Nearly that time again, back to w erkk on Monday - but I can't complain, I'm lucky enough to work from home, and only 3 hours a day - another one of my miracles (smiling here).
How to tell how this all came about .. quite a long story but I'll try.
You see I was working full-time, had a job that I loved, a boss that anyone would dream of having, and fantastic people to work with. Going to work was never an issue for me, basically it was like my second home.
Then, my boss retired, which was sad. But I carried on, working for an even higher ranking exec in the same organisation. Which was fine, wasnt as good a boss to be honest, but hey I can get along with anyone and it was ok, just not quite as enjoyable, same people around so it was fine.
But then I decided I'd apply for another job, just a transfer to get some more experience, well not experience, shall we say exposure, something like that. Anyway I got the job, it was just a temporary transfer.
And then disaster. It was January-ish 2010. For the first time since being diagnosed with MS (1997 by the way) I had a serious relapse, which saw me unable to travel, couldnt manage getting on and off buses and trains, which I had to do if I was to get to & from work. Anyway, I had to take sick leave. For over a month to start with. Recovered well enough to walk around and went back to work, the temporary job, for a week. Disaster, couldnt do it, actually terrified I wouldnt be able to make it home. Basically nil strength in my limbs. This is not a good feeling! To this day I havent fully recovered, but I can walk. Just not enough strength to really lift my knees, hard to explain but basically cant handle stairs.
MS is like that by the way, we have relapses, I've been lucky though and only minor things til then.
These relapses come and go. I'm better now, just not perfect.
Anyway to cut a long story short in the end I had to ditch the temporary transfer job and ask if I could go back to my old job, which had changed seeing as my boss retired, anyway I'd been there for about 15 years climbing through the ranks and they said yes of course, come back. Cool.
But I couldnt travel, so they put me in a job close to home (they have branches everywhere). Which was good to start with, not the work I'm used to, it was research. Still, I enjoyed it and did the work I was given and all was well as far as the changed work was concerned.
But, when this all started I had to 'come clean' about having MS. I never used to tell. Figured nobody could tell so why bother, I was ok. And so, having told them, they had to have me medically assessed for continued employment. Fine by me. Had the assessment, it came back that I was fit for work but recommended a job closer to where I live. Also fine by me, my job had changed anyway so it didnt matter where I worked, as long as I had a decent job somewhere. They were keeping my pay rate the same, which was nice, but employment law says they have to anyway.
Trouble was, once I'd done the research the new (local) office didnt have anything more for me to do.
Then the big honchos said they wanted to meet with me. Fine. Not sure why and when I asked they said 'oh we just want to chat about where to go from here seeing as you have this medical condition'. Ok, see you soon. So I was thinking, good, now I can see about doing my actual job from a distance. I could still go to the local office, just do my job from a distance.
Trouble is, when we had that meeting, first thing they said was that they were going to medically retire me. WHAT?! I was completely and utterly shocked, my background was HR and I knew they couldnt do that simply because I have a medical condition, especially after a medical assessment which said I was fit for work. Were they mad?? Who was running this joint now?? Things had definitely changed since I was in Head Office if this was how they did things now.
I am a member of a Union. I rang them. The head honchos backed off, but did nothing. Lay low I guess was their tactic.
So for over 12 months I was getting up early and getting ready to head to the office, walking about 30 mins to the office, and when I got there had very little to do. There was no work, but no way was I allowed to return to my original job, and I wouldnt/couldnt anyway.
Hmmm this story is taking longer than I thought ... forgive me if it's not making sense!
final part coming soon ...
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