Hi all. Sorry for this, i just need to vent a little...
My wife has MS and although her symptoms have so far been fairly easy to deal with over easter she caught chicken pox from our kids (i luckily had it when i was little) which triggered an MS relapse. She had been relapse free for around 4 years and although this relapse didnt put her in hospital like the previous ones, she still had to stay home for around 6 weeks, went blind in one eye (which is now ok thank goodness) and she pretty much slept the whole time.
She went back to work for a well known supermarket chain who are "very little help" and they did the usual welcome back interview and all that. She explained that her old job was just too stressful for her to handle. She has been feeling like this for years now and has tried to transfer to a different department just stacking shelves or something 3 times in 3 years and every time she was refused and they employed some young teeneager to do it... BADLY. Well, there are currently positions available in the chilled department just filling the fridges up which she knows she can do no problem as there is no real stress involved with that unlike her current job which involves date checking, stock level checking and report making. So she has tried the transfer thing again and at first she was told not to worry and they will sort it out in her "absence review". In the mean time she was put into the crisps department which of course helped a lot and her manager said dont worry about any disaplinary action due to her time off as they probably wont do anything about it (she works part time so having a month off has put her waaay over her allowed persentage as you can imagine).
Heres what has got me VERY angry though... last night she had her absence review and her department manager has totally changed his tune. He has told her the crisps thing was just a temp measure to get her back into the swing of things and that he wants her back in stock control doing her old stressful job. When she explained that she has trouble with concentration now and doesnt feel she can do that job anymore and could she go work in the chilled dept she was told no and they the stock control department couldnt spare her. If she could find someone from chilled to move to stock control then it would be ok.... but they are advertising for more chilled staff??? I dont understand why she cant transfer over and they just look for someone for stock control instead *confused*.
She was also told that once her manager gets back from his hols (hes now off for a week) there will be a disiplinary meeting to discuss the action they are going to take against her absence persentage.
To say im fuming would be a total understatment. I am so fed up with them making my poor wife cry. I have tried to find out if they operate some sort of disabled absense scheme where it wouldnt count towards your regular time off but trying to get a straight answer from them is like trying to get blood from a stone. My poor wife is now totally stressed out beyond belief and her managers speech about "we cant spare you from the department" is total rubbish! She hasnt worked stock control for almost 2 months now (month off and she has now been back at work for almost a month doing crisps) so if she was to go into the chilled department they would actually be losing someone from crisps... they lost someone from stock control 2 month ago really!
Sorry, ive gone on a bit havent i lol. Im making an apointment to speek to the main store manager (not her department manager who is now on hols) and ask him what they are playing at. I honestly dont understand why it is such an issue for her to transfer departments to an easier job. If he wont let her then i going to ask if i can take her job over. I currently work from home as a freelance artist while helping around the house and with the kids while my wife gets her rest so i could work her shifts if need be.
Sorry, i just needed to rant a little. Thanks for listening ;)
Al.
- for a bank though!)