The Need For Silence Falling On Deaf Ears

I work in the kitchen of a pub. Because I’m autistic, I need earplugs to deal with the noise of the kitchen. My immediate boss informed me that is their responsibility as an employer to supply them.

Actually getting them has been a bit of a nightmare. 

The first type I was given didn’t work, but I was told (by the pub’s deputy manager) that there was another version they could order. 

On a Saturday several weeks ago, I had a small meltdown. The team lead let me know she had spoken to one of the managers, and one of the bar coworkers was being sent to [Store] to grab me some earplugs to use for today. They worked great! They were kept in the office, so I had to keep asking the manager on duty to get them, and not all of the managers knew the password for the safe they were kept in. When I had about a week’s supply left, I let managers know, “Hey, I’ve got [number] of these left until I’m out.”

The shift after I ran out, I asked where they were, and the manager on duty said that he didn’t know. I tried to power through my shifts without them until I was on at the same time as the deputy manager who was ordering them. When I was, I asked her and was told they were arriving “tomorrow”, a day when I wouldn’t be working. When I asked her what to do for today, she suggested I use blue roll (a harsh tissue-like paper) and complained that she couldn’t keep sending people to [Store] because their earplugs were too expensive. I tried to power through my shift, though she came up sometime later to give me some [Store] earplugs. She also told me to hold onto them myself.

That was two weeks ago.

On Monday, I asked a manager where they were. He looked around the office but couldn’t find any.

On Friday, I asked a manager I like better. He said he didn’t think they’d been ordered. I kind of had a bit of a freak-out because they were meant to have arrived a week or two ago (I couldn’t remember on the spot), and while I did still have the [Store] earplugs, I wanted to keep some as a backup in case these new ones don’t work like the first ones didn’t, and if I used up all the [Store] ones again and needed to ask the deputy manager for some, she’d sulk at me again. He reassured me that he’d look into it and sent a message in the manager chat asking about them.

Yesterday, the deputy manager came into the kitchen to say goodbye to people at the end of her shift. People were giving her hugs, which I thought was weird, but I was too focused on trying to ask her where these flipping earplugs were. I was told they’d arrive “tomorrow”. I gave her an eye-roll and said, “Whatever,” because I was getting a bit fed up.

This morning, I received a group text from the deputy manager about how she’s leaving for good (which explains the hugs) and she’ll miss us all.

On the one hand, I feel a little bad that I was kind of rude to her as she was leaving. On the other, she started the message with, “Morning, my work family :)”, so eff that. Hopefully, whoever’s replacing her is more competent.