diagnosed since he was 2. he is a teacher and due to a broken back was forced to be on leave from school for a long time that caused his current unemployment. The headmistress was a bitch though and wouldn’t give him a good reference so he has been unemployment for 3 months now.. i hope this school term will bring him good news.. otherwise, it’s going to be pretty bad with the bills and everything.