my day off

I gave myself the day off today because I care about my health. I called in last night, making the excuse that I needed to stay home today with my kid. That’s not completely accurate. I will be mostly home today, though. And I do have a kid. Two actually. So it is partly true.

I work at a corporate chain fabric and craft store. I started there three years ago, left for a while to work in a restaurant BOH, then went back to work at the fabric store about a month ago. I like it there. The people I work with are great, the customers wonderful and I like helping people with their projects and sewing questions.

One of my problems with it, the reason for calling out today, is that when the floors are washed and waxed (every six weeks approx.) the fumes are intensely toxic. The building has no ventilation. None. On nice days we can open the front door and there are ceiling fans, but on such a big building that does very little to circulate the air.

If I go in to work the next day, before the store is open, the front door is locked and all those toxic cleaning fumes are just stewing inside. I have been there on mornings like that and gotten terrible headaches from the fumes. I have had my managers say to us, okay let’s all go outside for a minute for some fresh air, we stand outside and gulp fresh air for two minutes and then go back in and lock ourselves in with the toxic air again.

Well, not today my friends. I make minimum wage. I don’t get paid enough for that. Give me a break. I saw floors on the schedule for last night and I called out. I used my kid as an excuse. I’ll be honest with you about it.

In case you are wondering, after it happened to me the first couple of times, I filed a complaint with OSHA. The response I got back was that they looked into it and our store meets OSHA safety standards. Well, they ought to change the safety standards, because if employees are getting headaches from the fumes that are not ventilated from the building, that cannot possibly be safe. And customers are breathing in the fumes when they go inside and shop the next day. Or who knows how many days it takes before that really clears out. I will go back to work tomorrow and I hope it won’t be too bad.

Today I get a bonus (unpaid) day off. I will clean up my house. I’m going to make some homemade mayonnaise and yogurt. And I’m going to rest my sore muscles from all the hiking and running I did Sunday and Monday. I’m hobbling around like an old lady today because of how sore I am. Feels good though.

Love to you all!! Honk at me!