r/AmIOverreacting • u/MeanderingDragon • Mar 06 '26

💼work/career AIO about this text I got from HR?

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So to preface, I'm Type 1 diabetic, which means I have to take multiple daily insulin injections to live. I typically take 5-8 shots per day, and while it isn't fun, it is routine and necessary.

I was at work this morning and they had a small amount of food out for some sort of 'employee appreciation' which reminded me I hadn't had any insulin yet and my glucose levels were getting too high. I took a shot of insulin, got some breakfast, and went to my desk. A few minutes later, this text arrives.

I can understand that shots make some people uncomfortable. Trust me, I'm one of those people. But I have to take them anyway. Am I overreacting to think that if you don't want to see me talking a shot, you can turn your head? Should I have to go to the bathroom which only gets cleaned twice a week, and take my shots in secret like it's a drug addiction? Perhaps it is just me, but I feel that not everything in life that makes us a little uncomfortable is something that has to be pushed out of sight. Sometimes we would benefit more from understanding, acceptance, and perhaps acclimation.

Also for the record, while they say they "mentioned this several times", our HR manager scolded me once maybe two or three years ago publicly during lunch in our cafeteria. I ignored it that time, because friends sitting around me supported me after HR walked off.

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u/speck_tater Mar 07 '26

The way OP describes it, they’re just pulling a syringe out of their back pocket and giving themselves a shot on the spot. They said people should be able to look away and they shouldn’t have to do it in private. I think OP is the one being inconsiderate and mentioning the restroom to be dramatic. HR said a private space, and most jobs have that in order to be complaint with ADA laws.

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u/TJ_Rowe Mar 07 '26

Yikes. I would probably be fine with that happening in the room now I've done first aid training and such, but younger me would have fainted on the spot...

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u/-myeyeshaveseenyou- Mar 09 '26

Yeh I’m a fainter, no idea why, I’m fine in theory with needles. But get woozy about 50% of the times I see one or have one. It’s been a problem as I have a child with a blood disease who needed weekly blood draws, twice in hospital with her I had to be given the bed to lie down, that is some kind of horrible mortification as I’m supposed to me caring for my child. Admittedly it’s usually worse if I’m getting the needle myself but my body isn’t above fainting for any random needle. I used to own an alternative clothing shop and we decided to branch into piercings, I thought I would learn how until I almost fainted just holding a needle. My worst episode was when I knew I was feeling faint but fell forewarns from the chair I was in while at the doctors and landed head first on the floor and got a lovely concussion

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u/FuckMyBakaChungusLif Mar 07 '26

One of the reasonable accommodations for Diabetes is the ability it to inject insulin anywhere at work. Maybe OP is "inconsiderate" or whatever, but legally a workplace can't restrict where a diabetic takes insulin, even if it their disability makes coworker uncomfortable

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u/speck_tater Mar 08 '26

And that’s fine if you’re in a critical situation. But it’s really no effort to take a scheduled or routine drug in private.