Hi everyone! I wanted to give an update as it has been a crazy month. So as I (F23) said in my last post, I work in orthodontics as front office and I had been given another job offer and had asked my boss if he could match the pay. He basically guilt tripped me into thinking what I was doing was a betrayal towards him. The other job offer was $5 more an hour and offered benefits, which I didn’t get at this job. I was only paid hourly, no benefits or PTO.
I had accepted the other job offer for more pay and put in my 2 weeks. HOWEVER, a couple days after, I was speaking with my manager, co-workers, those in marketing, etc., and many asked me to stay. This company is very laid back, flexible hours, I knew and got along with everyone, I was in charge of my own schedule and had been given a pretty high position within the company – so I used these reasons to justify staying. Like I said in my last post, I loved my job at this practice and really thought I was going to go far, but towards the end felt pretty exploited but thought it could be remedied.
So I decided to stay and let the other offer go 🙁 2 weeks after this talk with doctor, my manager suddenly tells me we need to talk, and I just think it’s about work and our training program I had initiated since there was no training set up at all at this job and it was chaotic when we had new hires. Doctor was on vacation so I had not seen him since the talk we had. She tells me she is the bearer of bad news and tells me I am being let go, per doctor’s orders. I can’t even explain the surge of emotions I felt in that moment, but mostly, I felt stupid. I felt foolish for thinking this was going to work out. I had this intuition since that talk with doctor that something bad was going to happen but I chose to ignore it because of how much I cared about these people, the company and even doctor. I had built a relationship with these people and I guess I had been too afraid to let it go when the time came. As my manager was talking and trying to explain why, she looked like she was on the verge of tears after every sentence. Her and I had gotten really close in the time I worked there. So I did her the favor, cut it short myself and told her I understood, packed my things and left. I left as gracefully as I could.
I had lost the other job offer. It was a really tough spot I found myself in, and I hated myself for a while after being let go. I was unemployed for only a week, luckily. An old co-worker was amazing to me and helped me get my foot in the door at her practice that is already well-established and I got a job offer the same day of the interview. I am now employed at a well-known dental practice, where I make the $5 more an hour I had asked for and benefits, PTO, 401k, etc 🙂 I do a lot less at this new job and everyone has their own role with their responsibilities so no one is overwhelmed. So it all turned out in my favor in the end, luckily.
I wanted to thank everyone for their feedback, and I really should have listened to all the advice I was given. I can’t even begin to tell you how dumb I’ve felt. But I am young and learning how to navigate through life. But this is a lesson well learned and should be a lesson to everyone – don’t be loyal to anyone but yourself when it comes to employment. Like someone had commented in my last post – if you don’t look out for yourself, who will? I will not be making this mistake again.