I regret telling my boss about my anxiety
I (F20) started at my new job a few months ago and things have been going well. It's a job where I'm working back of house and front of house at a restaurant which isn't the best for my anxiety but it's managable as long as I stay on top of tasks.
One day my boss and I sat down and had a talk about how I felt like I was going at this job and if I had anything I wanted to bring up, so I mentioned that I do get a bit nervous taking orders because it makes me anxious (especially when customers rush through their orders and miss out on a lot of things and I have to keep up or tell them to slow down so I can repeat their orders back to them). Another way my anxiety affects my work is that my attention to detail is either too attentive or not attentive enough, like I'll go over things and double check it a couple times and make sure it's all done right, but then I'll forget something basic like putting something away in the wrong place. I do get overwhelmed in some situations but again, my anxiety is manageable as long as I keep on top of things.
A few weeks later I started getting 1 shift a week and at first my boss told me it was because she was training new people, but I was seeing on the schedule that 2 other people who had been there longer than me were getting 2-3 shifts a week and I thought it wasn't fair that it wasn't getting swapped so everyone was getting an equal amount of shifts. So I got sick of it and told my boss that one shift a week wasn't enough for me to live off of and she told me that she wasn't putting me on as much because I'm nervous when I talk to customers, and that I freeze and take too long to process things, and she only wanted to put me on more if i'd be willing to fix that (she didn't give me that option until we spoke, which was annoying because it would've been nice to have it because I am willing to get better but I can't exactly switch off my anxiety). It's also annoying that she wanted me to basically improve drastically with one shift a week because that's just gonna take a longer amount of time rather than having me on as much as possible through the week (like learning a new skill, practicing once a week isn't going to help you improve as fast as learning 4 times a week for example). But basically she wants someone who can work Front and Back of house
A part of me feels like my anxiety has been used against me in a way, but I can't tell if I'm just playing the victim or she's right about all this. She was understanding about my anxiety in the beginning - like telling me if I need a 5 minute break I can take one, or helping me when customers are difficult (or even just taking the order herself or sending someone else out to take the order - which at the time I was glad I didn't have to deal with the customer interaction, but how am I supposed to improve on taking orders if I'm not taking orders?)
TL;DR - I told my boss I have anxiety and I've lost shifts because of it
Posted Jul 22, 2024, 12:54 AM UTC