Jess, Clinical Typist. Wellington, NZ.

In August 2020, I was working as a clinical typist at the hospital in Wellington, and my work was so good and so appreciated that I won the annual award for best contribution to the team for that year.

Fast forward to the following year, and I was treated like an outcast and a criminal because I did not think my immune system required artificial prompting in order for me to fight off the off-chance that I caught a virus, that I was highly unlikely to catch anyway, considering I was at that stage able to perform my duties just as well as before online and at home, without any contact with anyone on a day to day basis.

I underwent months of anxiety and stress, along with the lack of support from my peers and management, until finally I could deal with it no longer and had to submit to being terminated like a criminal from a role that I loved and was extremely proficient at. I am still suffering on a day to day basis, particularly finding further employment that pays for the increased cost of living, and I suffer anxiety and stress daily just trying to survive.

For the record, I eventually caught the much talked about virus two years later, suffering only a raised temperature for a few days before my natural immune system brought me back to full health again, so I am left wondering if the months and years of anxiety, stress, and treatment by my management and peers was worth all the fuss!