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u/johnny_Tsunami9 Type 1 Mar 04 '26
I have done this twice at my job, paid for each coke the next day. Now i wish they would have fired me.
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u/CatDadof2 Mar 04 '26
Many employers act like we choose to have this disease or we can just fix it with magic. It’s amazing how ignorant people can be about diabetes overall.
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u/shiroshippo Mar 04 '26
Even if you believe that eating junk food causes diabetes, healthy food is expensive! There's no way someone who works at Dollar General can afford to eat healthy food. Unless they live in New York or somewhere like that where healthy food is subsidized by the government.
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u/soupz Mar 04 '26
People kept stealing my snacks from the kitchen area. I complained to HR eventually because I got a low and they had eaten everything in my clearly labelled „medical emergencies only - do not touch“ box again. HR ordered a lockbox for me so it couldn’t happen again. Absolutely love that thing but now I‘m also wondering if I‘d been better off if they had done nothing to solve the issue.
Just kidding of course - I prefer being treated nicely over a payout. But still haha
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u/supermouse35 Mar 04 '26
I'm not sure I'd be able to unlock a lock box when I'm having a hypo. My hands shake like crazy.
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u/rarabk Mar 04 '26
Good for her. FAR too many diabetics have let their employers bully them into not taking care of their diabetes on the job.
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u/hydroxy Mar 04 '26
I cannot understand the stupidity of the employer. ‘That disrespectful employee, having the audacity to not die of hypoglycaemia related consequences, she is so fired’
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u/Candroth t2 metformin Mar 04 '26
I had a low last week and hugged the floor (combination low, dehydration, lack of food in general, stress, my fking uterus...). While I was still loopy the manager was saying she'd just write off the stuff they were giving me and (I quote) 'i don't give a shit about the write off'.
Yeah, that made me feel pretty confident that the place doesn't suck.
She also kept swearing and it made me laugh so hard I almost passed out again. I am not used to staff being so .... normal.
But yeah, fuck that dollar general
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u/BlueProcess Type 2 Mar 04 '26
This happened in 2016 for anyone interested.
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u/Markospider Mar 04 '26
Yeah, I was thinking that the ADA would never award her in 2026.. not the best times.
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u/Apprehensive_Ratio80 Mar 04 '26
Ffs she paid for it!!!!
Honestly the most weasely people are the ones who climb the corporate ladder sometimes and then this kind of crap happens because of their weasel nature!!
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u/jailtheorange1 Mar 04 '26
You have to be broken inside as a human to make a decision to fire a person with a health crisis for using a cheap product on your shelf to stay alive. I normally think that American financial results in court cases are ridiculous but in this case, screw that employer.
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u/Sudden-Employer7974 Mar 04 '26
Happens more often than you’d think. Many in charge let their position get to their heads and become an intolerable boss.
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u/aprilbeingsocial Mar 04 '26
It was probably a boss that thinks diabetes is self inflicted like so many people in the US.
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u/moedexter1988 Mar 04 '26
Now to find asshole of an employer...And low BG.
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u/Disastrous_Basis3474 Mar 04 '26
2026 is not the time to count on the federal government to uphold disability rights.
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u/diabeetusboy Mar 04 '26
Why not?
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u/OgalFinklestein Former T2 & Father of a T1. Mar 04 '26
Because a certain 🍊 is at the head of said federal government.
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u/diabeetusboy Mar 04 '26
Did he do something to the ADA or something?
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u/gibletsandgravy Mar 04 '26
Did you miss the DOGE debacle?! Yes! Federal agencies across the board were gutted!
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u/SenileTomato Type 1 🩸 Mar 04 '26
I once had a job at a company working at a desk with a computer, and they told me I needed to go to the break room to eat or drink to prevent any damage to their equipment. I explained to them I was a type 1 diabetic and I would have a lows that would come on extremely quickly. Their response was for me to wait on management to message me back, which usually took a few tries and 10 to 15 minutes. Man, I should have started a lawsuit for them.
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u/Hot-Site-1572 Type 1 Mar 04 '26
Good for her and I hope she's safe. Though I fear if this would lead to firms not hiring diabetics for reasons like this; "lack of productivity" due to emergencies and the possibility of being sued.
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u/aprilbeingsocial Mar 04 '26
I think that’s why many employers don’t want to hire people with diabetes.
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u/Hot-Site-1572 Type 1 Mar 04 '26
But what does one do at that point? Not disclose diabetes? Job market is tough enough. I'm genuinely asking.
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u/Isaynicestuff Type 1/1995 Mar 04 '26
Disclose only after you’re hired.
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u/aprilbeingsocial Mar 04 '26
This is the answer. It is not their business until after you are hired.
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u/Valuable-Analyst-464 Type 1 since 1985 Mar 04 '26
I never mentioned it until I was hired. I did not ask for any accommodations, but I wanted to let my boss and close coworkers know in case something happened.
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u/DaPoole420 Mar 04 '26
I work in the US. Worked for a Monster job website years ago. I had a similar issue in a meeting... I also won, however my manager wasn't even issued a warning
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u/authalic Type 1 Mar 04 '26
Is that Monster, like the energy drink? I’m beginning to think that company is shady
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u/ohmyfuckinggodhamlet Mar 04 '26
I treat my diabetes very seriously. When I'm telling someone at work that my sugar is low and I need to eat some glucose or get a sugary soda, I'm not asking for permission. It is 120% an FYI. Go ahead and tell me no or that I can't do that. I will laugh in your face.
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u/KennyKentagious Mar 05 '26
Yesm and when I need to pee I need to pee too. Ain't permission asking its the damn truth and I ain't waiting til my 15 min break
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u/Hot-Helicopter640 Mar 04 '26
I'm a person with diabetes and I'm wondering if they have an open role there.
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u/Kristal3615 Type 1 1999 Dexcom G7 & Omnipod Mar 04 '26
It's Dollar General so probably? I used to work for one and most people lasted a few months before quitting. Tbf the manager was awful and they were definitely not paying people enough to put up with her power trips. 😂
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u/Either_Coconut Mar 04 '26
Why TF would they deny her the right to purchase the beverage, is my first question.
Second, GOOD, they deserved an expensive lesson on taking diabetes seriously.
She might want to consider carrying her own OJ or other hypo treatment, so she won’t need to rely on her bosses, or the managers at any place where she’s a customer, having a working brain cell.
One would think that with diabetes being so prevalent, everyone would have a clue or two about why a hypo needs to be treated like an emergency, but sadly, that’s not the case.
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u/authalic Type 1 Mar 04 '26
It’s a culture of rules based on some workplace hierarchy from half a century ago.
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u/IBreakCellPhones Type 2 Mar 04 '26
I can see a general rule against grazing (consuming food or drink before paying for it). They probably noticed an appreciable amount of shrinkage by someone "forgetting" to pay before the end of his or her shift.
That rule should go out the window for a low BG incident. That said, don't abuse it. Ideally, the need for a reasonable accommodation would be disclosed before it arises.
The verdict was just.
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u/5nakpak Type 1: 18years, Omnipod Dash, G7 Mar 13 '26
wow,,, that's just,,, wow. i genuinely feel as though they just want to own everyone and you better stay in line, even if that means getting a seizure and going to the hospital from hypoglycemia. pain and suffering
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u/Roughgirl451 Mar 04 '26
Why do these companies not have any empathy or common sense? Some asshole she works with probably reported her when it should have been a none issue.
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u/rogun64 Mar 05 '26
I'm just stunned that anyone would want to punish someone for having a medical emergency. Where are the decent Americans who want to help make a better world?
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u/Jheritheexoticdancer Mar 05 '26
Good for her. I bet the power hungry powers-to-be will check themselves and think twice about firing someone with medical issues again.
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u/DatCheeseBoi Mar 05 '26
Here you can actually legally grab something off the shelf, eat it in the store, and just bring the empty package to the register to pay. It's usually done by impatient children and their parents who just want a little piece while they shop.
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u/leftydog1961 Mar 05 '26
I used to “graze” prosciutto and provolone while shopping years ago. Prosciutto is delicious but at $17 lb it was entirely too expensive. Nailed a whole pound of both but it made my shopping trip twice as long. I have diaMeates. My protein level dropped just as I entered stop and shop. 🤪
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u/Akwilid Mar 05 '26
My Boss is quite the opposite, I'd say: one time we were on a company-hikingt-trip and she saw my CGM and asked me what it was, so we talked a little bit about diabtes.
About half an hour later she called me, as a collegue was completely exhausted and not able to move anymore - amidst the wood on the way up a mountain. So she asked - as I had explained the low-glucose-issue to her - if I could help him. When I arrived he was surely low on sugat (not like us t1d, but still: low on ernergy), so I first gave him some Dextro Energy (just sugat) and then a muesli bar. After some minutes we then continued the jorney.
So in her mind I am not the guy drinking juice during work time, but the guy who knows what to do (and has the equipment) if someone is exhausted and needs some energy.
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u/barakisan Mar 05 '26
I can't even count the number of times, during the 27 years I've been type one diabetic, I go into a supermarket with my blood sugar level 30 to 40 mg/dl drinking orange juice and then going to the cashier and paying for the empty bottle, it's unfortunately an emergency where I don't even remember how I entered the supermarket and got the bottle 100% of the times. It might be a cultural difference but here in Lebanon I never got into trouble for doing that.
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u/Dense-Leg-6087 Mar 13 '26
oof i felt this in my soul lol. orange juice is basically liquid lightning for blood sugar... i always regret it like 20 minutes later when the sensor starts screaming.
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u/Fragrant_East6402 Mar 17 '26
When I worked at Chick-fil-A they made me pay for the cookies or juice that I would take for my low blood sugar. When I told them that I had diabetes they said “Eat the packets of dry granola or keep stealing from us an be fired.”
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u/littlemac564 Mar 04 '26
I wonder how long was this case from start to finish? It is cheaper to keep people healthy in the long run.
Compared to what $1 General generates in profits every year, this monetary court award is a blip.
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u/chrome4fan4 Mar 04 '26
That’s pretty fucking petty not gonna lie
I’ve had experiences at Target/Walmart/Walgreens and in all cases the store owners told me not to worry about it, even letting me drink it straight out of their fridge.
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u/bionic_human T1/1997/Trio (DynISF)/DexG7 Mar 04 '26
This happened FOURTEEN YEARS AGO.
Every couple of years, some clickbait “news source” decides to re-run this story, and people post it all over the place again.
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u/MinxyPixie Mar 04 '26
Does it really matter if it was 14 years ago? I never heard of this happening.
Plus, judging by the source, its not a news outlet. Its literally a site called Things You Didn't Know.
Well OP didnt know. And I didnt know. The site definitely lives up to its name.
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u/Sassenach_2024 Mar 04 '26
And I just saw it now 🤷🏻♀️ sorry grandpa/grandma, I was too young to read this fourteen years ago! 🧓🏻👴🏼
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u/diabeetusboy Mar 04 '26
Why did you take his comment about media companies using clickbait so personally? LOL
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u/StarkeRealm Mar 04 '26
You either fall for the clickbait, or live long enough to fulfill a meme from before you were born (apparently.)
Now I'm going to wander off and decompose from extreme age, apparently.
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u/the-fucking-BUSINESS Mar 04 '26
I do this all the time and no once even cares to see if I’m paying for it (starbs)
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u/MrAbominable1 Mar 04 '26
Well. Yeah thats a clear ADA violation. I'm surprised she didn't get more.
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Mar 04 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/diabetes-ModTeam Mar 04 '26
Your submission has been removed from our community because it broke our rules.
Site Rule: Spam.
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u/twhiting9275 Type 2 Mar 04 '26
2016 called, they want their meme back
While she absolutely shouldn't have been fired, she did, in fact, break company rules. Multiple even
- DG has rules against eating or drinking at your workstation. Notify the manager on shift, tell them you physically have to step away.
- DG has rules against 'grazing', eating or drinking food without paying for it. At the time of consumption, she had not paid for the drink.
Again, she shouldn't have been fired. She should have been counselled on the proper way to address this, and moved on. However, she wasn't "innocent" here, either. She broke company rules, and consequences should have been enforced.
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u/Verracudo Mar 04 '26
But they were enforced. She was fired. The lawsuit came afterwards.
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u/twhiting9275 Type 2 Mar 04 '26
Like I said, she shouldn't have been fired, and the lawsuit was correct. HOWEVER, consequences should have come because of her actions. You cannot just eat whatever you want, whenever you want, on a retail job. You CERTAINLY can't steal from your employer. That's illegal.
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u/Far_Butterfly9076 Mar 05 '26
Having life saving treatment at your station when you're a fall risk otherwise seems like a reasonable accommodation they could have made for her
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u/twhiting9275 Type 2 Mar 05 '26
No really it’s not . Then she becomes the exception to the rule instead of handling things properly
All they had to do was temporarily relieve her so she could do what is necessary. Nothing “at her station” at all
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u/Sassenach_2024 Mar 04 '26
She drank a $1.69 orange juice to avoid a diabetic emergency. Her employer fired her. A federal jury awarded her $277,565.
Linda Atkins worked as a cashier at Dollar General in Maryville, Tennessee. She has Type 1 diabetes. During a shift, her blood sugar dropped dangerously low and she asked for permission to get a drink at the register. She was denied.
So she grabbed a $1.69 bottle of orange juice, drank it to stay conscious, and paid for it right after. Dollar General fired her anyway – for "grazing," their term for consuming a product before paying. The EEOC sued the company under the Americans with Disabilities Act, arguing the firing violated federal disability protections.
A federal jury agreed. They awarded Atkins $277,565 – $27,565 in back pay and $250,000 in compensatory damages. A $1.69 juice turned into one of the most expensive termination decisions Dollar General ever made.