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some1sWitch

It's not unreasonable for your job to rotate people through kitchen duties, even if you don't use it. It's there and available for you ahould you ever use it and they're being fair by rotating who does the cleaning.  Unless the kitchen is full of flour, you will he fine so long as you wash your hands after the cleaning. You can wear gloves if it makes you comfortable.  Gluten doesn't absorb through the skin, so just refrain from touching your face during the cleaning. 


some1sWitch

Also, you can ask them to remove you from the cleaning list but don't expect them to. This is not a reasonable accommodation under the ADA, but perhaps they will be nice to you?


Aiayame

May I ask why this is an unreasonable accommodation? My understanding of ADA accommodations is making any adjustments or modifications that enables individuals with disabilities to have equal opportunities as long as it doesn't impose an undue hardship on my employer. Someone without celiac doesn't get sick using a communal kitchen. I can. Not trying to come off as argumentive -- just want clarification to understand as I haven't navigated this avenue fully


stupidjackfruit

did you not wash your hands after touching the fridge handle? i clean the fridge in my house all the time, everyone else besides me in the house eats gluten. I just wear gloves and wash my hands when i’m done. I just feel this wouldn’t be a reasonable accommodation by most work place standards.


Haurassaurus

I know, right? I'm learning that so many people here just don't wash their hands.


Aiayame

I routinely wash my hands 😑


Haurassaurus

You touched a handle at work and then touched your food or mouth with your hands without washing them first, but ok.


Aiayame

I normally do. That day I was rushing to get to a doctor's appointment and forgot to wash before leaving, and then accidentally touched my lips when I was in the car. I habitually don't touch my face or eat with my hands while in public to avoid getting sick. The moment my hands grazed my lips it was instant dread. It only took getting sick once for me to never use the kitchen again. It's not worth it for me


Huntingcat

Do the clean. Wear ordinary disposable gloves if you want to. Wash your hands when you are finished. Gluten isn’t going to harm you unless you ingest it. Loading the dishwasher, emptying the fridge, wiping the benches etc may involve your hands touching some wheat based products. Wearing gloves will negate this. Washing them afterwards will remove what’s left. It is entirely possible to do this job in a way that is safe. No need to be the inconsiderate person trying to avoid a common duty, and in the process annoy all your team. So you don’t take lunch to work that needs to be chilled? And you take your dirty dishes home each night? That seems unusually excessive. You know people with gluten fingers have touched the door knobs, the hand rails in the stairwell, the various technical equipment you use. You also know the same applies to all the food you bring home from the supermarket. Where some grotty toddler in a shopping trolley dropped muffin crumbs all over the apples. Just get in the habit of washing your hands before you eat, or use cutlery.


Inevitable-Photo-101

They said they actively avoid eating at work. It's not unusual, I also do not eat at work, and would request to be taken off the list if they implemented a rotation to clean the kitchen. I don't go in there. I've been fortunate to be able to leave work and eat at home. The only time I consider bringing food to work is in awful weather. It has to get really bad though, I live 4 blocks from my job. Those times, I'll generally just grab snacks, because ain't no way I'm using the common elements in the kitchen. I see folks run the microwave while eating donuts.


Aiayame

Thank you for your insight and not being judgemental 🥹🙏


Aiayame

I don't eat lunch. It's a financial decision. When I did eat lunch I packaged my food with cooler packs and only eat with cutlery. I don't eat with my hands in public. I only eat with my hands at home (my house is entirely gf). I never touch my face when I'm in public. I mentioned I'm a scientist, and I habitually wash my hands. The technical equipment I use doesn't have "gluten fingers". Everything I do at work is in various levels of biosafety and food/drink is strictly forbidden. There is only 1 coworker I work with who doesn't wash their hands habitually. And again -- I don't touch my face in public, and wash my hands immediately when I get home. What happened at work was an accident and a single occurrence. It was enough for me to make the personal choice to not use the kitchen


Jinx484

Are you saying you have some kind of allergic reaction when you touch wheat or gluten? Or did you just not wash your hands after?


Aiayame

I normally wash my hands. That day I was rushing to get to a doctor's appointment and forgot to wash before leaving, and then accidentally touched my lips when I was in the car. I habitually don't touch my face or eat with my hands while in public to avoid getting sick. The moment my hands grazed my lips it was instant dread. It only took getting sick once for me to never use the kitchen again. It's not worth it for me


CoderPro225

I had this issue come up. I ate solely at my desk to avoid the communal kitchen so I wouldn’t get sick. I explained this to my managers, explained that I only rarely used the microwave and that was only after cleaning it or lining it with paper towels and covering my container, and that’s it. Never used the fridge. They took my name off the cleaning rotation schedule for my safety. I suggest talking to your manager. If you’re in the US celiac is covered by the ADA so you can always pull that card if you have to.


K2togtbl

I don't think not wanting to clean the communal kitchen because you don't use it would be a reasonable accommodation, but to each their own. There's tons of people in work settings that don't use the communal kitchen for tons of reasons outside of celiac but still participate in cleaning it because it's a duty every one is asked to do. It isn't a task based off of the percentage each person uses it


Aiayame

Thank you for offering your insight 🙏


Aiayame

Thank you for offering your first hand experience and account 🥹 Did they voluntarily remove you from the cleaning rotation schedule? Or did you request it?


CoderPro225

It was kind of a mutual thing once I explained that it was actually a risk to my health and that I took measures to avoid the fridge for that reason. But I did initiate the conversation.


Aiayame

Ohhh, do you mind if I ask how you initiated/worded the conversation? I'm still conflicted on whether I should "suck it up"/take the risk, or if I should request to be removed from the rotation. I don't want to be viewed in a negative light, but I also: 1) Didn't ask to have this autoimmune disease. I hate it. I'm the only person at work with Celiac 2) Don't get paid enough to "feel good" about even putting myself slightly at risk for getting sick It's not single individuals that are assigned the task -- it's groups of people, so if I request to not do it it's not like it won't get done. It'll just fall on my only coworker 😭 (him and I are the smallest team, unfortunately -- all the other teams are 5-7 people), which I feel bad about, but also -- he doesn't have celiac and zero harm comes to him cleaning the communal food space. I'm one of the senior-most analysts and if I have to call out it puts our little baby team at risk. Only 1 other person (not him) can do my main job rn 😑 And the idea of calling out sick, and using sick leave *because* of work really infuriates me -- again, don't get paid enough to have "🤷‍♀️ energy". Sorry I kind of word-vomited at you 🙈


CoderPro225

You are fine! I was also part of a small team and used that as my reasoning. I simply asked for time to speak with my manager, explained that the communal fridge was a cross contamination health risk for me because of my celiac and I avoided it for that reason, and that I would hate to be glutened and then call in sick because of it. I made sure to point out that I never used the fridge myself and never would. I asked if there was something else I could do instead to show team solidarity, because I definitely believe in being a team player, but asked if I could be excused from this specific task and taken out of the rotation. I was lucky, I wasn’t given a different task, just removed from the rotation, but I would have done it if they asked. I was sincere and I tried to approach them with a solution. In your case, I would suggest that either your team be assigned to a different task or your coworker be assigned to one of the other teams so he doesn’t have to do it alone. In my experience, don’t approach it as complaining. Approach it as an unavoidable situation due to a health problem you cannot control but are eager to offer fair solutions for so no one feels you are being treated “better” unfairly. Sincerely propose solutions you think could work and ask for feedback and see what they say. If you remain positive and sincere that should set the tone. Good luck!!


Aiayame

Oh my goodness. You’re amazing! This is the best advice I’ve received. Thank you for helping give my thoughts a voice 😭


CoderPro225

Of course! I hope things go well for you!


crimedawgla

Like most folks here have said, you didn’t get a reaction from just touching the handle. Touching it and eating without washing your hands, possible, but even that, you’d have to have some pretty high sensitivity unless someone really smeared something on there. That said, people are usually touchy about this stuff and so if you said you didn’t feel comfortable because you have celiac, they’d probably accommodate you. It might, probably would, be a credibility hit for you. So it’s up to you whether you want to take that hit to get out of kitchen duty.


Aiayame

My original post states I work in health care. I've been celiac for years. I know how it works. I normally wash my hands. That day I was rushing to get to a doctor's appointment and forgot to wash before leaving, and then accidentally touched my lips when I was in the car. I habitually don't touch my face or eat with my hands while in public to avoid getting sick. The moment my hands grazed my lips it was instant dread. It only took getting sick once for me to never use the kitchen again. It's not worth it for me. Why do you believe it would be a credibility hit? What do you mean by that?


seriouslysocks

I don’t think you should have to clean the kitchen space if you don’t use it at all. However, I’m a residential housekeeper and I’ve cleaned gluten kitchens every day for something like five years. Gloves, and hand washing after, work fine for me.


Aiayame

Happy Cake Day! And thank you for not being judgemental and just offering your insight/opinion 🙏


ElliEeyore

It sounds like you’re just trying to get out of doing an icky task. Wear gloves and a mask. You’ll be fine.


irreliable_narrator

You have to ingest gluten for it to cause a problem. While mostly this means food you eat directly, it is possible to ingest gluten indirectly from touching things or your food touching things. However this risk can be managed by washing your hands before eating and ensuring that there is no way for crumbs etc. to get into your food. I've worked in various places with shared kitchens and the main things is I don't use the microwave because those are usually gross (splattered with hunks of spaghetti etc.). For the fridge, you can bag your stuff up and put it on the top shelf. If you don't want to do that you can also just bring your lunch in an insulated box with an ice pack or in a thermos if hot like in elementary school. For the table you can hover if it's very messy or put down some paper towel to rest your items on. As long as no one is baking in the kitchen the shared kitchen can be fine with precautions like handwashing or barriers. Tbh I ate in my office/at my desk or outside a lot but not because of celiac. Often it was just that I was on a different schedule than everyone else.


Aiayame

I understand how being celiac works. I've been celiac for years and I mentioned I'm a scientist. I work in health care. I normally wash my hands. That day I was rushing to get to a doctor's appointment and forgot to wash before leaving, and then accidentally touched my lips when I was in the car. I habitually don't touch my face or eat with my hands while in public to avoid getting sick. The moment my hands grazed my lips it was instant dread. It only took getting sick once for me to never use the kitchen again. It's not worth it for me I don't eat lunch at work anymore. This is a financial decision. I already did your recommendations when I was eating at work. My advice wasn't asking how to safely eat at work.


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Hellrazed

Wash your hands


Aiayame

I do 😑


[deleted]

[удалено]


ElliEeyore

It’s called being a team. I’m sure there are various things in the office that various people don’t use. If they’re tasks with rotating responsibilities, percentage of use is irrelevant. Front desk workers at my job don’t use the autoclave, but they still are rotated on its testing and maintenance.


UnhappyGreentea

That's really interesting and frankly something that I wouldn't have ever thought about (especially with your given example). From my point of view it seems impractical, but if it works then who am I to say anything.


ElliEeyore

Working in any kind of office, there are a lot of things that don’t apply to *everyone* but to keep things running smoothly, everyone is involved. Having something be “every man for himself” is more impractical.


UnhappyGreentea

It's not that I think it should be every man for himself, but maybe rotations that pertain to peoples work setting? To use your example, I wouldn't expect someone up front to run testing and maintenance on equipment someone in the lab uses daily. I get cleaning a communal kitchen and shared spaces, but your example boggled me a bit.


Aiayame

It boggled me too. Frankly I wouldn't want my front desk workers doing any maintenance on the autoclave if they don't use it. Seems like a recipe for disaster, but then again -- our autoclaves break all the time and the idea of adding 1 extra variable gives me the heebies 😅


UnhappyGreentea

That's what I was thinking! It just seems impractical and dangerous with the autoclave. I doubt "maintenance on heavy duty equipment" was in the front desk job description.


ElliEeyore

Not necessarily. I’m sure it depends on the office but in a small office if it depended on work setting, some people would be tasked with a certain thing a lot more than others, or there would be an issue deciding what is someone’s “job.” Like we have a big shred bin. Paperwork is a front desk thing, but the patients being the paperwork back to us. Then we put it in shred. Is it front desk that needs to empty the bins, or is the back office? So we rotate it.


K2togtbl

I disagree. There’s tons of things at various jobs that I’ve never used but we’ve rotated responsibilities on, or jumped in as a team to help out. Retail- helping put up stock, rotating product, folding clothes, etc. Food and bev- running the dishwasher to help out the back or folding silverware to help out the front. Office work- fixing a jammed printer, picking up things that I’ve seen on the floor, carrying files somewhere, fixing a mistake done by a different area, answering a question outside of my job title vs sending someone to a different department just for them to wait on hold so they can be told the same thing that I can tell them, etc. None of those are “my job” or something that I use but it’s part of being a team player and helping your fellow coworkers, not something that’s based off of what percentage I need it or use it


Aiayame

Thank you for your insight 🙏