Diabetes at Work

I always imagine that diabetics who work in offices have a relatively easy time dealing with low blood sugar. If they start to feel shaky or sweaty, they can get up, go to the bathroom, test, and then return to their seats–perhaps drinking some juice or munching on chocolate if they did in fact have a low blood sugar reading. The diabetic could be so inconspicuous that his or her coworkers might be completely unaware that the person sitting one cubicle over has a medical condition at all.

I work as a cashier in a large bookstore, and I can never be quite so casual or unobtrusive about managing my diabetes. I’m often the only person working at the register; if I slipped away for five minutes to test my blood sugar, I would come back to find a line of customers tapping their feet and calling out: “Where is everyone who works in this store?”

When I was first hired, I explained to my manager that I had diabetes and that I might sometimes need go downstairs to my locker and get my diabetes kit if I felt low. (I could have kept my kit at the register with me, but I knew it wouldn’t pleasant for the customers to see their cashier suddenly turn aside and jab herself with a needle.) My manager was completely understanding. “Whenever you need to test your blood sugar, just tell one of the supervisors and they’ll find someone to cover you while you go downstairs,” she assured me.

But this process is never as straightforward as it sounds. The supervisors roam the store helping customers, and are rarely close enough to the registers for me to ask permission to go downstairs in person. This means I have to page them through the headset, which relays my request not only to my supervisor, but also to all the other employees in the store. For this reason, I try to avoid mentioning diabetes outright. Instead, say something like: “Could I, uh, run downstairs for few minutes?”

My wording will then make me worry that the supervisor will think I only want a ten-minute break. I’m allowed one off-the-clock ten minute break per shift, and in normal circumstances I try to wait for this treat as long as possible. If I interrupt my routine to go downstairs to test my blood sugar only to find that I have a perfectly normal reading, I feel that I’ve cheated myself out of my break as well as bothered my supervisor for no reason. This will sometimes lead me to postpone asking to test my blood sugar even if I do feel low. This morning, for example, I suddenly noticed my hands shaking about an hour into my shift. Instead of asking for permission to go downstairs and test, I told myself that I was imagining things. When I finally did test, my blood sugar was 56. After wolfing down a clementine, I ran back upstairs, still jittery probably more than a little vague with the customers.

I know my difficulties with diabetes at work are small and often the product of my own over-analysis. But many people do have trouble reconciling their work with the day-to-day challenges of diabetes. I can imagine how hard it would be for a teacher with diabetes to suddenly have to leave a classroom of recalcitrant kids, or how hard it would be for a lawyer to walk out of a meeting with a client. What do other people do when their work is interrupted by diabetes?

Becca Kantor

Becca Kantor was born in Philadelphia and now lives in the Philadelphia suburbs. She received her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, graduating summa cum laude and with distinction in English. Her short stories have appeared in Peregrine and Labrys magazines. In her free time, she likes to draw, paint, and travel as much as possible. Becca was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2008, and has since been learning to manage it with the support of her brother, who is also diabetic. In the summer of 2009, she took her first overseas trip after being diagnosed, spending two weeks in Estonia on a grant from the University of Pennsylvania.

Becca Kantor

Becca Kantor was born in Philadelphia and now lives in the Philadelphia suburbs. She received her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, graduating summa cum laude and with distinction in English. Her short stories have appeared in Peregrine and Labrys magazines. In her free time, she likes to draw, paint, and travel as much as possible. Becca was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2008, and has since been learning to manage it with the support of her brother, who is also diabetic. In the summer of 2009, she took her first overseas trip after being diagnosed, spending two weeks in Estonia on a grant from the University of Pennsylvania.