Being injured on the job but need the money & a good reference. (employment, unemployment)

[Inandout]

Hi everyone, newbie here with a question about remaining in my current job and how to communicate with the manager in a respectful manner to remain on good terms for a future reference.

A little background: After a job of 4+ years ended, I had a period of unemployment and in a bid to improve my language skills, picked up a call center job that let me improve a third language. I've been there for several months and while it's valuable to become more proficient in more languages (especially one I plan to study in when I go back to college in the future), the problem is that the conditions at my current job have become intolerable. For the first few months, I was in a daytime shift with some colleagues who yelled at customers over the phone to make themselves heard since some customers are partly deaf. We have amplifiers with headsets but they are designed so that if you use them on high volume (again, to communicate with customers), as an agent, you are subjected to high volumes, enough to damage your hearing. To try and cope with the dangerously uncomfortable conditions, I wore ear plugs and reduced the volume, even stopped using the headsets and amplifiers (so had to raise my voice sometimes to make myself heard by the customers) , but I still feel pain. I was also recently diagnosed by a doctor as having an ear infection.

Now logically you'd think that if you're working a job where you're being injured every day, you'd quit in a heartbeat, after all hearing loss is permanent. Is a call center job worth sacrificing your health for? I don't think so. However, besides the fact my ears hurt, I need the income and the fact I'm offered overtime hours now and then helps my wallet. That said, when the call center work environment became so loud I couldn't bear it anymore, I asked for a shift change to a quieter period and while it's better, it's still painful. Tinnitus (ringing in the ears) is also a problem.

My question is this: since I no longer have references from my last job (closed down 3 years ago, manager moved out of the country, supervisor, former colleagues and HR out of touch, etc. ) how do keep on good terms with my current manager when he just granted a shift change and I already want out? I was going to ask a supervisor until he was recently fired without notice. A fellow colleague is also away on long term sick leave. My current manager wants me to give my decision about whether I'd like to continue with the current shift or not. Any ideas on how to phrase the email, keeping the above concerns (about my ears) in mind?

[Hemlock140]

Since it's better on this quieter shift, I don't know why you would respond with anything other than agreeing to remain on it.
Look for a less problematic job elsewhere, and include the defunct prior job on your resume, with "(no longer in business)" on it, and use personal references instead. When you find one, be gracious in your resignation, thanking the supervisor for making the shift change, but explaining that even that is not solving the problem. You don't want to burn your bridges and may be able to use that person as a reference again in the future.