Some backstory, Im 23 years old and Im currently employed at an animal hospital in NY. Theres a few shady practices here, however I noticed a few things Id like some insight on that Ive deemed as unfair, not sure how to handle this, and Im also unsure if im just taking things too personally.
Ive been here for over 5 months now, and my supervisor seems to get on me, and only me, about very specific things.
-Ive been told that mental health days are strictly not allowed, and that any problems I have need to be “worked through like everyone else. Youre not special”
-We have only 3 workers in kennel. Some days we get around 50+ dogs, and around 20 cats. As a kennel worker, it is our job to medicate, feed and clean every animal in the hospital including employee pets, however, only reception, vet tech and doctors are allowed to bring their animals to work with them, kennel is forbidden.
-Me and my coworker have been yelled at by our general manager (im talking full on yelling, her face was bright red) because we texted our supervisor while she was on vacation.
-The management here is constantly going on vacation, leaving us with no leaders.
-Animals are neglected/not cleaned unless kennel does it. Back techs dont clean them and have gone as far as to even WAIT for kennel to come on shift, leaving a dog or cat smothered in their own waste.
-They want us to clean the yard out with simple green turf cleaner, but the device used to do so is a tiny stream of chemicals. The yard is wide open and has a lot of space for animals to walk/run around and play. The tiny stream they expect us to use is not efficient enough to properly clean it, thus the yard stinks 24/7. They dont want to replace the turf.
-Things are CONSTANTLY falling apart or breaking, and no real solution is offered. They refuse to hire someone to properly fix things. If for example the hose breaks due to their solution (they wrapped tape around the broken part, of course that didnt fix it) and we cannot perform the job that requires the hose, we are scolded.
-If kennel is caught standing around even if all tasks are complete, we are reprimanded. Vet techs and Room techs are completely allowed, however.
-We are short staffed on janitors. The owners do not want to pay new staff, so we also do janitorial work.
-3 new tasks have been added to our job description because they felt like it, but the pay is still minimum wage. (15/hr in NY)
-We are not allowed to bring home food from the kitchen, but no reason was specified. (The hospital has a chef who is very kind, and says we are free to take her food home if we please, however our supervisors are strongly against this.) The food here goes uneaten by most of the staff due to them being financially well off (they order takeout for lunch/dinner constantly) and the chefs food is thrown away daily when uneaten. Me and my fellow kennel techs take home food, as we are struggling. We have been scolded today about it.
-The favoritism and highschool drama is unreal. Is there anything I can do here? Is getting a new job the only option for me? Unfortunately, my life circumstances dont leave me with many options. The majority of my job experience is in animal care and that job field doesnt pay a living wage/most of the field is filled. I really dont want to work food service or customer service, I have severe mental health problems and that would not help me.
TLDR: My job treats Kennel Techs unfairly, or so I believe. Id love some advice/input on things I can do to make things more bareable for me/if Im overreacting about things. Thanks!