Workplace accommodations are essential. They are a vital part of an inclusive society because nobody should be pushed out of a job just because their body works a little differently. However, there is a massive, glaring difference between needing a reasonable adjustment for a medical condition and treating your job like a casual suggestion that you only participate in when you aren’t busy actively sabotaging your own health. One employee on Reddit is currently living through the latter, and it sounds like an absolute nightmare of Frappuccinos and unpaid overtime.
Our narrator has a coworker who was hired about six months ago. This coworker disclosed that she is diabetic and requires accommodations, specifically frequent bathroom breaks and time for doctor appointments. On paper, this is standard stuff. Anyone with a chronic illness knows the drill. You communicate your needs, and a good workplace supports you so you can do your job.
But here is the catch. This coworker isn’t doing her job. According to the OP, she spends about two to three hours of every eight-hour shift in the bathroom. That is a quarter of the workday gone. Because she is missing so much time, she falls behind. And who has to pick up the slack? You guessed it. Our narrator.
The supervisor is apparently useless here. He is so terrified of a discrimination lawsuit that he refuses to manage his employee. Instead, he dumps her overdue, urgent work onto the narrator’s already full plate. The OP is staying late, doing double the work, and stressing out, all while her coworker is essentially working a part-time schedule for full-time pay.
Now, if this were just a case of severe, unmanageable diabetes, we would all have sympathy. Bodies are unpredictable. But this isn’t unpredictable. It is clockwork. The part that is driving the narrator absolutely up the wall is the food.
The coworker constantly brings in McDonald’s, Wendy’s, donuts, and sugary Starbucks drinks. She flaunts them. She makes little jokes like “hehe I shouldn’t be eating this but I can’t help myself.” It is like watching a slow-motion car crash every single day. She eats the sugar bomb, and then, like magic, she feels nauseous and has to go home early or disappear into the bathroom for another hour.
This is where the “accommodation” argument falls apart. Accommodation is for things you cannot control. It is not a free pass to eat food you know makes you sick and then stick your colleagues with your deadlines. That is not a disability issue. That is a responsibility issue.
The narrator mentions that they also have a chronic illness affected by diet. They know the struggle. They have given up favorite foods. If they slip up, they suffer through the consequences at work because they know it is their own fault. Watching someone else treat their condition with such reckless disregard, while the narrator pays the price in overtime, is infuriating.
So, is the narrator the ahole for being done with this? Absolutely not. Empathy runs out when you realize the person you are helping isn’t trying to help themselves. This coworker is gaming the system. She found a loophole where she can eat whatever she wants, skip out on work, and hide behind a medical diagnosis that she is actively worsening.
The boss needs to grow a spine and document the performance issues. Missing deadlines is a fireable offense, regardless of your blood sugar. And the coworker needs to realize that her “hehe” moments with a donut are actually creating a hostile work environment for the people cleaning up her mess.