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AIBU?

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Original poster

'Period Fairy' supplying painkillers at work

165 replies

NorthernFlowerHouse · 10/10/2018 17:19

Hi all,

Not really an AIBU but I wasn't really sure where to post and I know this is the busiest!

In my work ladies' loo, some period supplies have been left out with a note from 'The Period Fairy' saying to help yourself if needed. I think it's part of a campaign against period poverty which is a great cause and includes boxes of paracetamol.

I'm just a bit concerned whether there might be any legality issues with supplying over the counter painkillers like this- I know that work first aid kits shouldn't contain them in case of allergies but didn't know if this extended to help- yourself supplies.

Does anyone have any ideas?

I just know how kind the lady is who has started this and would hate for her to open herself up to any trouble over a really nice initiative. It's an office environment with no children if that makes a difference. I can't find much online about it and she's off this week.

Thanks!

OP posts:
AgentProvocateur · 10/10/2018 19:49

This is the most mental thread I’ve read for a long time. Presumably you’re all adults in the workplace and can count to two to take two paracetamol? I bet all the cotton-wool wrapping jobsworths work for a council.

bimbobaggins · 10/10/2018 19:57

I can understand about the painkillers but otherwise it’s a nice gesture and should be taken as such. I’d just say you can’t leave the painkillers out. It doesn’t need to be a big deal

whiskeysourpuss · 10/10/2018 19:58

But transwomen don’t get periods so discussion of periods upsets them as it does not recognise that they don’t get periods so it causes ‘literal violence’ towards transwomen

Unfortunately though actual women do get periods & we've spent enough time hiding it from men because it's considered gross/dirty/icky/any other words for minging without having to hide it from people who apparently want to be women---- Hmm

Sarahjconnor · 10/10/2018 20:17

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Whisky2014 · 10/10/2018 20:20

But its not the employer providing it. It's like a colleague saying "ive got a headache" and someone hands over paracetamol. That's not againt the law.

PunkrockerGirl59 · 10/10/2018 20:45

So seriously, someone has left stuff in the ladies toilet labelled from the 'period fairy' Confused
I have no words.
When the actual fuck did it become an employer's responsibility to provide for and treat their employees' menstrual cycles?
Women can buy their own Paracetamol in the supermarket for less than 40p a packet ffs.
Actually it's the term 'period fairy' that I can't get past. Women want to be taken seriously in the workplace but shite like the 'period fairy' does them no favours whatsoever.
Women have periods. Deal with it - it is not in your employer's remit to provide and pay for your sanitary products and/or analgesia.

Gingerrogered · 10/10/2018 20:52

punkrocker, I’m trying to imagine the sort of woman who would be a ‘period fairy’.

I’m thinking late 30s overweight but jolly always bringing cake and forcing it onto people, likes wearing fairy wings on staff outings, has one of those bright begonia flowers on her dashboard and a ‘princess on board’ sticker on the back of her purple beetle. Likes saying ‘I’m mad me’ if she has a third glass of wine or eats four biscuits.

Prides herself on being ‘a character’ and ‘off the wall’ but is actually deeply tedious.

reallyanotherone · 10/10/2018 21:04

The sanitary products i think is a great idea. Mainly because i’m shite at remembering to carry it around with me and if you’ve ever tried wrestling those dispensing machines it’s a nightmare.

Is she paying for it all? What about an honesty box?

Painkillers i wouldn’t leave out as i’d be worried some psychopath mighy swap the paracetamol for ecstacy or something, thinking it would be a laugh Hmm.

I was always told on first aid courses that you can offer medication for someone to self administer in an emergency, but it has to be their choice and they have to be aware enough to take it themselves.

Dontfeellikeamillenial · 10/10/2018 21:06

Why hasnt the op answered my question?

I'm a millennial after all

Dosmamas · 10/10/2018 21:13

@TheHodgeoftheHedge so glad you said something. It actually makes me sad that adults need to ruin genuine acts of kindness because they know they can get a gold star from the boss for making them aware of it. workplaces these days are pathetic adult day cares. Millennials are the fun police and I say that as a millenial.

Poodletip · 10/10/2018 21:24

Surely adults can be trusted to take paracetamol? They can go and pick up a pack off the shelf in Tesco! You don't even have to buy it from a pharmacist. It's ludicrous to suggest people are capable of deciding to take it if they pay 25p but not if it's given to them for free.

Mad mad mad.

Original poster
NorthernFlowerHouse · 10/10/2018 21:34

Thanks so much everyone for your replies, sorry for delay, I've been at an evening class... I feel a bit more confident now in recommending to the lady in question that she takes the tablets away without feeling I'm overreacting.

I don't doubt my collegues' general ability to take paracetamol safely, that's not the point of the thread. I'm just concerned about this nice gesture (fully agree the fairy stuff is a bit twee but the principle is good) backfiring on a kind colleague. I think it's been done informally and our dept heads are male so might not be aware the tablets are there hence it might not have been mentioned yet.

Millenial it was started by some set up that use the slogan 'have a bloody good period'. Not sure what they're called.

OP posts:
Whisky2014 · 10/10/2018 21:35

Whats it actually got to do with you anyway OP? Why are you dictating what your colleague does? Why have you taken it upon yourself to address this?

Original poster
NorthernFlowerHouse · 10/10/2018 21:36

DosMamas I wouldn't be going to the boss, but saying something directly to the woman who has put the supplies out. Not looking to make trouble for her, rather avoid it!

OP posts:
Whisky2014 · 10/10/2018 21:39

No, if you want to avoid it you keep.your mouth shut. In this istance youre doing exactly the opposite. Busy body.
If theres no proble. Its actually a non issue. YOU are aking it an issue.

Gingerrogered · 10/10/2018 21:52

Surely adults can be trusted to take paracetamol?

They can. But you know it’s one of those things that you can’t plan for everything. Something only has to happen like somebody drops a strong or powerful strip of their own tablets on the floor, someone picks it up and assume it belongs to the paracetamol, shoves it in the packet, someone takes them thinking it’s paracetamol and ends up very ill or tripping their nuts off.

The office wag thinks it’s funny to put some extra strength laxatives in their for fun. Or even worse somebody who wants to incapacitate a woman to do her harm slips something in there.

I mean, personally, tablets that are just left lying around are not something I would feel comfortable taking. The woman doing this would be much more sensible to keep them in her desk drawer and send around a group email saying she has some if anybody wants any.

xJessica · 10/10/2018 22:11

Did my eyes deceive me, or did I actually see someone use the word "perioding"?? Hmm

Missingstreetlife · 10/10/2018 22:13

Same with towels really, better to give to foodbank

Binglebong · 10/10/2018 22:24

This whole adults can be trusted to take paracetamol.....

I take cocodimol on a regular basis and always have them with me. Colleague was feeling crap and asked for some. I pointed out what they were and that they're quite strong. Had she had them before? Yes, she'd had them before. Yes, she really did need two.

Needless to say she was wrong. Had to be driven home because of these pills. Turns out she hadn't had them before, she just thought she had. And she didn't need two. On the plus side the headache went!

Luckily there were a lot of witnesses who could say she insisted she was fine yo take them. Without those witnesses I could have been in the shit if someone had complained.

I no longer allow people to have any of my meds, no matter how many times they've claimed to have taken them previously.

The moral of this story is don't trust adults to be adult.

User1736271537 · 10/10/2018 22:25

sorry to derail but OP, can I ask how this lady funds this project? does she do.it out of her own pocket or does she link in with a larger charity or food bank? would love to start something similar in my workplace.

Bestseller · 10/10/2018 22:27

If it's labeled and available for adults to take or not take as they see fit, then why on earth would there be any kind of issue?

Grobagsforever · 10/10/2018 22:40

@Graphista - None of your points stand. Because we're talking about ADULTS who could walk into a shop at ANY TIME and buy drugs.

Engage rational, logical thought for a minute instead of tying yourself up in healthy and safety knots. Employers CAN and DO supply UNLIMITED free drugs all the time. It's called booze at the Christmas party. Are they liable if some idiot drinks too much? Of course not.

It IS NOT the job of adults to police other adults in THE WORKPLACE.

Jesus wept.

spidey66 · 10/10/2018 22:53

Ffs, not the nanny state again. If the painkillers don't suit you, don't take them. The message I'm getting I'd they're there if needed, noone forcing them down your neck.

In the next instalment: workplace bans sugar and biccies in the tea area in case a diabetic takes them and ends up in a hyperglycemic coma. Surely people need to act as adults and, you know, take responsibility for their health?

Volant · 10/10/2018 22:56

only a hcp or pharmacist should give out medicines.

Nonsense. We've got a first aid box at work that came ready-supplied with various standard items like plasters, bandages, cleaning wipes, disinfectant cream - and paracetamol. There is no suggestion anywhere on the box that we must lock it away or employ an HCP to give out the deadly dangerous paracetamol: it's simply there, available to anyone who needs it.

In terms of the law, it seems to me that provided that this lady is not leaving out more than two boxes - i.e. the legal maximum you can buy over the counter - there are no issues whatsoever. The employers can't be liable any more than, say, Sainsbury's are for having them displayed on their shelves for self-service. The act of taking them through a till and paying a checkout assistant doesn't make it any different.

EBearhug · 10/10/2018 22:59

People are free to take responsibility for themselves. No one's stopping people from keeping paracetamol in their desk drawer. They just don't let unqualified people hand out meds to other people.

The only time I have given aspirin as a first aider was when the ambulance crew on their way to a colleague with chest pains asked me to - they pointed out that if there were any problems as a result, they would soon be at the door with equipment to deal with it.