Coworker's Medical 'Procedure'

[Anonymous]

This reminds me of a situation I had many years ago. A fairly new coworker took a week off work as she said she needed to undergo a surgical procedure. She was new to the area and didn't know many people and asked me if I could drop by on Day 2 as she needed help with the dressing change (and she knew I had done them before). I stopped by on Day 2 and she had a bandaid on her ankle - she had a small skin anomaly (like a mole) removed by a determatologist!

[Anonymous]

I'd love to hear the other side of this work environment.

"I had a significant health challenge for which I took some time off. Unfortunately, one of my coworkers is really immature and petty, so I was low-key about what I was going through, but other sympathetic coworkers wanted to organize something to help during this challenging time. Now the immature coworkers is all worked up about it and thinks I'm faking my illness or am getting a boob job."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work in a tiny office of 14 people. One of them we will call Nicole. A month ago Nicole sent an extremely vague email out to everyone letting us know that she'd be out for two weeks. No info given at all. Just a "I'm out for two weeks".

I have heard whispers that it involved some sort of minor procedure in a 'hospital environment'. That is all.

Today, her work bestie sent out a note seeking 'donations of $50 per person' to cover her food delivery for the next week or two.

I've never really cared for Nicole or her bestie. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it was something as small as wisdom tooth removal, colonoscopy, skin tag removal, whatever.... or nothing at all.

Would you contribute? I don't think I'm going to even though I know it will cause blowback

I'm not responsible for her care; I'm not made of money; I don't appreciate the secrecy when solicitation is involved; none of my birthdays or doctor's visits involved 'gifts' and I don't like her.

Thoughts?

You sound like a c-word for female genitalia, OP. Do you practice being a cruel, nasty witch or does it come naturally to you?

[Anonymous]

I would give $20 and never think of it again. It's equally acceptable to give $0 and never think of it again.

I assume people aren't lying, but I also don't care that much if they are lying. If somebody wants to take the psychic damage of scamming coworkers, that's on them: I'm not going to be involved. Look how unhappy OP is, from caring about whether somebody is lying or exaggerating or being a wimp. OP could just opt out and be happier.

[Anonymous]

My colleague / friend just took two weeks to recover from a hysterectomy. It turns out that her endometriosis had spread so much that it was extremely complicated because of scar tissue and she was on bed rest and couldn’t shop / run errands longer than planned. She’s an open book and she told everyone what she was out for, but she shouldn’t have to. I think you’re fine not giving to Nicole, but I don’t think you should question her honesty.


(Also, I hate donations in tiny offices. I was the only admin in a 10 person office when the tsunami happened in Thailand. I gave $300 to the redcross which was a lot for me. Then there was a “from the office” donation. I said I’d already given, but there was pressure for everyone to give. So I gave $15 and they said the expectation was $100 per person. I put my foot down but as the lowest paid / least senior person it was hard.)


but I also think you’re a jerk to question if she’s faking it.

[Anonymous]

I’d contribute and consider it a cost of the job, same as parking. I wouldn’t do it out of the goodness of my heart but I’d just pay and move on with my life.

[Anonymous]

Nope, I am done with these shakedowns at work. I was burned by something like this early in my career. Never again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She’s either getting a boob job or a tummy tuck and that does require a two week recovering .

You seem super insecure dude don’t contribute. Nobody cares get over it.

Has she had a baby? Could be something like prolapse repair which people do not want to talk about. Hemorrhoid surgery is very painful and nobody would want to talk about. I have a rectocele and sint when I poop, and could require surgery in the future and I would not want to explain this. It would def have me out for more than a few days or even a couple weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't donate if you don't want to, but it's not nice to speculate it's a hangnail. The procedure could be anything she wants to keep private. Maybe gyn stuff. You have zero right to that information. If her doctor wrote her out for two weeks, it's sufficiently serious for her to be out that long. Asking for 50 pp is a lot so feel free to decline but not because she's not giving you her medical info.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, that's a no from me.

This is something that I've only ever heard about happening in the US. Just like people "pooling" their pto to "give" to other employees. It really makes the US come off like a very poor, backwards country if you have to beg fellow employees for money to stay afloat.

So anyways, no I wouldn't contribute.

i'm not from the US either but i dont think you read the post correctly before you went on what would otherwise be a valid rant about US healthcare

money being asked for is for food etc. That's pretty normal in any country.

2 weeks is a long time to be out after surgery, imagine it's a pretty significant health issue. I would personally donate unless someone actively tried to screw me out of a job or something, but you do you. they shouldn't have asked for $50, they should have asked for whatever people were comfortable giving. i think you could still give what you are comfortable with.

Oh no I read it correctly. Instead of a company paying employees a proper wage or giving paid leave, the employees themselves have to cobble enough pennies together for this co-worker to eat. I'm at a job to work to pay my own bills, why are other employees asking me to support them? You don't think that's disgustingly sad AF? It's not even about healthcare, but as a non-american, reading about employees having to support other employees out of their own pocket instead of the billionaire CEO taking a few less vacation *hours* is crazy town. Unrelated rant to the OP maybe lol.

+1

[Anonymous]

For those who say she could have planned, I had a minor accident a few years ago (my child dropped something, we both went to get it and she stood up into me). It gave me a very minor nose fracture but also gave me a concussion. I had to take a minimum of a week of complete brain rest (no reading, screens etc). I told my manger and turned on an out of office reply, but my colleagues wouldn’t have had a clue what was going on. There was some possibility depending on recovery time that I would need more time.

[Anonymous]

You really need to crowd-source this? Why?

Don’t contribute, there’s no need as it is optional.

There’s also no need to speculate that she’s just having a colonoscopy or whatever on the Internet. Get a life, get a hobby.