I am so frustrated right now. I am having a lot of issues at work, and a lot of it truly is beyond my control. Issues with systems not working correctly, being overwhelmed by the amount of work required of me. Being asked why on a specific night in 2008 why a report wasn't generated. And all that is just today.. I have a disability, but I don't really make it publicly known at work. I had mentioned it to the HR person after I got the job. I also made sure I noted it on the paperwork when filling out the information when I started here.
Technically, the company should provide me reasonable accommodation in regards to my disability. Until now, I didn't really "need" the accommodation, but with the amount of frustation and stress I am going through, I feel I need to take a "Mental Health Day" off. My disability is related to mental health.
When I e-mailed my supervisor and let her know what was going on, that I really was stressed out and that I needed the day, I got a response that really pissed me off.
"that's what weekends are for. I really think you need to be here unless there is some major medical reason not to be."
My mental health IS a major medical reason, hell, it was the reason that for almost 5 years I was completely unable to work. At this point I don't know what to do. I don't want to end up having a breakdown and going though all the crap that goes along with it. I don't know if I should go to HR, because I think it would send the wrong message to my boss. Something along the lines of "Oh, well if you tell me I can't take off, I will go above your head." But I don't really know if it is above her head, I report directly to the VP of Finance...
Thanks for listening to my rant, maybe someone can help..
Joe68
Do you believe you could restructure your workflow so that it generates less stress?
Has this problem been building up, or it's recent? Did a specific incident originate it? Can you analyse what's going wrong, apart from your disability (the specifics)? Would you say something changed in your work environment, or something changed in you?
Do you work alone or are part of a team?
I hear you.
I too have a "mental" disability and stress is definitely a trigger.
I just made it through a period of intense work related stress and suffered a sort of "relapse" after having attempted to deal without meds for a while. (it's funny, I should mention, that when you're on legal drugs a "relapse" occurs when you come off of them, whereas when you're off illegal drugs, a relapse occurs when you go back on). I realize that bringing up your condition at work may result in having the people you work with treat you differently or change their opinion of you. My advice would be try to make it through and if you really need that day off just call in sick.
Or you could get a doctor's note or actually bring up the issue with your supervisor.
I hope you get through this alright.
Without a doubt, your health is more important than any particular job.
This all depends on the employment laws in your jurisdiction, but you might be able to take a leave of absense. It's not the same as a vacation or sick day. You probably won't get paid during this time except through some means of social support.
Make sure you know your rights.
2> I would say it probably is a problem that has been building up, although recently I would say a lot of it is stemming from a deployment of new computers that I have been having quite a few problems getting everything working right. I am well over 2 months behind schedule for completing the deployment, it isn't that my boss or the different depts are even upset about the delays, well they are starting to get that way, but they understand I am swamped with work as there should be 3 people in my dept to cover the amount of work and computers, and I am the only one. I know I had asked to use a couple of my vacation days, about 6 weeks ago as I was going to take my family on a 5 day camping trip, and was told I couldn't take the time off, that bothered me too, but not as much as her recent comment.
Recently I can't get myself motivated to get up from behind my desk and actually START working on getting stuff done, I am that overwhelmed, and so things just keep piling up. It is a vicious cycle, being overwhelmed by how much work I have to do, so I end up not doing it because I am worried about how much there is, and so it just keeps piling up.
I am on the train right now on my way into work.. since my boss said no about taking the day off.. oh well.. Maybe talking on here might end up helping me come up with a plan to get through this.
Thanks,
Joe68