An Employee Who Is Allergic To Dogs Has To Navigate Her Now Pet-Friendly Workplace Because Her Boss Refused Her Request For Her Own Office
The world shifted when the pandemic hit in 2020. Every aspect of our lives was disrupted by it and we were forced to adapt in order to survive.
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For this office worker, it meant working from home. Pre-pandemic, OP shared that they weren't allowed to bring dogs to the office.
Once things started going back to normal and some teams were ordered to go back to the office, the "No pets allowed" rule changed a little bit. Employees were given permission to bring their dogs to ease the back-to-office transition.
OP's team was deferred for another year and they had to keep working from home. The problem was when they finally called back to the office.
Despite her love for canines, OP is allergic to dogs. Their scent alone is enough to induce a migraine — this is an obvious pressing problem when OP returns to an office full of everyone's pets.
OP's boss reassured her that they will figure something out. Her colleagues who have their own offices are not willing to leave their dogs at home and OP's boss told her that the best solution is for her to keep working from home.
OP's current living situation is less than ideal for a full office setup. She lives in a studio apartment which barely fits her bed and working there during the pandemic was enough excitement for a while.
OP said she will consider working from home if they give her a raise in order to afford a larger apartment
His boss asked the higher ups and got back to OP that giving her a raise wasn't in their budget
Her boss tried to convince her that her apartment isn't as bad as she described but OP stood firm and reminded him that they could have given her an office space but they simply refused
When she told her colleagues about the situation they adviced her to just move back in with her parents, to stop buying from Starbucks, or just move to a bigger place
They were even wondering why OP couldn't just take allergy medication when she goes to the office
They were unsympathetic to her predicament
They were all basically telling OP to make the sacrifice so they can continue taking their dogs to work
OP got a bit of the similar response to her post but she clarified why she can't just up and leave her job
It looks like OP helped another person figure out that their allergies could be triggered just by a dog's scent
OP said it also took a while to figure out why she was always sick until she went to a specialist and they figured out what was causing her symptoms
Someone asked OP why she's the only person in their office who can't seem to afford a better living space
OP didn't get into any specifics but she reiterated that she cannot afford to move into a bigger apartment
While OP is not at fault here, she should brace herself for any backlash from her colleagues
OP says she is not really expecting a lot of people to treat her differently in the future aside from the ones who already said their piece
Are there any people in their office who share OP's concerns about the dogs?
OP said there were others who actually raised their issues but they were outnumbered by the people who love dogs
A commenter agreed with OP's co-workers that she should be adjusting because she is ruining something that her colleagues are enjoying
OP replied that she would love to work somewhere else but that is just not an option for her at the moment
The top comment gave a similar advice — OP should prepare for a change in her working environment because this is not something people can move on from easily
A commenter told OP that it might be wise to take her company's offer to work from home and use that as an opportunity to job hunt
Because it doesn't look like any of her colleagues who have dogs and offices would offer her their office
OP's course of action will depend on where she lives but she can consider talking to HR about an unsafe work environment that is detrimental to her health. If the dogs were allowed at the office to ease the transition, shouldn't that transition be done by now, two years after the height of the pandemic?