Newcomer

[darkladyb]

A random door opens, and a woman steps through. She's tall and muscular, and her waist looks a little thick under the dusty tank top she's wearing. One hand whaps a yellow hard hat against the leg of her scuffed jeans as she looks around, but she's seen too much in her own life to be overly surprised at winding up someplace she hadn't meant to be

Comments

[vicioussweetie]

"One in Sweden?" The answer comes from a human-looking woman who's about five months pregnant. "They get 16 months maternity leave. Failing that, one where you can sit down. Anything more specific would depend on your skills."

[darkladyb]

"I live in Nevada." Emily looks at the red-head, her expression continuing in its wariness. "And I can build, use machinery, and carry stuff."

[vicioussweetie]

"Nevada's pretty far away from Sweden. Hmm. Can you build little things? Like birdhouses, maybe? You could probably make those sitting down."

[darkladyb]

"Bird... houses?" A touch of confusion shows in the tall woman's dark eyes. "Birds wouldn't pay for houses. And why do you keep repeating yourself about the sitting down?"

[dens_extra_pups]

"Whatever you do, don't go into Inbound Customer Service...I wouldn't even reccommend it for when a gal isn't going to have a kid..." This from the gal in the orange hoodie and jeans.

[darkladyb]

Emily gives the girl a slight frown. "What is that?"

[dens_extra_pups]

"Inbound Customer Service...basically, the customer calls the company, and gets to talk to a real, live representative. Most of the cellphone companies have 'em. I used to work for AT&T's call center in Omaha...Pain in the ass if I ever encountered one...It's stressful, and the companies usually have high standards...unless they're like Wal-mart, where customer service usually sucks hardcore..." Den knows of what she speaks.

[darkladyb]

"Ah. I suck at talking to people." Emily shrugs, and then starts scratching a scab on her upper arm.

[dr_meg_mystery]

Meg's a doctor. Okay, a mad scientist doctor, but a doctor nonetheless.

"Whatever job she did before she was pregnant, unless it's one that requires high physical activity and high risk, like being an assassin. Being pregnant shouldn't keep you from doing whatever job you normally do.

"Now, if you're keeping the baby, you're planning to breastfeed or you don't have access to child care, and you don't have an adult partner who can share the burden of infant care with you, you may have to find a job that's compatible with being the mother of a newborn... but it's not the *pregnancy* that should make you change jobs, it's the having to take care of the baby once it's here.

"What kind of work do you usually do? If the pregnancy's not high risk and neither is the work, get a job doing what you already have experience doing."

[darkladyb]

Emily frowns at the woman. "I was working construction, and my boss just said it's too dangerous for the baby."

[dr_meg_mystery]

Try the federal Interstate Highway Administration. They might be willing to put you on light duty like holding the stop/slow flag, putting the cones out, etc. until you recover from pregnancy, and the benefits are usually good.

Your boss may be right if you were in building construction -- I don't think there's much light duty available there, and it's physical enough that it *could* be of harm. But road construction, I always see people who aren't actually doing the hard physical construction work because they're directing traffic or putting cones on the road or driving the mixing truck or something.

[darkladyb]

"Can you do that without a number?" Emily shoves at her hair, trying to get the mess of sproingy curls to stay off her forehead.

[kalli_cossack]

"I would say it depends on the woman. But as for myself, if I were pregnant again and had to work, I would make sure it was something where I could put my feet up. I had problems with swelling in the last trimester."

[darkladyb]

"And if the woman's strong and sitting still makes her cranky?" Emily tilts her head slightly as she looks at the shorter woman.

[kalli_cossack]

"Then she should work at whatever she wants to," says Kalinka.

"There are times when I think being too civilized makes people weak. That we think too much of what one should not do, and we forget how much we can do, yes? If a woman is capable of working until she goes into labor, and she wants to, then she should be allowed to do so as long as it will not harm the baby."

[darkladyb]

"That's the catch." The tall woman frowns. "My boss says building isn't safe for it. But that's all I know right now."

Other than being a soldier. But she knows very well that that isn't safe for the baby, or herself.