Anyone want to replace me part-time?

carolpetunia

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Things have been so rushed here that I haven't told you yet: I had to quit that part-time job I got a couple of weeks ago. It was my eyes -- I have glaucoma, so they're hypersensitive. After two days of fluorescent lights and plug-in air fresheners and so forth, my eyes were in such bad shape that I could barely see. So I had to quit... and I never even got to drive the golf cart!


But the boss was a very good guy, and the job would be very pleasant for someone who didn't have a problem with the lights and the air freshener. It does require some serious attention to detail, though, and he's having a very hard time finding someone... most people who have the smarts he needs are looking for full-time.

So if you know anyone in the Plano area who might want to apply, let me know and I'll PM you the information!
 

natalie_ca

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Is there a way that you could make the environment eye friendly for you? For example wear sunglasses for the light issue, and perhaps get rid of the plug-in air fresheners?
 

cheshirecat

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Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

Is there a way that you could make the environment eye friendly for you? For example wear sunglasses for the light issue, and perhaps get rid of the plug-in air fresheners?
I was thinking along the same line. A good employee is hard to find. Making accommodations to keep one is almost always a good investment.
 
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carolpetunia

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Y'all are so nice to try to think of solutions for me! Yes, I'm sure he would have dumped the air freshener if I'd asked -- but I didn't mention the aroma of the rodent control stations all around the place, which is also very caustic. Everything about the place seemed to irritate my eyes! I hope this doesn't mean I've developed that chemical hypersensitivity problem some people have.

The problem with the fluorescents is not something sunglasses can do much for. It has to do with the extremely rapid "vibration" of the light, which (in some people) can cause the tiny muscles inside the eye to try to respond, quickly exhausting them. I used to be able to handle fluorescents for half a day or so, but apparently not any more.

Also, the job would require me to go out among the storage units perhaps a dozen times a day, and even though it was only about 75 F on the days I was there, it was already painfully hot among all that concrete and sheet metal. I could do it now, but in a month or so when the temperature is 95 or 100... I'd never survive it. So it was best to back off and let the manager find someone he can count on longterm, rather than have him invest the time and effort to train me and then have me collapse from the heat one day.

He told me he'd had someone in another location do that to him: he trained her for a week, and then one day she came in and he could tell something was wrong. He even asked her if she was feeling all right, but she said she was fine. And then at the end of the day, after five days of doing nothing at all but get trained, she announced that she was quitting and said, "You can mail me my paycheck."


So... since I knew I couldn't make it longterm, I had to do the right thing and let him move on to somebody else. Now if only somebody else would come along!
 

duchess15

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Oh Carol...
I've been thinking of you and wondering how your job has been going. I'm sorry things didn't work out, but keep your chin up, there is a job out there for everyone.

Could you ever work in a library? A place where you won't have all those factors interfering?

I would trade you mine if I could. I hate mine.
 

strange_wings

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Originally Posted by CarolPetunia

The problem with the fluorescents is not something sunglasses can do much for. It has to do with the extremely rapid "vibration" of the light, which (in some people) can cause the tiny muscles inside the eye to try to respond, quickly exhausting them. I used to be able to handle fluorescents for half a day or so, but apparently not any more.
I don't know if you or anyone else remembers the incandescent/fluorescent thread that was in IMO some time back. But I believe someone actually tried to say people can't see that or shouldn't be bothered by it.
 
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carolpetunia

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Yup -- since the mind doesn't really register it, most people don't believe it, and they ridicule you.

But some people at least have a sense of humor about it. With a torchiere in the corner and a little green-shaded banker's lamp on my desk, my office was fairly dim, compared to the glaring fluorescents everywhere else -- so for years, whenever my boss was giving people a tour of the offices, he would bring them to my door and say, "Carol has exceeded her electricity quota for the month..."
 
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