I don't really know where to begin without telling my life story so hopefully I can summarize the background with a few points.

- Single living alone in a condo in DT Toronto (so, expensive)
- Living paycheque to paycheque despite making six figures
- Work in the online marketing/search engine optimization field (10 years experience)

OK hopefully that helps a bit with my problem.

I have always had a hard time holding down a job. Calling in sick a lot. 98% of the time because of anxiety or depression. I get fired for a variety of reasons but usually they strike the day before my probation is over.

I am two months into a 15-month full time contract with a university here in the city. I got this job almost immediately after being fired from my last one. I had reservations about it, but I have no savings and so many bills and debt I had to take it.

I like working at a university. And I love what I do. But I just have SUCH a hard time making it into the office.

Reasons? The commute is brutal (1 hr each way) and even though I LOVE to drive (my car is my sanctuary) constant traffic jams kills me. The open office is also brutal for me. Constantly surrounded by people, noises, smells, florescent lights. It's torture and keeps me in an almost constant state of high anxiety.

So, I thought, ok enough of being a victim - do something. So I researched all about the human rights code and workplace accommodations for people with disabilities.

Because I'm on contract, and not a direct employee of the university, I have to go through the recruitment company that found me. This week, they discussed my requests with the HR person in my department. Here's what I asked for:

- An additional day per week to work from home
- Slightly adjusted hours
- A workspace that offers more privacy and isolation from stimuli

It took HR four days to get back to the recruitment company. All requests denied.

What do I do now? If I was sad, depressed and anxious about going into the office before, now I'm even more demoralized. And it's going to be awkward on Monday, I'm sure. It's already quite clear I have issues given that I'm not very social and keep calling in sick. Oh - and because I'm contract, I don't get paid when I don't work. Sick, vacation, stat holidays, etc.

I don't want to start a new job AGAIN. It gets harder and harder to explain why I've worked in so many places in such a short time span, and then providing good references.

What I want is a break. Some time to work on ME. I have no support (emotionally, financially or otherwise) and I can't keep this up on my own. I would love to be able to lower my standard of living so I could take a lower pressure job, or something part time.

Can anyone offer advice? Or similar experiences?