I ended up having to leave this workplace, reluctantly, due to my manager's unwillingness to accommodate a personal disability. Specifically, my manager has decided to use candles and air fresheners to which I am significantly sensitive to, causing me to have skin rashes and migraine headaches. She told me that headquarters complained the classroom has lots of food odors from next door (a Chinese restaurant).
I have offered other products that can do the job of covering the odors in the classroom to which my manager says is too expensive or inconvenient to obtain. She does not believe it is right for me to supply them, despite me explaining I would be willing to do so to keep the job. I feel I was constructively terminated over this matter. This after 9 months of working there and developing a personal connection to many students. When I asked about if there was any ulterior reason for not wanting to accommodate my situation, my manager explained she was "dissatisfied with my performance" because when I had removed an air freshener that was making me ill during the shift one day, the interruption had resulted in her losing a potential business. While the situation is unfortunate, the reality is that people with disability live amongst us and I feel Mathnasium should be more sensitive to such. Employees, students and parents can all have disabilities, and I made clear my condition very early on in my job there and thought I had a handle on it until recently.
