It all started in May this year. I was in the process of moving into a new apartment. I took a long lunch and road to the apartments I wanted to rent, they had a first come first served policy going on and I needed to insure a spot for myself. Once this was done all of the important phone calls begin. I would step outside for a bit of privacy as not to be disrespectful on the job. This went on for almost a month. Next thing you know I was pulled aside by the provider in the clinic. She said there had been talk of me always on my phone and how people where watching me through the cameras. I instantly felt uncomfortable by this news. Through their eyes they saw an employee just slacking off and doing whatever she wanted whenever she wanted. But the reality was that the apartments I was moving out of lied to my now apartment manager saying I owed money when I didn't and that needed to be cleared up. I received calls about being approved for my apartment and what other documents were needed from me and so forth. However I had no interest in explaining all of this to her, so I just gave a small smile and walked away. I pulled my supervisor to the side and gave her the run down, afterwards, I heard no more about this.
In late June early July this year I received a text message from my supervisor at 6 something in the morning telling me she needed me to work half a day at the main clinic. I humbly objected, saying I did not feel comfortable working that side of the clinic and stating my reasons why. She insisted she needed my help, and though I was agitated I said I'd do it. This was my last time agreeing to anything outside of my normal work schedule. Once I clocked In and reported for duty I was completely lost. I knew nothing about their work flow or who the provider was that I was supposed to be working with. My breaking point was when they had me put on PPE and go out to peoples cars to test them for COVID. Both of those tests came back positive and I was beyond angry. The sad part was that since i was basically exposed twice that day, they refused to test me. I had to make them test me for COVID to make sure I was not bringing anything home to my family.
Through the months of July and September, I experienced a hit and run and my car needed to be fixed. I notified my employer of everything that was going on. Over time I started to receive some backlash while trying to get my car fixed. I called off so I could meet with the body shop mechanic. This was met with, "you've been calling off a lot lately about your car, can you just drop it off and have someone bring it to you later?" Now if this were possible I wouldn't have had to call off. I literally had to explain to her that I'm the only one with a vehicle and that there is no one I could call to help me with this situation. Sadly I could not expect her to relate because she doesn't know what it's like to not have anyone to call. This alone left me feeling like I had no job security, and from that point on I would have to watch my back. I remember praying and asking Ahayah to please hold and protect my employment position. I had no idea what I'd be walking into when I returned the following day.
Now this was also around the time when a new manager was hired for the clinic. There was a transition that seemed to be great for us all, but time revealed it was too good to be true. I had finally brought my car to the shop and was even able to go pick up and rental car I reserved. The manager seemed understanding, and again I communicated all of this to her. But when it was time to pick up my car she gave me a complete run around. It went from, "your gonna have to keep that rental car for the rest of the week because we are short staffed, to, oh well we have a meeting this evening so maybe you can go after that." My words were. "you asked me to communicate with you so this is what I'm doing, I'm just asking to pick my car up today that way I no longer have to worry about this anymore, or try to leave work early this week. She obliged, but gave little miscellaneous task to try and keep me longer so I wouldn't go. I was on a time schedule. I had to return the car and get a lyft from the place to the body shop. Pick up my car and then pick my daughter up from daycare all within an hour. I became aggravated and when she noticed this she finally decided to let me leave by saying, "I told you I'd let you go in time." I said "uh uh" and ran out of there.
When I returned to work the next day, She asked how everything went. I replied with a smile and said great. Telling her how awesome of a job the mechanic did and highly recommending his services. But in reality I felt like she was jerking my chain and abusing her position of power. I kept a close eye on her after this and I'm glad I did because within a short span of time, things got worse for us all.
I kept a low profile and continued to go to work over the next few weeks until it happened. I arrived to work on a Monday and we were severely short staffed. Normally a mass text message would go out warning us of the shortage but we got nothing that morning. So imagine the surprise when this was realized, I was very upset. The lack of communication was unacceptable. We literally had one person to do the patient intake, and one person to test for the first 3 to 4 hours of that day. And once the patients started trickling into the clinic, I hadn't set down until almost noon. Again we were told if you need help let me know by our manager, but why would I need to say that if you already see us struggling. We had fallen behind and were having trouble catching up. Help did not arrive until between 11 am and 12 noon. By this time my feet were killing me and I was over it. The whole time all of this was going on we constantly had people in management come downstairs to the clinic and say "Oh you have a lot of people in the waiting room" My response was I'm aware but it's just us two so what do you expect me to do?
We all went to lunch late this day and I made a joke to my coworker about calling in the next day because of the lack of communication. Apparently the Lord heard me because the following morning I had to call in because I was in so much pain that I could not move the upper half of my body. Breathing hurt, my heart felt as if it was being squeezed with every inhale, I couldn't roll over, or sit up without adding even more pain to an already painful situation. I was in tears and called off of work at 5 in the morning. I was out for 2 days because of this. Took a trip to the hospital and was told I sprained my chest muscle. All the doctors kept asking was "are you sure nothing didn't ram right into you?" My answer was No! Sadly I knew this injury was a result of my job but I couldn't prove it.
When I returned to work with my excuse in hand I was told to pay a visit to employee health. Once I handed over my excuse as well as the diagnosis she looked at me confused. She said wait, you don't have COVID! Yeah I was confused too! Apparently when I called in that morning and told her what symptoms I was experiencing, she chalked it up to me having COVID and spread this lie all over the office, I was livid! This one event started a chain reaction of me having to call off due to this pain. I was told by the doctor to take it easy and not lift anything over 10 pounds for some time. I was told by my coworkers (the ones who actually cared) to take it easy and that if I started to have any pain to go straight home. Again I already knew this injury was caused on the job but I could not prove it. However, It made me look at things through a different lens and as a result of this, I started looking for employment elsewhere.
In the month of October my daughter tested positive for flu b. This lead me down a whirl pool of events. This also caused me to call off of work because I had to follow protocol and get myself tested. I was having symptoms as well. A low grade fever of 99.5, body aches, tired feeling, headaches, hot flashes and so on. Everyone in my household got tested for COVID and flu. Both of those were negative but I was told that I had something called viral syndrome and was given a ton of medication. Throughout this ordeal I was in constant communication with my manager via phone calls, test message, and email. So she was well aware of the situation. I even needed clearance (my negative test results) just so I could come back to work. But this did not stop them from calling me into the office for a meeting, presenting me with a paper to sign stating I had several unexcused absences.
I was floored! They literally typed up this paper and put every date since the end of august. I was very good at keeping the lines of communication open with them. The only excuse that was printed out next to one of the days was when I contacted them on a Sunday saying how I would be late to work that Monday because a rock hit my windshield and I had an appointment with safe-light to get it fixed. Everything else was forgotten. When I explained to them the other dates my manager said, "oh yeah I remember that" I told her you should because I was on the phone with you the entire time. Next I was told my demeanor had changed. I used to be so bright and bubbly now I wasn't. The more this meeting went on the more I felt under attack. And the more I realized that they wanted me to rat on my coworkers with the kinds of questions I was being asked. I had to watch my responses because I did not trust them. The meeting went from addressing me to addressing everyone else in a short amount of time, and this was very suspicious to me, i did not like this at all. I gave them little information, only answered what I had to and left.
I made my coworkers aware of this meeting and one by one we were called into the principles office because they got wind of a mass walkout. Now they wanted to be friends and act as if they cared about our issues and concerns. Once again I gave nothing away but I stood on my beliefs and let my supervisor have the truth in a very professional way. They gave us a manager who has no experience whatsoever and as a result, the clinic had become completely flipped upside down. Patient cut off times have changed, we were no longer allowed to use our PTO to take off for a whole day, we could only take off for half a day. All the time I put in got denied for 2 and a half months straight. I told my supervisor about this as well and was told that I lied to my manager about having to go to court. My response "I did not lie, I still had to go to court but my reason was personal i was not summoned." I was forced to tell her why and when I did she said why didn't I just say that. I told her because It is my personal business. This too lead to yet another meeting in the principles office of a fake apology. "Were not trying to get into your business its just that if you were summoned we cant stop you from going. They basically told me the days I requested off would not get approved in so many words. I was told to put the time in anyway and I did. I also let her know I put my time in. It set there for 3 weeks, she never approved it like she claimed she would.
I wanted to go to court for a marriage license, but due to this the dates were pushed back and it hasn't happened yet. We were very excited about this, and I know most would ask why I didn't just call off. I could have but I felt no job security. I honestly felt like if i called off again I wouldn't have a job to come back to. I wanted to leave on my own terms not theirs. All of these things have been going on for well over 2 months and everyone else has turned a blind eye. My clinic is the most over looked and over worked in the entire organization. We get no recognition of any kind. Everything is constantly changing, nothing is consistent. Everyday a new rule was created and in turn all of this foolishness has run off 3 staff. I'm one of the three. Several others are leaving as well, we have all reached our breaking points, and the empire has begun to crumble. The one thing that kept me going were my patients. I've met so many amazing people who have changed my life and in turn, I helped change theirs as well. I've even been requested by several of them so I unknowingly built up a clientele. I can honestly say I would not recommend this job to anyone anymore because I have in the past. But If you like dysfunction, this job is for you.
I had reached a point in life where I was closing all the doors on anything dysfunctional in my life so coming to this job everyday became extremely hard for me. There were several mornings I sat in my car on the verge of tears because I DID NOT want to go to work! Holding it together became more of a struggle with every passing day until I literally no longer cared. I have found employment elsewhere, and it's what I have been praying for. I will now have more time with my family and I can finally home-school my child. So in the end, everything worked itself out. But to those who may feel like this on the job, you are not crazy because at one point I thought I was. Gas lighting in the work place is real and I have experienced this time and time again with this job. I have cleaned off my desk, packed up my things, and I'm moving on with my life. They don't know I've moved on yet but when the time is right, I'll notify them.
I'll leave the link below to those who are ready for change, as I have been passing it along to many people before I departed from this establishment. In 2021 I came across an article about mass job walk-offs, and now I see why. My overall health began to decline due to this job and though my spot is replaceable, I am not. I refused to let this job kill me, and the Lord let me know when it was time for me to leave. He can and will do the same for you!
I used this and it's a game changer. Work from home job link: https://www.wahjobqueen.com/author/tywanna/
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