I told everyone at my work the other day, two days before I booked surgery. My op date is 17th July. My thinking was not to tell them but because of my uniform being a snug top or a tailored tunic (I work in an Opticians) my boyfriend thought they’d probably notice and it’d cause more gossip NOT telling my colleagues than if I said “look guys there’s this thing bothering me and I’m having it sorted ok?!”. Literally everybody reassured me they were behind me 100%, even the ones I thought wouldn’t get it. One of them i was worried about – a sort of prudish woman in her fifties said “go for it love, I had a tummy tuck once and it was the best thing I’ve done” – couldn’t have been more surprised! which was nice of them even though i don’t need their permission etc, i may well need to call on them to fetch something heavy from the top shelf etc or swap to lighter duties and would be helpful to have support instead of them thinking I’ve gone lazy lol.
As for my boss I went to my manager first and she went to him privately warning him I wanted to speak to him about this so it wouldn’t be so embarrassing for me (or a surprise for him) he couldn’t have been more supportive and now i don’t know why i was so worked up beforehand! Maybe it’s because he can be a bit laddish and i thought i might get teased or feel uncomfortable. I think everyone has something they’re not happy with and can understand the desire to feel confident about it.
Sorry for the long post, just saying that if its causing more stress or anxiety worrying what people would day if they suspected or whatever, test the water, you might be surprised as i was!
