To Tell or Not to Tell

Since I started working at the bakery my joints have gone downhill. My hands start to swell without fail and lugging gallons of coffee or pickles or whatever else up the stairs many times a day does nothing to help my knees and hips. Just about every joint is affected in some way. It slows me down and the pain makes me foggier that I already would be. I think this leads to people getting frustrated that I am not moving that fast but I can't help it. Nobody has said anything to me its just a feeling I get.

I have not told anybody at the bakery about my lupus. I will only be working there until the beginning of September and I just feel weird telling people. I have had so many different reactions when I have told people ranging from apathy to over concern. I don't want to be treated differently but I want people to understand that I have to do things my own way and sometimes at a different pace. What is efficient to some people (like carrying many different coffee pots down to be washed) is not practical for me. In the coffee pot instance, I may not be able to grip the pots correctly to carry them all at once or my wrists might be swelling so I can't support the weight. So this leads to two trips for which I get silent looks about.

I only have a few more weeks at this job so I am hoping I can just stick it out. But I don't want to burn bridges in case I need the job in the future. So maybe I will tell my manager about it. I am not trying to be inefficient but I also need to pay attention to my body.