Using the "Kidney Disease Card"

[KarenInWA]

Hi all, I used the "KD card" at work yesterday. We're getting a new manager, and  they want to put him in the desk that the guy no one likes is currently using.  This means that "guy no one likes" needs to move. (Let's just call him "Bob".)  Bob is gross.  Numerous guys have witnessed Bob leaving a stall in the men's room only to either rinse his hands or just simply walk away.  He has been given the nick name "Sh!t and Rinse", or S&R for short.  Also, he tends to cough LOUDLY, to the point where I think he is coming up with his own version of health-care reform.  If the organ needs to be removed, don't do surgery, just cough it up and out!  Anyway, there is currently a free desk in another row by another co-worker, who protested Bob's moving next to him, and said he'd "kill him".  (Bob also has an attitude issue with many in the department.  Also, bear in mind that this office is about 80% men, 20% women.) So then I found out that they were going to move my neighbor next to the "kill him" co-worker, and move Bob next to me.  I protested, and sent my supervisor a message that being that I have 25% kidney function, I cannot and willnot sit next to somoene who does not wash his hands after using the bathroom, and regularly coughs up his lungs.  He replied with "Ok, Understood" and now Bob's move has been put on hold.  Just wondering how any of you would have handled this.  Also, if they moved Bob next to me, I would have been inbetween him and another co-worker who had a major falling out a few months ago.  I'd rather not be in the middle of hostility.  That one was so bad that security got involved.

Thank you,

KarenInWA

[Romona]

I think you did the right thing. Your health is at stake.

[Bajanne]

I am with you.  And why not use the KD card?  It works for me in some sticky situations

[monrein]

Yikes...I'd use any card I could, even fabricated ones, to get out of that sticky (no pun intended) situation.  Glad you have an understanding boss.

[Rerun]

Play the card.  I have a disabled parking placard and I use it when I need to!

One of the perks for being on "life support". 

My security system went off on a false alarm and I only have to pay half the fine if I'm disabled.  I played the card.

                               

[MooseMom]

Since life has dealt you the "Crap Kidneys" card, you are entitled to use that card in any way you see fit.  That's just The Law According to MooseMom.

[Sunny]

That's wht I would have done too. Plus your boss isn't supposed to tell everyone the "why" behind what he's doing because your health issues and requests are personal information not to be disclosed.

[KarenInWA]

Thank you alll for your replies.  That makes me feel much better knowing that I did the right thing! 

[Chris]

Here's another point of view Karen. If you decide to do PD or have a transplant, you still wouldn't want "Bob" next to you. Better known as thinking ahead. Why wait till then and have a delay in reacting to a situation which could take sometime to find either you or him a desk.
 
So I see no problem with what you did and you have more of a reason than the other people who just don't like him, you have your health.
 
So does your work provide Clorox Wipes due to this guy? I would want to touch anything where he's been including the break room.

[Lisa]

I would have done the same...good job standing up for yourself!

[galvo]

Well done, Karen! How is it that so many workplaces have 'Bob' clones on the books?

[Jean]

Good Thinking on your part. 

[peleroja]

Sounds like you did the right thing.  It also sounds like "Bob" is the same "Bob" who was such a pain in the ass on one of our trips!  I occasionally play the KD card, like when the AAKP convention got canceled due to hurricane Frances.  I was waitlisted for a flight, so I told the attendants that all of my PD supplies were either at home in California or at the hotel in Florida, and that, "I have begun to die."  A little melodramatic, as I have since found I can go without dialysis for at least 3 days.  It worked, though, and I got on the plane.  Never be afraid (or even ashamed) to use the KD card!

[Poppylicious]

The Law According to MooseMom.

I love this! 

For what it's worth Karen, I probably would have used the 'But my Blokey has KD' card if I worked with 'Bob' (for very selfish reasons obviously).  Strangely enough though, I don't use that card and I think I should, despite the fact it would make my job near impossible to do if I did (I work with teenagers who have scant regard for soap or general hygiene and who tend to come from homes where hygiene is probably the last thing anyone thinks about ... eugh!)

 

[kellyt]

Gross Monrein!  "Sticky"   

I would use it.  But I have the transplant card.     I use the hell out of that.   "It's cold and flu season.  Sorry I can't come to your (crappy) party".   Oh no.  What I'm I going to say over the Summer?   

[jbeany]

Oh, well, if we're confessing to using that card, add me to the list!  Mine was to get out of watching a high school basketball game.  If it had been my friend's teenage daughter playing, I would have thought about going, and dragged along enough hand sanitizer for the whole audience.  But it was the kid's boyfriend playing.  Oh, for pity's sake - I don't even know this boy!  And it was winter, and still cold and flu season, and I'd only been back home for a couple of weeks, so it seemed like a reasonable excuse.

Karen, it's not an excuse when it's based in that much fact!

Gross Monrein!  "Sticky"   

I would use it.  But I have the transplant card.     I use the hell out of that.   "It's cold and flu season.  Sorry I can't come to your (crappy) party".   Oh no.  What I'm I going to say over the Summer?   

"My antibodies are acting up."  That oughta confuse them enough. . . 

[kellyt]

 

[Darthvadar]

I regularly use the 'I'm caring for My mum who's got Kidney Disease'...

I'm not a night owl at the best of times, and I don't particularly want to go to a Daniel O'Donnell concert... I HATE sport, so I don't want to go and freeze my bits off looking at a bunch of 'grown up' men chasing a ball around a field, either... So I've often used the 'I'd love to, but I can't get someone to look in on Mum that evening'...

Or No, I don't particularly want to go to your party where every second person's a smoker... I've asthma FFS!... And NO, I DON'T want to visit your child in the hospital... So I play the 'I'd love to, but I'd be afraid of picking up something and taking it home to Mum'... Works EVERY time!....

I'll stop playing the KD card when I don't have to live with the consequences of it!....

Darth....

[RichardMEL]

I have no problem with you doing this. You have a legitimite reason, and heck if the other guy can use the "I'm going to kill him!" card, which suggests management have bigger fish to fry in terms of manging the interpersonal relationships, then you have every right to bring up a concern like that. Let's face it the more your boss knows about your situation the better hopefully for when you do start D (not for years, yet!) when it does come to stuff like being careful about germs, catching colds etc. If it's stuff you've brought up before it's consistent and they will have more understanding(hopefully) of your situation.

So yeah, good move - certainly don't feel guilty about it. It's something the docs have told me before - avoid chances to get colds, flu etc and if this guy is unhygenic, and worse, coughing his germs all over the place - the further you are from him the better for YOUR health - and that is what is important here.

And the good thing is that so far, you've "won" - the boss said he understands and "Bob"'s move is on hold. Get them to do an Office Space and move him down to the basement 

[Chris]

Office Space, classic movie    Hopefully "Bob" doesn't have his own personal stapler there. 

[MooseMom]

My husband and I don't have the best relationship with his parents.  But each Christmas, we get together for lunch for some token face time.  However, for the past several years, I've played the CKD card; my husband has explained that I have a very restricted diet (true), and since restaurants don't give information regarding the potassium and phosphorus content of their menu items, it's just not very safe for me to eat out (again, true).   What are they going to say?

OK, who else has played the CKD card, and how?

[texasstyle]

Oh yeah, use that card! I would hate working with a dirt ball that. I hate to sound so vulgar but, he's probably picking his nose all over the office area and never using a tissue. I would probably come right out and say "dude, you're nasty & you ain't sittin' by me". lol  Having kidney disease IS a serious situation. Do what ever you have to do to protect yourself. If you have to elaborate even a little more about your health, by all means do it. Germs and virus and yucky stuff spreads so easily even when we take precautions. Don't feel bad about what you're doing.

[Mizar]

Oh My Goodness, I'm so Glad to see this Post. I thought I was the Only One, Who Played, that Card.  My Husband, is the One, that does Dialysis. He has also, been on Antibiotics, for the last 14 Months. ( A Nasty Bacterial Pneumonia, in His Lungs, which to this Day, has not cleared up completely ) We went to a Dinner at a Restaurant last Week with some other Couples. At the Dinner Table, I pulled out my Bottle of Hand Sanitzer and started using it. I saw, Eyes, start, Rolling, all around the Table. I just said, " What? I'm not a Germaphobic, if that's what You are thinking. We just can't afford, to have any more Sickness "  Ya Gotta, do, what Ya, gotta do!!

[sarahmanda]

I know its been a while since anything was posted to this topic, but I'm feeling it tonight

I was only diagnosed about a month and a half ago, but I don't feel the least bit sorry for playing the "sick card."  It has gotten me out of having to deal with a certain co-worker i can't stand a couple of times, and I won't lie...I use it to sleep all the time.  Yes, I know the dialysis makes me tired, but if I'm the least bit sleepy I don't feel bad for going to bed...and now my boyfriend doesn't get upset over it either!

I also used the "kidney card" to quit a job that I absolutely hated.  It was tough for me to get out of it as the owner of the store I worked at was rather slick and wanted me to still come back and teach classes from time to time. She just didn't get it that I hated working there more than anything else (especially since that job was the main cause of my stress that led to my BP going through the roof that led to my kidney failure...)

I see no problem with using the card...they are your lemons - make some lemonade!

[kyshiag]

I look at it like this.  You're gonna get all the negative things that go along with this disease.  In fact, many in society are gonna work hard to ensure you get the negative things.  If there is anything good to be gleaned from this, I say take it with no regrets.  I want my husband to have the special park, modified work schedule, be the first to get on a plane, and, yes, even disability should he qualify. 

I even like that his normal easy-going, pushover nature is sometimes thrown out the window now and he has told some people who needed it where to get off.  If I feel so compelled, I will say, "He's not feeling himself.  His CKD is acting up."  More often than not I just let the person take their just desserts.

 Of course, I'd rather he not have this disease but that train has left the station.