Update (sorry about the delay, people):
When I got to work the next day, numbskull had made Søren move my computer.
Guess where he decided to plant me.
Yeah that’s right. RIGHT across from Birgit! We were sitting so close to one another that I could reach out and touch her, for crying out loud.
And that’s his brilliant solution to my problem; placing me right across from a smoker! Obviously he was either ignoring my problem completely or didn’t hear a single word I said to him during our last conversation.
At that point I was so angry that I had difficulty breathing.
So I headed for the bathroom again in order to wait there for numbskull to show up because I didn’t want to sit that close to Birgit. As I sat there I started thinking about what a fucking retard my boss was and it struck me how ridiculous this whole situation was. And then -instead of crying- I started laughing.
I caught him in his office at eight and asked him flat out why on earth he would place me across from Birgit. It seemed that he had misunderstood me (surprise, surprise) - he thought it would help if I sat right next to a window, with some sort of extraction installed. I pointed out that it wouldn’t work
at all - especially once winter would come.
Since he didn’t seem to understand how big a problem their smoke is for me, I decided to spell it out for him this time (something I should have done from the start but I thought that it would be enought to just point out that their cigarette smoke was triggering my migraine attacks). I told him that even on the days when only Birgit was at work and despite all the windows and the big doors were open, I’d still get a migraine attack. I added that I usually only get about 2-3 attacks per month but since I started working here, I now get 2-4 PER WEEK.
Then he finally got the picture
But he still wouldn’t enforce a smoking ban here. Because, as he pointed out, “you can’t get such seasoned smokers to go outside from one day to the next”.
Then I told him that it didn’t seem to be a problem for Carl.
That comment made him negative
All in all his attitude towards the very end of the conversation was quite negative. He seemed to think that they had already done everything they could do for me and that I had all the reason to be satisfied with how things were at the moment. He said that the smokers were already paying regard to me; they had cut down their consumption of cigarettes.
How on earth is that showing consideration for me?!
According to him, the smokers felt like I had ordered them about from the very beginning.
Say what?! I asked them nicely and politely if they would be so kind as to go outside to smoke because their cigarette smoke was giving me migraine attacks. How that qualifies as an order I do not know.
He promised me, however, that he’d talk to the smokers again and see if they could come up with some sort of arrangement.
I had a feeling that such an arrangement would never materialize and a few days later I found out that I was right.
Later that day I called my school and had a little chat with the headmaster and my “contact teacher”. It seems that I (or any other trainee for that matter) may not return to the school’s trainee department if I quit the job. The only valid reason any trainee may have to quit his trainee job is if the company is unable to provide proper training. Who makes these silly rules?!
This IS a valid reason for heaven’s sake!
Luckily my headmaster said that they would most likely be able to “work something out”
if I could produce a medical certificate stating that it is irresponsible to submit me to cigarette smoke due to my migraine attacks. That won’t be a problem at all; my neurologist has advised me against taking more than 10 Maxalt pills per month as the pills are unhealthy..
They both sympathized with me and said that I should - as a last resort - suggest numbskull to relocate me to a non-smoking department. And if he refused then I should tell him to give my headmaster a call and then he’d take over.
A few days later a silent war was going on between Helle and I: she kept closing the front door and I kept opening it. I guess she was feeling cold when it was open but at that point I didn’t care; if I were to put up with their smoke, she would have to put up with some fresh air.
When I got to work the next day - and she found out that I had opened the door once again - she closed it and told me not to open it again because it was creating a draught. When I replied: “fine, Helle. I’ll just sit here and get another migraine today.” she got all prissy and reminded me that there should be room for us all.
That’s where I lost patience.
I had had enough of Helle, this whole situation and numbskull’s reluctance to do anything about it so I decided to have one, final talk with him - the kind of talk that would either conclude in firing or immediate action on his part. So I marched into numbskull’s office and asked him if he’d talked to the smokers yet. And, instead of giving me a yes/no answer, he burst out: “they’re already paying regard to you, Nancy!” - clearly annoyed that this was still an issue. He then sat down and told me that he had talked to them once more and that they had complained about me opening the door frequently. I made it clear to him (in an angry tone and heavy gesticulation) that I couldn’t work here under these conditions - especially with the door closed. And if he wasn’t going to do something about it, I would leave work immediately because there was a 100% chance of me getting a migraine with the door closed.
He then got busy assuring me that he’d work something out within half an hour..
One hour later (
) I still hadn’t heard from him. I was sitting at my desk, feeling really angry about that when I noticed the closed door. I decided to open it again despite Helle’s prohibition. When she got back and saw that it was open, she got furious. Sadly I wasn’t able to confront her with it because I was busy talking to Peter about the correct arrangement of a C4 envelope. But I could hear her and Birgit in the background muttering:
“can you believe this?!”
“This is an outrage!”
“We have to do something about it - I will not have this!”.
Then Birgit got up and marched out of the room all “I’ll sort this thing out”-like. About a minute later she got back with numbskull right behind her. He then called a meeting and declared that we had to do something about this immediately. And as he said that, Helle said something that still makes me laugh when ever I think about it: “yeah - because this is making me ill!”
He announced that until he could have a desk ready for me in the advertising department, the door was not to be opened and the smokers would have to go outside for now.
Ten minutes later I found myself sitting in the advertising department, angry, dissappointed - basically the whole gamut of negative emotions. Sure, have ME removed instead of them and their unhealthy smoke
I can’t help but feel that they’ve won. And I bet your ass that Helle is gloating over my defeat.
My boss is an incompetent fool and this “solution” along with his way of handling this situation are beneath contempt if you ask me.
It seems that my problem with the smokers was well-known all over the firm; the accountant got up to me later that day:
Her: “I hear that they’ve decided to plant you in the advertising department”
Me: “Yup - now I get to be a nuisance to those people instead”
Her: “But.. you don’t smoke?”
Me: “I was only kidding”
Her: “I can’t believe that he didn’t deal with this immediately instead of letting this come to a head”
What can I say - the man’s a fool.
Erik isn’t pleased with this quick fix either. He too approached me later that day:
Him: “I see that he’s decided to put you in here - how do you feel about that?”
I hesitated for a while and then replied “..it’s allright I guess.”
Him: “this is kind of... ignoring the problem, don’t you think?”
I couldn’t agree more. Getting rid of me instead of them and thus allowing them to continue doing something that is a threat to other people’s health isn’t exactly a good signal to send to the workers at this firm.