~ As The Mold Grows ~
Written by KC
This is a story about a gal with spunk who was unfortunate to become sick
at work & had to battle a Corporation that didn't have any ethics. Don't
ever think it can't happen to you. It can. Trust me.
During all of this, my district manager & I had taken pictures & we both
took notes thru the whole ordeal. We have proof of everything. I have
every document, fax, memo, letter, report, that anyone wrote.
I'm 35 & was a store manager at a payday loan company. I started my job
6/01 as an assistant & became the manager 10/01. My assistant is 40 &
started in the end of 1/02. We were both working full time, at a job which
we love & excel at. We have both contributed hard work to make our store
better than it has ever been.
11/01 - I started feeling "not right." I left work early twice in 2 weeks
for what we thought was pinkeye. My eyes were itchy, red & swollen. I
started feeling nauseous & "not right." Meaning disoriented, light headed &
dizzy & I would get the shakes alot, especially in my hands. I started
losing hair, in a line on the back of my head. I have long hair & it was
becoming noticeable. Headaches were daily.
12/18/01 - I went to the doctor to get my birth control shot & mentioned
this to him. This was my 1st time with him & he blew it off as the flu. He
said to come back for blood tests. I didn't like the doctor then nor do I
now.
12/20/01 - Went to doctors & had blood drawn. He called 2 days later &
said the blood tests came back normal. I continued to feel sick. I started
wondering if I was pregnant & was panicking because I had just received
the birth control shot & was scared of the damage it could do. The doctor
said there's no way I could be pregnant. When I mentioned diabetes, he
snorted. I started wondering if I had Anthrax... we received alot of
packages in the mail at work. That, too, was laughed off. I spent time
Christmas & New Years Eve at home, too sick to go to anywhere.
1/14/02 - I left work early sick & on 1/15/02 I called in sick, missing
the entire day.
1/30/02 - We had a severe ice storm which caused a hole in our roof at
work & our back room became flooded. We notified our landlord, thru our
Corporate office, in Texas. I can't remember how long it was before he
sent someone out, but it wasn't immediately. Looking back now, the ice
storm was the beginning of our troubles. Hindsight's always 20/20.
To give you an idea of my office, it is decent looking, if you don't look
too close. Ceiling tiles in the customer area have water stains in them,
which I'd been pestering people to fix or exchange with ones in the back
room that weren't damaged. That never happened. The back room, which is
partitioned only by a sheer curtain we hung so customer's couldn't see in
there, is a different story. The back room is gross. It smells horrible. I
worked my butt off cleaning & trying to make that store decent when I
first started there. It was unbelievable that people would work in that
environment.
The store had previously been flooded before I arrived. My district
manager, an awesome guy who helped us through this, had wrote the landlord
a letter on 10/12/00, telling him what was wrong with the store & what
needs to be done. The landlord replied by installing a new hot water
heater 2/1/02. That's all he ever did with the mold complaint. The back
walls are full of visible black mold, & the floors are full of kitty
litter where the flooded water was. We have a hanging ceiling & some of
those panels have sat, swollen, full of water, til they burst. The ceiling
has mold all over it & water stains. It's gross.
2/1/02 - Left work early for a doctor appointment. I started bugging the
doctor. I was nauseous constantly, had the shakes, constant headaches &
felt miserable. My sense of taste & smell were gone & I had no appetite.
My fingernails quit growing. The hair on my legs & under my arms barely
grew, shaving was an every other week occasion during this period. I
started getting night sweats, but only on my head. I would wake up & my
hair would be soaked but my body would be chilled. I could run my fingers
through my hair & fling the sweat off. All I'm thinking of is it has to be
cancer. It has to.
The doctor insisted I wasn't pregnant, didn't have cancer & it must be my
sinus's. My sinuses??? I've never had sinus problems. He said it must have
just developed. I didn't have a stuffy or runny nose, just the above
symptoms. He gave me sinus meds. They didn't do anything.
At work, my assistant, district manager & another store manager Jenny, who
was a good friend, would joke that I was having a baby sinus. We all
laughed at the doctor & called him a quack. We have great senses of humor
& if it weren't for that, we'd have gone insane thru this.
2/15/02 - Went to the doctor again. I told him the sinus pills didn't
work. He said it was my nerves. I could agree with this. Seeing as how
sick I'd been lately & stress is high at my job, I could see this to be
the culprit. He gave me nerve pills & I took them. They didn't help.
2/25/02 - Left work early, sick. Fridays & Saturdays, I was always worse.
Exhaustion started hitting me bad. I would leave work & go home & sleep. I
need to point out here that sleep is not my friend, insomnia is. I have
always had sleeping problems & have never been able to take naps. During
this time, I was napping constantly. I had constant headaches that were
not like any before. My skin was starting to flake & peel in places I
didn't know could. My elbows turned very hard, scaly & sore & no amount of
lotion would cure it. My left elbow still hurts to this day & still has a
huge knot. I developed sores on my nose, chin & forehead that would hurt &
be red for days then turn into a big, hard scaly thing. They were like
mosquito bites at first til they dried.
Those bumps started forming all over my head. They hurt. The quack looked
at my scalp, said there's no bugs & try Selsun Blue. (such couth he has) I
did. All it did was burn. My husband would brush my hair out for me after
I showered because it hurt so bad & I would cry at the pain. I took cool
showers because hot water burnt my scalp. It's hard to wash hair when
you're trying to stop water from touching certain parts of your scalp. My
hair loss was very noticeable & I tried styling it to where it wasn't
noticeable to many. I was in a state of panic, still wondering if I was
dying from cancer. The night sweats were constant on my head, nausea was
with me all the time. I started forgetting things, which scared me. I have
an excellent memory & am fairly intelligent. My short term memory is shot.
I still had the shakes but it was minor compared to the other symptoms. My
breathing was effected & I wheezed at night & had shortness of breath upon
doing anything. Exhaustion was constant & my body ached. It was like a
severe flu that wouldn't leave. I was just so so tired. I became more
depressed (I'm on anti-depressants) & was very moody. The stress was
unbelievable because we couldn't figure out what the heck was wrong with
me. I had no appetite & hardly ate. I never went anywhere, because I felt
so sick & was so tired. My friends didn't understand, they thought I was
being lazy or trying to avoid them. I just didn't have any energy to do
anything.
2/18/02 - Was very sick that day, didn't go in to work. I went to the
doctor again. By this time, I'm thoroughly upset & he's now saying this is
in my head. How can visible signs on my body be in my head?? My assistant
was at another store for a few weeks, covering it until a new manager was
hired. I was working the store by myself. Jenny's assistant, Tina covered
me that day.
2/19/02 - I left work early that day, sick. Tina again worked my store. My
district manager & Jenny knew what I was going through & knew I needed
help & let me have Tina again that week. She told me while she was there
she had headaches every day.
It hit me then...Maybe it was all the yuckies in the back room. I called
my DM & he immediately went out & bought a carbon monoxide alarm & a radon
test, which he sent off to be analyzed. I started researching online about
mold & kept seeing the words Sick Building Syndrome. I was not happy with
what I found. Everything I had been feeling were listed there as symptoms.
I had heard of it before, but never paid much attention. I read stories
about how sick people were & no one would help. I thought that wouldn't
happen to me, there was too much proof.
We got the radon test back & we were at level 6. More than normal but not
too dangerous, according to the package. My assistant & I started calling
each other Radon. She was Rae. I was Dawn. :)
2/25/02 - I went back to the doctor. I had spoken to the nurse & I told
her what all I had been feeling over the months, the symptoms I had, told
her about Sick Building Syndrome & mold exposure. She agreed, it sounded
like what was bothering me & had me fax over a paper about it. I went to
see the doctor, elated that maybe we could now make me all better. To put
it nicely, the doctor is a sarcastic jerk. His answers to questions are
"I'm not a sinus specialist," "I'm not a depression specialist," etc. But
he was all I knew, I had just moved there & didn't know any doctors & I
honestly didn't have the energy to start finding one. I just wanted to
feel better. He wouldn't even talk to me about it, he wasn't a "mold
specialist," etc etc. It's all in my head was his mantra. I was concerned
because the headaches were becoming more severe & I was of course,
thinking, brain tumor. He prescribed painkillers. I told him I didn't want
painkillers, I wanted this sickness gone!
Need I say how many tears I've shed over this??? The sickness, the stress
of all of it & trying to hang on to my job during all of it & do my job to
my best ability, being told it's in my head, trying to hang on to my
marriage, keep up my housework & keep friendships. I was not doing good
emotionally.
2/26 & 2/27/02 - left early sick. I was beginning to wonder why I even
went in.
2/30/02 - My store has audits twice a month & they've always been
excellent. Well, my DM has to send them to the Regional Manager, a rude
woman I'll call Red. Red has to audit the audits. She wrote on my audit
evaluation form that "employees need to spend more time working on
customer files than fixing the store." I was so mad by that I started
crying, furious tears. She knew how much that place was making me sick yet
had to throw the snide comments in. I called my DM crying, furious at how
people were treating me over this & left for the day.
4/1/02 - my assistant came back to my store full time. Thank God. We
started calling all over town...OSHA, EPA, the City Health Dept, the
County Health Dept, the Labor Dept...anyone who would listen, trying to
find a mold test. We were even sent to the USDA & the University's Science
Lab!! That went on for weeks. Nobody could help us. You would think that
in a town on the river that has been known to flood, that mold tests would
be readily available.
4/8/02 - left early sick & on 4/9/02 - called in sick. I talked to my
assistant, who herself had started feeling not right herself now that she
was there constantly. Her eyes were red & itchy & she always had
headaches. She gave me her doctors number & said to try him. He saw me
that day. I told him what had been going on & asked to please perform a
mold test or something, so we can know what is going on & work on my
recovery. I was so damn sick of being sick. Our noses were running
constantly while we were there, which is a major nuisance because we are
looking down, writing, 90% of the time. I became very short of breath &
the wheezing was annoying as hell. This was so scary to be going through.
And this was along with all the other symptoms!!! The new doc ordered
blood tests to be done on 4/19.
4/10/02 - I talked to my DM who knew how sick I was & he let me start
working half days.
4/15/02 - The Corporation sent a letter to the landlord, telling them
employees were sick & HE needed to fix the store. One of my friends
finally called OSHA for me & filed a complaint. My assistant & I would
talk every few days to a very nice man from there.
4/17/02 - The Corporate office sent me a fax telling me to create an OSHA
file & put the letter inside, which they sent to me. They decided to try
to cover their behinds by dating this fax 2/12/02, while the OSHA letter
they sent is dated 4/16/02. They didn't know that I was the reason OSHA
was called & had already talked to someone from there.
4/19/02 - Went back to the lab to have my blood drawn, per the new doctor.
4/22/02 - My assistant filed a complaint with the County Dept. of Health.
They sent an inspector who stated no one should be in the building. The
inspector was supposed to write our Corporation a letter about her
findings. I spoke with the new doctor about my blood tests. He said my
white blood cells were a little high, showing an infection. He told me to
take some Gaviscon for the nausea & scheduled me for an Upper GI test.
After I hung up with him, I called my old doctor & asked the nurse what my
white blood cell count was on my blood test in 12/02. She called back,
informing me it was a little over normal, showing infection. I was
furious. Why didn't the doctor tell me that then? Or do something about
it??? I had been sick for almost 5 months by then. I was not happy.
My DM talked to the corporate office & they wanted more proof before
anything could be done. What more do they need?? I was feeling better when
I was away from the building, 2 blood tests showed infection, other people
were getting sick, what more did they want?? Workers showed up & cut all
the mold stained walls 3 feet up from the floor, in the backroom. They
took out the drywall & insulation down to the studs & brick below the cut
line then removed half of the ceiling insulation. The inner walls were
covered in black mold.
The DM was spending his days calling people, trying to get tests, people
to come out, anything. Corporate office was blaming it on the landlord,
who was blaming this on the Corp. office. OSHA had given them til 4/24 to
do something.
4/23/02 - The sweet nurse who worked for the old doctor called me & told
me to try an allergist, to see if I was allergic to mold, since my doctor,
HER employer, wouldn't open his eyes & smell the coffee. I went to an
allergist. Yeehaw!! He ran some tests on me & I am highly allergic to
mold. When I told him my symptoms he said it sounded like Sick Building
Syndrome. I thanked him for saying that, since no other doctor would.
After he saw my test results he said he'd never seen anyone with such
severe reactions. His nurse did too. I went back to work after the visit,
with a doctors excuse & a parking ticket to add my anger. My DM came over
& I gave him my doctor's excuse that said I can't come back til the mold
is all gone. He was happy I was going to get out of there & back on the
road to wellness. Me too!! After talking with the Corp office, they had
told him "we don't know for sure there's mold in the building." Red & an
area manager knew the condition of the store. They've seen it, they've
remarked how gross it was & they've complimented me about how great I made
the store look in my attempts to clean it. Now there might not be mold??
My DM said I had a choice between Workman's Comp & The Family Medical
Leave Act. I made the huge mistake of picking Workman's Comp.
4/24/02 - I am at home now. My DM called & said the owner of our company
said I have to be at work the next day. The owner had hired a construction
crew to be there @ 7am & they would have the mold out. I told them no, I
didn't feel it was safe yet, there's still mold there & I wanted til
Monday to recuperate. I felt I was owed at least that. Of course, it was
with no pay. We won't even begin to talk about how much this sickness has
affected my finances. The landlord & his construction crew came out, went
up on the roof, came right back down, left & didn't come back for a week.
They did what they were told, doing something by the 24th, per OSHA. This
is just one of the many sneaky tactics he & the Corp. did during this
time.
4/25/02 - The construction crew (the one the owner called) hadn't even
done the customers area by ten that morning!! By now, this is affecting my
assistant & DM. My assistant is exhausted, tired, waking up with headaches
daily & she's better when she's away. My DM is a health nut, works out
constantly & he started getting sick. I wasn't happy about this because I
care about them very much.
Monday morning, I called my DM & asked if I could come back Tuesday, as I
hadn't slept good the night before. He said nobody had came in & did
anything anyway so I couldn't return.
The owner then said he would have a trailer set up, with an armed security
guard & we could work in that til the mold was out of the building. That
never happened.
People came in, The Health Dept, EPA, construction crews. All told my DM
that the building was uninhabitable & we shouldn't be there. He was making
constant calls to the Corp office. They were not particularly interested.
The store is not to be shut down, regardless.
"Cleanup" told my DM the Corporation had requested their services to clean
up the mold over a year ago then changed their mind & said it wasn't
necessary. My DM wanted them to do a mold test now, but they said they
couldn't, because of them being called out last year, it was a conflict of
interest for them. But, according to the corporate office, this is the 1st
they've heard of any mold problem.
During all of this, under nobody's request, we kept this silent. We never
told a customer or other stores what was going on. We care about our
store. Our customer's would've loved to have lawsuits against the company.
We never said a word. Our loyalty was basically for nothing because no one
at Corp cared. They responded to our pleas for help by telling us that we
weren't mold experts.
The owner sent his "Right Hand Man" up from Texas. Right Hand said it was
worse than he thought but not as bad as he thought. An interesting note -
he was sick when he got home. Could it be from spending time in my mold &
radon infested store? Speaking of radon, no one cares about it being
there. It's never discussed. I tell them it causes cancer. My words are
blown off by them because I smoke.
The corporate office then tells my district manager he is not to do
anything about the building anymore, no phone calls, etc. He is not to
discuss it with anyone. Hamm. They will handle it all. From Texas????
While they were cleaning up the backroom, the construction workers found
that mold had grown everywhere in the walls, ceilings & heating vents.
When the heat kicked on, it blew mold out, along with heat. The mold
spores then settled on other objects & continued to grow in new spots. It
was winter, it was cold; we'd always had heat on. They were surprised we
lasted as long as we did when they saw how much mold damage there was.
My assistant is getting bad by now & goes to the same allergist I did. He
also told her he had never seen such a reaction like I had & he wished
he'd taken pictures. She isn't allergic to mold & the company says she has
to stay working in the store. Working in the store meaning-with the
construction going on, throwing the mold up & all over the store, pieces
of ceiling & insulation falling all over. They had to dust constantly,
because of the stuff falling down.
"Cleanup" told my DM the mold is still there, even though we might not be
able to see it. When the construction company just started cutting away at
the walls, it released all the mold spores & they just settled back down
on other things, to start growing again. We were told nothing in the
building is salvageable, it's even down in the equipment. The owner could
care less & says the store stays open, regardless. He then called all the
stores in our district & told them all how sorry he was that this was
happening & that all he cared about was our health & happiness, & that our
store was fine, there was no mold. Well, none of these people at the
stores, except for Jenny's store, knew what was going on. He asked all of
them what he could do for them. He said he has a little sister & he
wouldn't want his sister going through any of this & he assures them the
store is fine. He told them the store is so perfect that he would let his
little sister come work there. People are wondering what the heck is going
on??? And how would he know??? He hadn't been there the whole time I
worked there.
He called my assistant 4 times that day. She told him the mold wasn't
gone, he needs to get the trailer he promised & told him he is lucky that
the customers aren't suing yet. My DM & assistant had kept mum on this,
telling customer's we were remodeling & that I was out sick for awhile.
He also said Right Hand said that everything is ok. She asked him when his
Right Hand became an expert on mold? He told her that in Texas barns mold,
turn black & they're ok. She told him it doesn't work that way in
Illinois. He also told her he had called everyone in town who matters.
This was a low blow. During all of this, not one person from the Corp
office called to see how I was, to say "Hey, how are ya?? Thanks for
hanging in there. I hope you feel better." Not a word to me nor her. Then,
the owner calls everyone but me & says he cares about all of them??? What
about me??? The store manager who loves her store, who does work at
home (unpaid), who tries to make her store the best it can be??? I don't
matter?? That "man" never called me. What an insult. My assistant consoled
me by making sick jokes about him & his little sister.
My DM started running the store with a ventilated mask on, per the
construction workers advice. My assistant then said enough was enough &
she was leaving til it was all cleared up.
4/28/02 - My DM still silently works on this, against Corp's orders,
because he cares. He's a wonderful guy who is going through hell. We fill
out my workmans' comp papers & he faxes them to the corporate office. That
same day my assistant & I went to an attorney for workmans' comp. Only I
can get it because of my allergies & severity of the illness. So, all this
is going on, nobody's helping us & then my DM, who could be in the
dictionary under the word "healthy" gets sick bad. He develops viral
pneumonia & is off work for 5 days & will not be going back into my store.
Corp. tells employees he's having "a mental breakdown." That didn't go
over well with us.
So, the owner had the regional manager Red come up to cover the store
"indefinitely." Her idea of indefinitely is to call my old assistant at
another store & have her work my store for 2 days because her "allergies"
were acting up while she was there. Allergies to what, mold?? My old
assistant did, as did Jenny. The owner is saying the building is fine, so
why can't Red & the area manager work it??? Red also asks Jenny, who is
working my store now, if any customer's complained about us, she wanted
dirt on us. She said no, my customers miss me & want to know when I'll be
back.
My DM was "quietly" demoted to assistant manager status, working all the
stores, not being able to do his job, when my assistant could have worked
them. That was his punishment for becoming too involved.
My DM advises us it will be awhile til the construction is done. The
corporate office will not place my assistant at another store. They say
the only shortage is at our store, which is not true. I asked again, to be
put in another store. I was going nuts, missing my work, my assistant, my
customers. I loved my job. I was told Managers can't run other stores
although Store Managers were running my store now because it made Red's
allergies act up, which she won't admit to anyone higher up than her. Gee,
wonder why?? So, that's my punishment, no place to work either. My
assistant was out of work with no pay, I was at home going crazy, so
bored, waiting for my workmans' comp to come thru. We both love our jobs,
did nothing wrong, we just went to work.
My assistant files for unemployment. She has 2 kids, a hubby, a mortgage,
car loans & a college education to pay. The company's response to her
filing unemployment was to tell them there is no mold in the store & that
she refuses to work at other stores. My assistant, understandably, was
highly upset. She asked to be transferred many times. They said nope. Work
that one or none. Same thing with me. So, my DM & I sent the unemployment
office letters & she gave them copies of letters from different people
who'd been there working to prove there was mold & finally my assistant
received unemployment. One itty bitty victory.
We were scheduled to have a meeting at my store on a Tuesday. That was
moved to Jenny's store. Why is my store safe enough for me & my assistant
to work in, but not for the Corporation's instructor???
5/15/02 - Red called my assistant on Friday & told her she is now on Leave
Without Pay. They wanted her to come up & sign some papers. Red then
called me & said they decided to give me the Family Medical Leave with the
workmans' comp & to come sign some papers saying my return date. I told her
I don't know my return date, it's all up to them. She said just pick a
date, when it expires, they will have me fill out a new form. She wanted
me to come to the store, the store I can't be in. Warning bells were
ringing.
My assistant & I met with our lawyer & gave him a copy of the letter they
wanted us to sign. We were told not to sign the papers. When we read them,
we were awed that they actually thought we would sign them. The form said
if we weren't back on the stated date, that it was an automatic
resignation. And I was told by my lawyer I can't get Workman's Comp &
Family Med Leave at the same time. What are they trying to pull?
I call down to the Corporate office myself because my lawyer says workmans'
comp hasn't received anything on me. The law in Illinois is your employer
has to submit the claim no later than 2 weeks after they get it. I called
the main lady in charge at Corp & she says I can get both Workers Comp &
Family Medical Leave. I told her no I cannot. To qualify for FML you have
to have worked at the company for 12 months, I was at 10 months & have to
have 50 employees in a 75 mile radius. We don't even have 20 in a 200 mile
radius!! And, I informed her my lawyer told me that. She said "you have a
lawyer??" I said yes, a work. comp lawyer. She said she had "just"
received my workmans' comp papers that very day, 5/15/02. Sure she did. I
asked her who the hell waited almost 3 weeks to give her the fax?? She
said she didn't know. This is all a lie..the fax is in her damn office.
They had my papers 4/28, they were trying to get us to sign the Family
Medical Leave act instead, which we couldn't get anyway, to avoid their
workmans' comp rates from going up!! And, if I had signed, they would've
came back "ineligible." So, my workmans' comp papers were finally mailed to
workmans' comp on 5/18/02. Almost 3 weeks since we'd faxed them. Did they
get in trouble for this??? Nope!!
There's an interesting section in our Employment Manual that states
employees injured on the job are to take the Family Medical Leave Act, not
Workmans' Comp!! You would think they would get in some kind of trouble,
for some of this, insurance fraud, something. Nope!!
The company is using extreme measures for unclear reasons. They are
fighting me going on work. comp, he doesn't want his corporate people
running my store, yet it's okay for us to work it. They are trying to get
me in the building they know I cannot go into (because of sickness & work.
comp), trying to get us to sign papers that aren't to our advantage but
clearly to theirs.
All my assistant & I wanted were our jobs back. A nice, healthy
environment. I love my job. I moved up here a year ago & both my parents
are dead. Jenny & my assistant have become like my family. I didn't want
to lose all of that.
I went to the old doctor, the one I don't like, on a Friday, to get a
chest x-ray. I was breathing rough & had hoped it would go away once my
body adjusted to being mold-free. My DM's doctor had ran x-rays & a
breathing test on him. I requested one too because I'm so afraid of cancer
& worried about long term effects of this. I went to him, instead of the
new one (dumb mistake, I now know but he had been the main doctor thru
this, we figured it was best to stick with him.) Being away from the
store, my body was slowly adjusting to a better environment & gradually
started feeling better. The quack doctor looked at the old paper I'd faxed
him on Sick Building Syndrome & said these symptoms could be for anything.
I told him I wasn't there for that, it had already been confirmed, (I
wanted to say "by a real doctor") I was scared of the long term effects. I
wanted to know how my lungs were & other parts of my body. I told him I'm
having a lot of problems breathing lately. He asked why didn't I have the
allergist do this?? I told him I thought it'd go away. He said he wasn't a
"sick building specialist." I guess I don't need to say how many times I
just wanted to punch that man. He brought out the worst in me. I told him
I have 20 pages in my purse with long term effects of mold damage & I
would like to be tested. He rolled his eyes & said I'm wasting his time.
(I have insurance, it wasn't like he wasn't going to get paid) He put the
stethoscope to my lungs & told me to breathe. I did. Twice. He got mad &
said to breathe deeper. I told him I am breathing as deep as I can, that
I'm having problems breathing & that's why I'm there. He said to breathe
again, I did. He got mad, put the stethoscope in his pocket & said "I'm
going out in the hall. When you decide you're going to be an adult &
breathe right, I'll be back." And he left me, sitting there, dumbfounded.
I sat in that room, full of feelings & then anger, then left. I cried
hysterically the whole 15 miles home. The mental anguish we were going
through was just unbelievable. I felt like a damn criminal & all I had
done was become sick, thru no fault of my own. I just wanted to be better.
That man had the gall to call my husband at work, at 7pm the following
Monday night. My husband asked him what the hell had happened & the doctor
said he was "very concerned" about me getting those chest x-rays & wanted
to make sure I was going to get them. (it turns out his sweet nurse had
went bonkers on him when she found out he left me sitting in the room,
mad, because I couldn't breathe) My husband asked why he did such a thing
& he said he had gone out in the hall to "figure out my treatment."
Really?? He went to the next room & waited on that patient.
(coincidence...Jenny's
mom was the patient he went into see...gotta love those small towns) My
hubby told him I was done being his patient & don't ever call again. The
final insult came after he sent me a bill for that day. I called & lodged
a complaint against him. I have never done that & didn't want to, I'm not
a problem patient, but the man deserts his patient, who he had treated
terribly anyway & then he had the audacity to bill her?? What gall!!
Court is set for 6/8/02, for my workmans' comp. We have pictures, we have
documents from official depts. saying we shouldn't have been there, I have
tons of medical bills & guess who calls the day before court & says
they'll pay??? The workmans' comp lawyer. So, they send me one month of
pay, well, workmans' comp pay, which is 66%. We think it's over & they'll
be sending checks weekly til the building is cleaned up & I can finally go
back to work!! I'm so happy!!! Wooohooo. I won't be broke through all
this. It has already been a month & a half without my pay. We were feeling
the loss of it.
One check arrived, for a week's pay. My lawyer calls the workmans' comp
lawyer to see what's up. They said that the corp. office states there is no
mold in the building & that I'm lying & if I want my workmans' comp, I'll
have to go to court to fight for it. Oh & by the way, they want the money
they already paid me back. They want me to pay it back!!! Sweet, huh???
There's no mold. It's their theme, over & over. But, there was something
there that made the owner call everyone & tell them there was no "mold."
There was his Right Hand Man who saw the "mold" & was sick upon returning
home. Officials saw the "mold," as did the construction crews who wore
ventilated masks!! Red saw the mold & became sick from it. Let's not
forget, there's pictures of that "mold" taken by 2 different people, with
2 different cameras! Then there's 3 employees besides me who got sick.
Everything the corp. office sent to OSHA detailed the mold, the cleanup,
etc. They had to admit it to OSHA. I was allowed to have a copy of the
file after it was all over. They can admit it to OSHA, but lie to
insurance companies & to lawyer's & they don't get in any trouble for it??
Why is that???
I take out a payday loan at Jenny's store, so I can pay bills.
6/4/02 - My sad day - My DM calls to tell me he quit & had given 2 weeks
notice. He can't take it anymore & can't work for people that would do
this to their employees. I was so upset. He was the best boss I'd ever
had, very caring. It was kind of humorous in the beginning of this, he
couldn't believe the things that Corporate had done & kept doing. My
assistant & I would make sarcastic, mean predictions about what they'd
pull next & he'd laugh & tell me I was paranoid. Then, that actual
prediction would come true & we'd all be in shock, especially him. It was
the first time any of us had dealt with mean, vicious people. It hit him
hard. He was great with me thru this sickness & now he was gone. It was
going to get a hell of a lot worse.
6/5/02 - My DM sent everyone a fax & Jenny gave me a copy of it. The
Corporate office decided since he was quitting, he had to work my store,
the store he had a doctors note NOT to work at, the store that made him
sick too. He decided enough was enough & faxed everyone a goodbye &
enclosed the copy of his resignation letter so they'd understand why he
was leaving, as we had been keeping this from everyone.
The main reason he left is "the deception by upper management in regards
to the health & building problems at "Moldy Store." The store manager (me)
is being fought over workmans' compensation with the company claiming there
was no and is no mold in the building. There is much evidence to the
contrary." Another reason he stated was for what they were doing to my
assistant, trying to force her to quit.
They decided to make the only other person who knew about this the new
district manager, Jenny. My friend. We were happy. She was sick of how
they had been treating me & would get the ball rolling. She had trained me
when I first started working there & we'd been good friends ever since.
Well, let's just say money is definitely more important to some people
than friendship. The corporate office knew we were friends and started to
drop little remarks about me & our friendship to her. She had to call me
from her own cell phone, not work phones. Well, she knew what was going on
with me. She was the one who made me go to the psycho doctor, it was HER
doctor, she is the one that pointed out when I was at her store one day
that I was losing hair, she was the one who came over before work & left
me sweet nothing bags on my door handle; soda and candy & cards...to get
me thru my days. She listened to me cry & tried to help me.
Well, that would be forgotten soon. She became "corporate." The financial
gain of dropping a friend: .75 cents a week.
At first she did great, she got the ball rolling. She got the place
cleaned up, new carpet, new paint job.
Jenny had us come back to the store one day to work, saying all the work
is done, per Corp. We showed up that day, all happy & excited & looked in
the windows. There was debris all over the place, the store was nowhere
near done. She had tried to trick me, too. Knowing how sick that place had
me. The deception & betrayal by others is unreal.
The new workmans' comp trial was set for the beginning of 7/02. "Clean Up"
is doing the job now & will test for mold when they're all done cleaning
up the store.
As a result of my sickness, I have memory problems & dates are one of the
things I do not remember. So, there aren't many dates after this.
My assistant kept calling the inspector at the County Health Dept. to have
her send us a copy of her investigation, so we could use it at my
workman's comp hearing. It was this lady who said we should never have
been allowed to be near the place in the condition it was. She kept
telling my assistant she'd mail it "today," every time she called her.
Well, this went on for 3 weeks. Right before the court date, I had enough.
I called her myself, she was very hostile & said she mailed it already, 2
weeks ago. Well, then it will only take you a second to copy it for me, I
told her. She told me to be there @ 3pm. It was 1 now. I wondered why the
heck I had to wait 2 hours for a copy of a letter. I get there, she comes
out & tells me I'm 7 minutes late. (I had never been there before &
couldn't figure out where it was from her damn directions) (and how can you
be late to pick up a copy of an investigation??) She had me sit in the
waiting room for 30 minutes. I could hear her typing in her office & I got
mad. I asked the receptionist if I could speak to a manager. I go into the
head honcho's office & nicely told him what was going on & that I wanted
my letter now. All she had to do was copy it. Oh no, I was told. She just
got done typing it!!! She had just put it on his desk for his signature!!!
I was furious. She had lied all this time. We think Corporate had a hand
in this.
Court Date 7/2 - Workmans' comp decides not to show up for the trial. My
lawyer calls them & they tell him to "demand settlement." So, he goes back
to his office & sends off a letter of demand. They refuse to answer his
letter or phone calls til almost 3 weeks later. Then they say no, never
mind; We're taking her to court. She's exaggerating. How would they know??
They refuse to go to court or look at any evidence!! They're driving me
insane! I'm frustrated, bills aren't getting paid, we can't make it on my
hubby's income. I'm job hunting full time now. I get more nerve pills from
a different doctor. They don't help. My assistant gets a new job, so now I
know she'll never go back there with me. No assistant, no DM, just me.
But, it was my job, I loved it & I wanted it back.
They sent me & my assistant a letter telling us to come back 7/22. Our
lawyer told them not til we had the results of the mold test & this was
settled. We had trusted them once & they had tricked us. The only reason
the Corp office finally paid the big money to get the mold test done was
because of the lies they were telling workmans' comp, an inspector actually
came out to look at the place & miraculously that day testing was
arranged. After a month of bluffing. Then, the results came back
inconclusive. They never gave my lawyer any notice that any testing was
done. I found out from Jenny, who let it slip. I did my own investigating
& had to continue calling the test company for the results. They wouldn't
talk to me until I became persistent. I got a copy of the results finally.
No one from Corp called to tell us or to say come back to work. I have
messages on my answering machine from Jenny calling, saying that Corporate
doesn't want her talking to me and to call her on her cell phone. She has
quit calling me. Our friendship obviously wasn't worth it to her. I'm
becoming bitter.
8/8/02 - My assistant & I received our W-2's in the mail. Obviously we
were fired. My lawyer & OSHA both had said my job was safe & I was covered
under the "Whistleblowers Act." Umm, nope. Obviously not.
8/13/02 - The court date. My lawyer goes to court, workmans' comp doesn't
want to pay. The judge doesn't even want to talk about the exposure, won't
even look at the medical evidence!!! . No one cares. They want to pay me
$500.00 for all my lost wages. 17 weeks of work lost, @ $8.95 an hour @ 48
hours per week does NOT equal $500.00. They won't pay my medical bills. My
lawyer gets them to agree to $1,000, before his share. Everyone that was
subpoenaed to come to court never showed up. Including the County Health
Dept. Inspector. Was she paid off??? We think so, along with the
allergist, Clean Up & others. Their demeanors just suddenly changed & wow,
what a coincidence, the allergist & Clean Up both got huge commercials,
one was sponsoring the weather, one on cable. The allergist went from "oh
my God, I've never seen reactions like this before" to "they're false
positives, she was never sick!" That spells payoff to me.
My lawyer is a very nice man, by the way. I think the reason it went so
bad is because he is the other lawyer in a 2 attorney office & the main
guy works all the big cases. My lawyer gets stuck with everything else it
seemed & also works 2 other offices in different cities. My assistant &
others believe he was paid off, too. He was very flabbergasted that this
was even going the way it was. He said this should have been open & shut.
I don't have permanent damage in their eyes. Just chronic exhaustion,
joint pain, memory problems, extreme sensitivity to chemicals & smells &
bad headaches but I'm not even going to try to prove it. So, pay me my
share & let me go on, please. Nope. They dug the knife in deep. I've
received my 3rd eviction notice. I've been to food banks & the Salvation
Army. I've sold my exercise equipment & other household goods. I've pawned
my VCR & video tapes & sold my CD's. I'm applying for jobs, going on
interviews. But, they've decided to blackball me.
The corporation has done unethical & illegal things during all this & not
once been reprimanded. There's been so much deception & lies to government
offices, insurance companies & lawyers. They left us in a state of
suspended disbelief. My assistant & I would laugh & think up worse case
scenario's to assure ourselves it could get worse & then they'd actually
do it. It takes out your values & morals & plays with them, kicks them a
little, showing you bad does happen to good people.
I received papers from this court date that state per their lawyers that I
voluntarily didn't want to go back to work & wasn't going to. They had no
clue of knowing this. And, obviously, it's a little late, their client
fired me before the hearing. My assistant & I received our W-2's the
Saturday before court. That is supposed to be against the law. But, has
anything happened to them??? Nope! Of course not!! Money talks!!
8/17/02 - I file for unemployment. Of course, they appeal it. They fired
me for misconduct at work according to them. How can you do any misconduct
at work when you haven't been there since 4/23??? How???? By getting
sick??? I get to fight my unemployment on 8/28. Not soon enough.
I called OSHA & told them I had been fired. According to them, it is
illegal for them to fire me in the first place, being on workmans' comp,
plus I'm covered under the Whistleblower's Act. Well, they did anyway. And
what is OSHA doing??? Nothing. Nothing at all. They told me to take my
little Workmans' Comp book they sent me & show my lawyer a section out of
it that states it's unlawful for them to fire me. Ummm, excuse me??? OSHA
is supposed to take care of this. Why me??? Why not them??? It's their
rules. Why is this me against the Corporation?? What about OSHA vs. The
Corp??
I am being blackballed & helpless about stopping it. I try getting rent
assistance. I'm asked by a snotty lady @ the Salvation Army after telling
her my rent is more than half of our income right now, "So, what the hell
is the problem?" What's the problem?? I can't pay my rent, phone (which I
have to have so jobs can call me), electricity, gas for my truck to get my
hubby to work & back & me to fill our applications & go fax resumes & go
to interviews, food, my car insurance has been cancelled. What am I doing
to do?? People don't care when you're down & out. I've always been the one
to donate, to lend a helping hand. No one will do that in return.
The mental stress is horrible. I can't accept the fact that all this
happened & I didn't do anything to cause it. I can't understand how the
hell this happened to me. I'm strong, smart, educated, street smart, how
could I have let this happen?? I have always been a loyal employee & this
was just such a blow.
Being stuck in our little apartment, it drives me insane. I don't see
anyone, don't have conversations, I'm isolated. And, what makes it worse,
I don't want to be near anyone, see anyone. I don't trust a soul anymore.
They know my bank account was closed, Jenny had cashed a check for me
because of this. They closed it because of "inactivity." I had even called
the bank to tell them my checks wouldn't be direct deposited for awhile &
as soon as I'm back to work, the account will be active. They told me,
"ok, thanks for letting us know" & closed it the next week. Jenny deposits
my check regardless. Of course, it comes back, account closed. They
deposited it anyway, knowing, they haven't called me back to work, I can't
pay & the account was closed.
8/28/02 - The day of my unemployment hearing. My assistant goes with me,
to help explain cause it's so long & so complicated & to help answer
questions cause of my memory losses. This man there would not listen, he
really doesn't belong in a job that has control over people's lives. We
told him what happened, he told me I couldn't get fired if I was on
workmans' comp. He said just because I received my W-2's in the mail
doesn't mean I'm fired. We had to explain to him obviously we weren't
going to be working there anymore, or they would've waited til 1/03 to
send them, along with the rest of the years wages. He then said my old
employer changed their story & I wasn't fired for misconduct, I quit.
Really??? When??? This is all just blowing us away. Does it ever stop???
He calls them while we're there, because I'm supposed to state my side,
then he calls them & they state their side. They were notified of the time
& date. Did they answer the phone?? No. Did they get in trouble for it??
No. The lovely man waited til the next week & contacted them again!!! In
the end, I finally received my unemployment. According to the dumb man at
unemployment, I quit because my allergist told me to!!
Where in the hell did he get that idea??? My allergist seems to have been
paid off by my former boss. He never told me to quit. I never would've
quit just because one person I'd met 4 times told me to!! I never
quit!!!!! I had wanted to go back, I loved my job. I even called my
assistant to ask her if I said anything like that. She laughed when she
heard what the unemployment man said. She said we said nothing like that,
that day. A nice note about my "quitting;" it changes the terms of my
unemployment. If I get a job & am fired before next 8/03, (shit, I'm ready
to believe in anything, now!) I won't be able to collect unemployment. I
have to wait a year, because I QUIT!! And, to add insult to injury, I have
to take classes at the unemployment office. Why??? Because I QUIT!!! Yes,
I'm mad. I'm wounded. I was totally raked over the coals & then set on
fire again.
The Corporate office's collection agency calls daily, leaving me snide
messages to pay my loan off or they're suing. I figure they owe it to me.
Take me to court & sue me for it. I won't show up. Just like them. I know
I borrowed the money, but I borrowed the money because of their
incompetence at getting the store done. It's been 4 months with no pay. I
have all those wonderful doctor's bills & lab bills coming in constantly,
most are at lawyers now, who threaten to sue me. The allergist's bill was
to be paid by workman's comp, they were the ones that made me see him 3
times for a "new excuse" when they didn't like his original one. Each visit
was $110.00. Add it up. I'm not paying the jerk.
I've tried calling workman's comp lawyer, work lawyers, & injury lawyers.
All I get is refusals. They say there's nothing that can be done, the
workman's comp case is closed. One lawyer had the gall to tell me he
doesn't take "leftovers." Most tell me I should've called them first. My
lawyer's name started with an S. It took me that many lawyers from A to S,
to finally get one to help. The other's mostly said to get a workman's
comp doctor first, then contact them. Oh yeah, that was easy to try to
find. I never could!
So, here I am, it's 12/02 now. I receive many collection letters from all
my medical bills. I don't know what to do. I've been stuck in this dang
little apartment for almost 8 months now, I'm starting to develop signs of
agoraphobia, which is terrifying. I can't stop crying. I did nothing
wrong, I just went to work, to a job I loved. The company is supposed to
be penalized for many of the things they did, they haven't been. OSHA was
supposed to make a personal visit, they never did. We just talked on the
phone. Where is my chance at fairness, at being treated right??? Of
someone just listening to me. I'm a fighter, I don't just sit there & let
things happen. But, it's an uphill battle with this.
I have excellent skills, I've never had a problem being hired. Til now. I
wonder why. My short term memory loss is embarrassing, it makes me feel
stupid. I tire easily now & can sleep up to 12 hours a day if exhausted.
I've neglected friends, going nowhere, talking to no one. Because it's
still effecting me, who the hell needs to be around me during this?? But,
according to the allergist, there's no long term side effects. Yeah, none
at all, Doc.
I kept details of this when it started becoming ridiculous. I had planned
to send my story to Senator's & Congress, hoping maybe, it will help
others, who have to go through this. I have been severely burned in this.
No one should ever have to lose everything for something they didn't do.
Where is Erin Brockovich when I need her?? California & New York have mold
laws & recognize it. No one here will admit to anything, even though when
it floods, the news stations always talks about someone's mold problem in
their basement. Try getting it in your body...no one will help.
1/03 - Well, I finally found a doctor who cared & would listen. He's
running some tests, but seems to think I have the Epstein Barr Virus, (we
know it as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) due to the long term mold exposure.
I'm just glad it's not cancer. We'll know for sure by the end of the
month.
It seems my dear friend Jenny is job hunting. I saw the ad in the paper. I
hope a friendship was worth that .75 cents a week. Good luck job hunting.
Giggle.
2/03 - It's the end of the month & I finally took the damn tests. Fear
held me back. I want to know what's wrong, yet I don't.
3/03 - Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, a nice permanent sickness that attacks my
large cell's, are what I get to thank my old employer for.
Have I mentioned my insurance company is now refusing to pay any of my
medical bills because it was workman's comp related?? They don't care that
workman's comp didn't handle it or that I lost. They say it's workman's
comp or my old employers responsibility & if they won't pay, I have to.
Since I was last at work, a year ago to be exact, they've had my old job
in the paper 6 times. I guess they shouldn't have fired me, huh?? I
finally went & collected my personal stuff from the store. Jenny had had
it all cleaned when they thought I was coming back. They told me she was
fired. I have to laugh my ass off at that one. I got what I wanted, going
back to that store. Closure.
5/03 - I just received a summons by the Sheriff's Dept this week. I waited
til the last day to answer it. I knew what it was so let them wonder for
awhile. My old employer, you know, the one with no scruples, is now suing
me for the loan I'd taken out to pay my rent. (I'd paid a good majority of
it off) My old assistant & I went & I set up a payment plan. They can bite
me.
It's just unbelievable how this whole thing went from day one & it's still
continuing, a year & a half later.
8/03 - I've had a job for a few months now, doing what I've been doing for
the last 13 years. I guess it's going to be my career. Still feeling
crappy & extremely sensitive to many chemicals. I believe in denial.
11/03 - I'm wondering if the damn saga will ever end. To make another long
story short, I started getting really sick again, then our bathroom
ceiling burst open from the neighbors shower, two days in a row. Plaster
was hanging, the carpet in the hall was soaked, the water up to our
ankles, gushing from many open holes in the ceiling, the biggest under the
neighbors shower. Other parts of the ceiling bulged with water.
We asked for a new apartment, we were told we would have to wait til the
manager came back from vacation in 6 days for something to be done. They
said if we had to go to the bathroom, to use the one up the street at the
gas station. When we inquired about showering, we were asked if we
really needed to. They also said there weren't any open apartments.
Really?? Our whole floor was empty except for us. Do they think we're
stupid?? They wouldn't move us to an upper level because they cost more.
WTF?!?!
Maintenance at our apartment complex came out to fix the damage in the
bathroom only after I called the city coding department after a week of
waiting. It took getting the supervisor out 3 weeks later, after
complaining about the inspector who initially came out (she patted my hand
& said, "Oh honey, it's just a leak") to finally get someone to listen &
he gave me some good advice.
I was able to get a test from
Enviro Screening.
It was fast & they emailed me my results within 10 days. That test
revealed molds in the two spots we'd tested.
After receiving those awesome test results, we moved out. We found a place
that had a move in special or we'd have never been able to move.
When Hubby was lifting up the computer desk to move it to it's new home,
it stuck to the carpet. He had to pull on it to remove it. Guess what was
holding it down?? Black mold. The back of the computer desk & the bottom
of it, where the water heater had flooded our computer area almost 2 years
ago & maintenance wouldn't do shit about it, saying it would dry
naturally.
I'm soooo glad I made this move. I've woken up the last 4 days breathing
better, not hacking for an hour. I have more energy, I feel better
mentally. Although I'm scared I broke our newest lease with 8 more months
to go, I'm prepared to fight this one as much as I can. I have finally
been validated. Mold will not get me a third time, dammit.
3/04 - Well, luck just isn't on my side. We moved to a new apartment as I
mentioned above. It's much bigger, very nice & before we moved in I
explained my situation to the apartment manager. Her grandmother was
allergic to mold & she saw what her grandmother went thru so she promised
that if there's even a water leak, a company will be out taking care of it
& she promised if mold showed up, it'd be taken care of immediately. So, I
was obviously quite happy with that.
The laundry room which we're next to starts flooding & our bathroom
ceiling now has 8 water stains on it from the above apartments shower
leaking, with water dripping onto our floor, which is carpeted & into our
tub every time the neighbor takes a shower. Calls & letters to maintenance
are ignored. After the sores start coming back, my hair is falling out in
chunks in the same spot on the back of my head along with the front now,
where my bangs are, constant nausea, headaches, runny & itchy eyes & the
ability to sleep the minute I walk in the door from work, I've had enough.
I write the apartment manager, who is not the same one who promised me
she'd take care of the problem, & let them nicely know that the man who
runs the Coding Dept. at our city is very familiar with my story, as is a
newspaper journalist & if nothing is done, they'll be reading the story in
the paper & hearing from the city. I backed that letter up with a phone
call & on the same day, the water pipes burst in the wall behind the
toilet, flooding our bathroom. They let it sit for a week, with me calling
every other day, shrieking that someone needs to get out here NOW. They
came out two days later, sprayed Killz on the mold & water stains on the
ceiling & wet-vacuumed the bathroom floor. The idiot maintenance man even
sprayed Killz on the floor, so our carpet is now splotchy with white
streaks. They had promised to be here Monday to finish the job & see about
tiling our bathroom, getting that awful carpet out of there. It's now
Wednesday & we haven't seen hide nor hair of them.
I really don't know what to do. I can't move, we don't have the money to
move. We have decided to file for bankruptcy, as I owe over $10,000 in
medical costs from my lovely moments of mold from the years above til now.
I can't get a doctor in this area to believe in my sickness, even though
all the symptoms are there. I'm so tired of being sick. It's getting very
old. I wonder if I'll ever feel normal again. Will I be able to wake up
without hacking my lungs out or take a shower without crying because of
all the hair falling out & my scalp feeling burned by the heat of the
water?? Will I ever not feel nauseous, will these sores on my body,
hive-like in tendency, ever quit popping up?? Will I ever quit wheezing or
feeling the fluid in my chest rattling around, unable to cough it up??
Will I ever get my short-term memory back or feel the fog lift from my
mind??
It's hard to tell co-workers about what's going on. People don't tend to
believe it, they think like I used to, how can mold make a person sick??
It's so easy to sit on the other side of the story & say "Well, just
move." Sure, that'd be easy as Hell to do. But, that takes money & that's
not something we have. Plus, our last apartment complex is suing us for
breaking the lease, this one will, too. Mold sucks, period. If you come
across someone who has been exposed to it, listen to them, try to
understand what they're going thru, cause someday it could happen to you.
Take me as an example.
There are some support groups online for people affected by mold. I had
joined a few mold groups besides
Mold Across America's Group. It got to a point where it was too much for me, to read these
people's stories, the horrors they go thru, the injustice's that were
delivered, the disbelief & the struggles they face. I am now in the two
above groups & that's enough for me. I can handle their stories, I know
their stories, all of them are shocking & heartbreaking. The Mold & Pets
site has stories in it that rip my heart up. Helpless animals, extremely
sick & dying, because of mold. What kind of world is this?!?!
Just call me Mistress of Mold, that'll be my new name. And, that's my
story of how the mold grows. And, obviously keeps growing.
Click here to
contact this author via email :::
moldgrows@moldacrossamerica.org
© KC June 2004
1.877.280.MOLD
(eastern) toll
free emotional support hotlines
1.866.810.MOLD (mountain)
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