So as some of you may recall from a few of my pit rants, I work for Starbucks. A pretty good place to work for, actually, as retail workplaces go. But I find myself facing the realization that I might have to quit.
You see, I got carpal tunnel syndrome from working, left wrist. I was on disability for a month and a half trying to rest the bloody thing, get some drugs, wear the wrist brace, et cetera. Then I transferred to a store in my hometown for the summer so I can make a few bucks while I’m home this month and next.
My doctor reluctantly gave me the OK to work – I still had a few symptoms, but it had gotten much better, and I needed the money, so with admonitions to wear the wrist brace and take anti-inflammitories, she let me start work at the new store.
Bam. After one day, already my wrist is aching. A goodly third of my palm is numb, the tingles come and go. It’s becoming increasingly clear to me that my wrist isn’t going to get better as long as I’m working. So I sat here tonight and thought, I shouldn’t be doing this anymore. I can’t keep effing up my wrist like this, and I don’t want to just sit here milking off what should be a temporary disability.
My student loans will pay my rent and groceries, but there’s no way I can get a car without a job, because using loan money to pay for insurance is explicitly forbidden. And the chances of my getting a different job are pretty small, because I have to be able to walk there. If I quit this job, I won’t be homeless, but I will have nothing to spare. And I like working at my main store, my coworkers are awesome.
What an effing choice. I’m crying tears of frustration as I type this. All because of one piss-ant wrist problem. FUCK. :mad:
That sucks Dragonblink. Is there any way you can discuss this with your employeers to see if they can work around your carpal tunnel? Perhaps they can assign you non-carpal tunnel bothering tasks and you can steer clear of those that cause a problem. I’m not sure if this is realistic where you work or not. I’m kind of thinking something along the lines of you doing the cashier, stocking, making tea duties and steering clear of the triple grande Frap-cappuspresso making duties.
I agree with tevya, you should talk to your boss and see if there’s something you can do. You don’t always have to work at making the coffee do you?
When I worked at Baskin/Robbins, there was a girl who developed CTS from scooping. Hers must not have been nearly as severe though, because she would pop a pain pill and wear a brace and usually be OK. But we tried to help her by giving her closing jobs that were easier and letting her help more cake customers so she didn’t have to scoop as much (Though we would have to write on the cakes for her… ) things like that.
Sorry, stupid joke, I know. I feel your pain, to an extent. I developed a muscle strain or some shit a while back working my shit job and had to go on “light duty” for a good three months or so. That was fine, but when I had gone through all the doctor bullshit and all they could tell me was “Eh, just take it easy and it should go away in three to six months,” I SO wanted to quit my job. the problem is, I need the money, and the people I work with and for are really cool people. My solution was just to work more at my other job. This way, I still work at my shitty job with cool people, I don’t strain myself, and I get to work my good job a lot more, which makes me very happy.
My suggestion, follow tevya and Screeme’s advice and see if there are other jobs you can do that will help. With my thing though, apparently you could only stay on light duty for 12 weeks before they canned your ass, so if you don’t get better, you’re screwed. I don’t know if Starbucks has that policy, so you want to find that out. If they do, just look for a new job. Sucks, I know, especially nowadays, but if you can find something close by to the other store, you can still visit regularly. And who knows? You may enjoy your new job more.
Best of luck to you, and stay away from those video games (you poor, poor person).
Unfortunately, I can’t avoid doing the things that make the carpal tunnel worse, because it’s pretty much my entire job. Espresso drinks, Frappuccinos, dishwashing … it would be unfair to my coworkers to make them do everything while I stand there and look pretty. The duties of a barista are just not very wrist-friendly.
I really wish I could find a good desk job, one where the environment was more ergonomically friendly and I could take about five minutes every hour to sit there and stretch the wrist … but I have problems with phones, and there’s no data entry jobs within walking distance. It’s pretty much this job or a similar one, or nothing.
(Oh, and yes you can get CTS from typing … but I discussed this possiblity with my doctor and he said it was very unlikely that my computer use cause the wrist problems)
No one in HR suggested / recommended a qualified plastic surgeon? The 2 people I know who had this procedure done by qualified Plastic Surgeons haven’t had a twinge of pain since going under the knife.
I would really, really like to avoid surgery. I’ve already had complicated knee surgery and discovered that morphine is not my friend. Besides, I don’t know that it’s bad enough yet that a doctor would recommend surgery – it’s usually the last resort.
Besides, this is my left wrist. I have a strict policy of keeping scars on the right and tattoos on the left.
I had carpal tunnel surgery after suffering for eight years. I was not doing any repetitive job…that’s why I was able to last for eight years. But the surgery was a breeze…forget what happened during your knee surgery. Outpatient surgery…in and out in under two hours, some mild pain killers for a few days and a splint for ten days, during which time I was able to do a lot of things. Then stitches out and at-home-on-my-own physical therapy (and typing) for a few days…then on with my life. It’s been 12 years now, and while sometimes, when I’m doing a lot of hand work, I still get some discomfort, for the vast majority of my life I have no further symptoms.
Don’t wait till it becomes crippling…talk to your doctor now. Many problems just become worse and harder to fix the longer you wait.
Oh, and I got my carpal tunnel syndrome the old-fashioned way…from being pregnant. I was just one of the unlucky ones in that it never went away.
Drangonblink, I can certainly sympathise with you.
I worked in retail for some time cashiering and also doing some secretarial work with lots of typing etc. After a co-worker dislocated my wrist I had to have a partial fusion of my right wrist. When I went back to work, I quickly developed carpal tunnel. I was put in a splint at first. When that did little to relieve the pain and tingles, they tried the steroid injections. That worked for a couple weeks at a time, but because the condition continued to cause such severe probelms, I chose to have the endoscopic operation. I have a cute little ‘>’ shaped incision on my wrist (to go with the myriad others now but that’s another story) that is barely visible. The operation really helped. I highly recommend this to people who suffer from CTS. It wasn’t very painful at all and the relief greatly outweight any discomfort caused.
Years on, I am now experiencing strong (okay bloody painful and irritating) symptoms in my left wrist. But because I can’t get into the job I want here in the UK (teaching or nursing) I am stuck doing admin work and the typing is killing me. I wish I could afford the operation for the left hand as well.
This is also one of the reasons I don’t post as much as I’d like… the typing does my hands in so quickly now.
People above have recommended asking for other duties. Whilst this may help some, the irritation of the nerve still happens. Short of not using your hands at all - and trust me, doing this is nearly impossible - it is a matter of modifying your duties to lessen the damage done to your hands. People often look at me funny when I do things right handed (am now ambidextrous thanks to surgeries and right hand damage) because it just looks ‘odd’. But in order to do things without pain, I’ve had to modify the method of doing things. Experiment with how you do things and perhaps you can find a less painful way.
Since you don’t fancy the surgery, have you thought about the steroid injection to ease the pain and symptoms?
What kittenblue says, dragonbink. A competent hand surgeon can change lives (usually for the better). Talking to a surgeon doesn’t commit one to having surgery, but one will have a better understanding of one’s options.
… but I discussed this possiblity with my doctor and he said it was very unlikely that my computer use cause the wrist problems)