chapter 1 - wellness check embarrasment

Author's note: It looks like some people are into fat shaming / humiliation stories, so I thought I would write a short one.

Emily could feel her heart racing as she sat there waiting outside of the conference room. For years her employer had defied industry trends by providing their employees with a really good group health plan. She had not even had to pay anything out of pocket for her premiums. It all changed this year though. Not only did she have to pay part of her health insurance premium herself now, employees had to submit to what they called a "Wellness Screening" at work, and if she didn't, she wouldn't get the preferred rate and her portion of her insurance would double.

So here she was waiting for her screening. The only thing worse than going to the doctor in her view was having to go to the doctor while at work. After what seemed like forever, but was actually more like 5 minutes, a pretty young nurse opened the conference room door and called her name.

"Emily Andrews?"

Emily looked up at her and followed her back. She is pretty, Emily thought. She is petite and thin too, of course she would be. Emily was pretty, she knew that about herself, but she was far from thin and had been a bigger girl since childhood.

The large conference table had been removed from the room, and the conference room was partitioned with thin curtains where other employees were getting their screenings. You couldn't see through the curtains, but that was the extent of the privacy as Emily could hear everything going on when she walked into the room. The nurse motioned Emily to one of the partitions, and Emily followed in.

"Your name is Emily Andrews, right?", the nurse asked.

"Yes", Emily replied.

"Your age?", the nurse asked.

"34", Emily replied.

"We need to start by getting your height. Take your shoes off please and stand there", the nurse pointing to a station for measuring height.

Emily slipped off her shoes and stood at the height station. The nurse measured her and said, 5'5.

The nurse motioned to the scale, "We need to get your weight now."

Emily took a deep breath and exhaled in a feeble effort to calm herself and stepped onto the scale. A second later the readout read 282 pounds. The nurse looked at the reading and said, "279 pounds. We take off 3 pounds for clothing."

Emily was sure everyone in there heard the nurse say her weight. The nurse pulled out a tape measure and said, "Can you pull your shirt up a few inches."

Emily meekly replied, "yes", and pulled her shirt up a few inches, revealing her fat stomach. The nurse pressed the end of the measuring tape down on her belly button, told Emily to hold it there, and pulled the tape around her. The nurse looked at the tape and said, "Your waist is 46 inches". This time Emily was absolutely mortified as she was certain everyone else in the conference room could hear her waist size being announced.

"Are you currently pregnant?", the nurse asked, again in a voice loud enough everyone in the other partitions could easily hear her.

"No.", Emily replied, so embarrassed she was looking down at the floor now.

"We just need to take your blood pressure now.", the nurse said, and motioned for her to sit down. Emily sat down and the nurse put the cuff on her, tightening it around her fat left arm. She pumped the bulb and placed a cold stethoscope against Emily's chest.

"140/105", the nurse said, loudly again.

"My blood pressure is usually not that high. I think it is because I am nervous.", Emily said almost loudly, realizing as soon as she said it, she had announced to everyone else in the conference room who was in her partition.

"At your weight, it's not uncommon to have high blood pressure.", the nurse proclaimed to her.

"But my blood pressure is usually not that...", Emily tried to argue before the nurse cut her off.

"We are all done now. Due to your weight, waist circumference, and blood pressure, your wellness score is too low to qualify for the preferred insurance rate. You will need to see the health coordinator on your way out of the conference room to discuss next steps.

The nurse handed Emily her health assessment and opened the partition for her to leave.