Every Office has one

Dumbgurl04 · June 2014

Uh so I'm sure if any of you work in an office you know the kind of person I'm talking about. Then again this is probably anywhere you work. There is this one women who thinks she is the boss of everyone and even when you ask a simple yes or no question she gives you a paragraph long answer on everything. Well at my office we are just one little office building and the rest of property is kind of a maintenance facility (so we have a lot of people that work there)

So today this lady just really pushed my buttons. When I first started (2 years ago) there use to be a water cooler in our office but they got rid of it because they stopped paying for it to be service. So instead they just buy these tiny water (I posted a picture) usually I take two everytime I need to fill up my water bottle. So I go through about 8-10 a day. Now we are pretty much down to the last case in our office and that is 16 of those bottles. SO if you figure there are 25 people in the office building I work in and I'm taking 8-10 just by myself in a day that doesn't leave much for the other people. So I mention something to her. Then she went on a rant about how our company doesn't have to supply us with bottled water and on and on. There was a guy standing next to her while she was doing this and he said his building has like tons of those cases and he can bring some up for us. Then she goes "Yes please do cause we don't prego here to get dehyrated" It's like really!?!?!? Well that really pissed me off, so I looked up OSHA standards when it comes to your work place providing water. Now it's really not a clearcut answer to the question cause they don't have to provide us with bottle water or a water cooler but they do need to provide us with drinkable water. Yes we do have a little kitchen area IN OUR OFFICE area not outside where the most people work. Put even this women told me when I started not to drink the water out of the faucet in the kitchen area because it is not filter and does not taste or smell good. SO looks like I'll just start brining my own water bottles from now from home. Even though before I leave I always fill my water bottle up and drink half of it on my way to work I guess I'll just start brining more. I think my over reaction might be more hormones then anything but man this women is just starting to annoy more and more everyday

MalachiteDrake · June 2014

Personally, I'd try to ignore her and bring up the water issue with an actual supervisor or whoever's in charge of the water. Perhaps suggest that they put one of those faucet filters on the tap, if getting the bottles is becoming prohibitively expensive? Or even just suggest it as a general cost-saving (and plastic-saving!) measure for the company.

mb314 · June 2014

The "prego" comment is offensive, and I would bring that up with a supervisor.

But the water situation at work...well, it's nice when an office provides a water cooler or water bottles, but it is hardly part of a workplace safety issue. In the US, I would venture that 99% of faucet water is totally safe to drink. If you were in a third world country, it would be different. The bathroom or kitchen sink water would meet work place safety standards. Providing a cooler or bottle water or a water filtration system is a perk, not a necessity.

My office can't afford to provide water, and I don't like the taste of our faucet water, so I bring two to three liters of bottle water with me each day.

mb314 · June 2014

Another solution is you could get a water bottle that has a britta or other filter built into it. That way you could refill your water with the bathroom/kitchen faucet water regularly, but it would still be filtered (and there's never a risk of it running out).

Maelara · June 2014

I would have been pissed if she said that to me. You're a lot nicer than me, I would have let her have it.

shindylahoe · June 2014

All I can say is, you're doing an amazing job making sure you drink enough water. I can't handle drinking that much water. Lol.

wildflower75 · June 2014

I would send her an email with the OSHA standards on it.
And kudos to you for drinking a lot of water! You have inspired me to go to the pantry and fill up my water bottle!

Dumbgurl04 · June 2014

MalachiteDrake said:

Personally, I'd try to ignore her and bring up the water issue with an actual supervisor or whoever's in charge of the water. Perhaps suggest that they put one of those faucet filters on the tap, if getting the bottles is becoming prohibitively expensive? Or even just suggest it as a general cost-saving (and plastic-saving!) measure for the company.

Oh I have mentioned it to some managers and they said they are looking into it. Plus i'm not the only person who drinks a tone of water in our office throughout the day (even though I'm the only pregnant one). But I guess I forgot to mention that my Dad works at the same place as me and he is like second in command of the whole facility. So when I ask for anything and if it happens people (expecially these older women I work with) think I'm getting special treatment because of my Dad. It's so childish here.

absolutelymaybe · June 2014

That lady sounds like a Grade A bitch with her little "prego" comment. Seriously. Wtf people?

As for the water situation, it is very nice your company provides you with bottled water but that is by far a perk and not a requirement. Here we have a sink and a water cooler but the water cooler program costs $5 a month to participate and I just feel like with all the water I drink I'd be taking an unfair portion and don't want to be that person. So, I got this bottle at Walmart. It has a filter right in the straw. Works great!

(Note: it's the blue one not the green one)

justjinny · June 2014

First off, the lady who called you "prego" needs to be dealt with! If a guy used that tone and called you that, you'd probably be really ticked and go to HR right? Could you imagine if you had some other health condition going on that she teased you about?! It's easy to get caught off guard when people say stupid things, but be prepared to put a stop to that if she does it a second time. Not cool!

Secondly, it sounds to me like your work place is required to provide you drinking water. I work in an architecture/construction office and this got me curious so I just checked the building codes

If you want to look up code sections, you can search online for International Building Code Chapter 29 and International Plumbing Code Chapter 410. A kitchen faucet that might be used for hand washing isn't really a sanitary source of drinking water. Your workplace had to at one time have been issued an occupancy permit (whenever the building was built or last renovated) where a building inspector would look for these things before allowing your office to be occupied by employees. I'm not sure what you can really do with this info now, but it is good to know that it is a requirement!

jlove253 · June 2014

I really think you should talk to her about calling you "preggo". It was super inappropriate. If you were drinking lots of water because of a different medical condition, she wouldn't call you "sickie" or whatever. I'd tell her that it's ok for her to disagree with you about the water, but that was really uncalled for. She knows your name. She doesn't need to treat your pregnancy like a slur/insult.

Dumbgurl04 · June 2014

justjinny said:

First off, the lady who called you "prego" needs to be dealt with! If a guy used that tone and called you that, you'd probably be really ticked and go to HR right? Could you imagine if you had some other health condition going on that she teased you about?! It's easy to get caught off guard when people say stupid things, but be prepared to put a stop to that if she does it a second time. Not cool!

Secondly, it sounds to me like your work place is required to provide you drinking water. I work in an architecture/construction office and this got me curious so I just checked the building codes If you want to look up code sections, you can search online for International Building Code Chapter 29 and International Plumbing Code Chapter 410. A kitchen faucet that might be used for hand washing isn't really a sanitary source of drinking water. Your workplace had to at one time have been issued an occupancy permit (whenever the building was built or last renovated) where a building inspector would look for these things before allowing your office to be occupied by employees. I'm not sure what you can really do with this info now, but it is good to know that it is a requirement!

Yeah the buildings here are very very very old. I went to a supervisor and was telling them what happen and they said that yes our workplace does have to provide us with drinking water. This women is just on a very high power trip. Cause where I work you have to be part of one of the Unions and she has already had our Union come down on her for how she is now there are a bunch of the other unions that are banning together against here because NOBODY wants help from her even if she is the only person that can help with their issue. I was probably gonna talk to our union rep today about the whole "prego" comment.

mb314 · June 2014

If I were you, I would specifically use the word "harassment" or something like that regarding her "preggo" comment to the union reps. Terms like that get people nervous about lawsuits (not that you're litigious, but it doesn't hurt to make people take your complaint seriously).

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