I'm a "casual" employee at the hospital where I work, which basically means part-time with no benefits. I specifically applied for this sort of position because I can't do full time. 20 hours a week is about my speed, and that's what I told them (and what they agreed to) during the job interview.

For the first week of November they scheduled me for 6 out of 7 days, a 56 hour work week. I assumed it was an isolated incident and didn't complain at the time, although I was so burnt out by the end I needed multiple days to recover. The new schedule is out, and they've scheduled me for the same thing the last week of the month (6 out of 7 days, 56 hours).

So I spent much of this afternoon carefully crafting and sending an email about my concerns with the scheduling, and how this was not sustainable for me. I tried to emphasize how much I appreciated the job and enjoyed the work when scheduled within my capabilities, but also carefully explained how my capabilities are not the same as the next person's and why I need reduced hours.

Self advocacy does not come easy to me. No matter how careful I am with my words, I'm afraid they're going to take it the wrong way, because I don't really understand how allistic people think. Maybe they're just going to get pissed off at me for doing it in an email rather than in person, but I tried to explain why that was, too. But who knows how they'll take it.

Best case scenario they email me back about how they're adjusting the schedule to accommodate me. But I'm afraid they're just going to wait until my next work day (Tuesday) and want to talk to me in person and accuse me of wanting special treatment and tell me I just have to live with it.

And then what?

So, no email back. No one said anything when I went in to work. Nothing but crickets. 🦗

My best guess is either:
1) They're doing the ol' "Let's pretend this doesn't exist and hope the problem goes away on its own."
2) Or they're trying to figure out how to respond, probably to tell me to just deal with it but in some way that won't get them in ADA-based trouble.

I mean, I guess could also be optimistic and say they're just scrambling to get people to cover all the extra shifts they planned to dump on me.

So they've finally emailed me back, and want to meet with me the next time I work, which is tomorrow (Friday).

So, you know, I'm not freaking out about that at all. /s