Pumping at work-#($&@)(!!!
I'm a teacher and since I'm EBF, I pump twice a day at work. This morning, I had a custodian walk in on me pumping in my classroom. The door was
locked and there was a sign on handle that says "Please do not enter". He
walked in while I was trying to yell not to come in but apparently didn't hear me so he starts talking
to me about a desk I needed fixed. He didn't seem to realize what was going on so I outright said, "Could you please leave? I'm using my breast
pump." It suddenly sinks in what's going on and he darts out. Not a
huge deal because I'm all covered up but it still is kind of irritating
that I have now had three staff members blatantly ignore the locked door with
a "do not enter" sign. To make matters worse, he tells his supervisor who tells my supervisor who comes down during passing period to make sure that I'm ok. While I appreciate the sentiment, I just want to pump in privacy and be done with it. I don't want to talk about it all the time, especially with half the male staff in the building. I feel like pumping is already such a time and mental commitment that these events are just making it almost unbearable.
Is anyone else having problems at work? Is there something I'm not doing that could make this less frustrating for me?
Re: Pumping at work-#($&@)(!!!
I rent an office in a building fully occupied by another firm. The office manager is on a cleaning spree and keeps trying to enter my office. I lock the door yet she rattles the door and has their runner come and frequently knock. (Because she wants hide my stuff from my storage area in my office.)
Every time she does it my pumping completely stops. I am very reactive and the surprise makes me dry up every time. I finally went and very sternly spoke to her about how she should never try and enter my office without buzzing me first. As I am not part of her office it is completely inappropriate for her to enter my office without first knocking.
I know you have a much larger staff to deal with, so the solution isn't as simple. I just wanted you to know that I understand!
I feel your pain! I am a teacher as well and have the building's printer in my room since I am the tech teacher, so I can't lock my door. I do have a sign that says 'Adult Entry Only, Please' as there are only a few men on campus and all are very comfortable with the pumping thing. However, students still try to come in, so I have to explain to them (later in private) why they can't come in.
My biggest issue was finding the time to do it. I have a 90 break mid-day, but that's it. So, I have to find class coverage at 9:30 every day (I also pump during my plan/lunch and right after school). Since DD2 is a May baby, I will have to do this all year long!
I use the instructors' lounge and I have a sign on the door that says
There have still been people try to open the door! Thankfully it locks. Finally I sent them all a memo that the lounge is occupied from 3:00 to 3:30 and unless they want to see my girls hanging out, they need to stay out. No more attempted interruptions.
hawkeye, the EXACT same thing happened to me this morning. My office is hosting a conference. Typically, no one even comes near the spare room that I use for pumping. Regardless, I have that room reserved on the office calendar for twice a day, and I post a do not enter sign out front.
But NOOOOO, one of the visiting conference people (an older gent) busts into the room without so much as a knock. Then proceeds to try to look around the room for something he may have left in there earlier. All while the door is wide open and folks are milled about outside. And me with two bottles stuck to me. Mercifully, he also didn't seem to know what was going on. I asked him to leave the room and shut the door -- and had to repeat my request twice.
Freaking-A.
Ugh! It stinks that this happens to so many of us. If only there were a special lactating force field we could put around us while pumping.
I think I'll try a new sign that says "Staff and students-Please do not enter. Privacy required" and see how that goes. I already put it on the door handle but I'll make an effort to put it directly over the key hole. I don't want to send out an e-mail to the 100+ staff members but if this keeps happening, I will have to!