I was with this company for almost two years. It was my first job after receiving my certification. I was so grateful for the opportunity to break into my field as many have tried and failed. I was told I was an apprentice. A position they start all newbies out in to teach them how to preform the job correctly. It started out fine. Working with a trainer I would do the job and then have them check my work before sending it. However this only occurred for a few months while I was doing only 4 pieces of work a day.
One day they said okay we are done checking you. Just release your own work when done. This was not a good idea. To go from 100% checking to 0% checking. The job is very conditional on each part and unique to each piece of work. (I am being vague for a reason). There was and is many more things that I still had to learn but with no feed back on what I was doing I had no idea if I was doing it correctly.
The trainer then leaves the company leaving me without a way to get questions answered. After a few months I ask my boss for an update on my quality score. They said IT has to do that and they are busy. A few more months go by. I again ask for a quality score. I get the same answer. They finally slide someone into the trainer position and I breathe a sigh of relief. I have someone I can ask questions and learn what I am supposed to be doing. I ask her to get my quality score because I have no idea how I am doing since I'm getting no feed back. Just the occasional piece of work sent back to me by the higher ups for mistakes they just happen to come across. She said she would make it a priority.
Next month she goes on medical leave and they take her job away the day before her surgery and she never returns. I try contacting IT myself to get the report run and they say they need a supervisor to do that. A year and a half has gone by without knowing how I'm doing. All the while supposed to be at a 95% accuracy rating or be fired. Finally 2 months ago they give me a meeting with my bosses boss. They tell me my quality is in the eighties and not meeting standards. They graciously state that they are going to give me permission to ask questions to a senior member over the next month and lower the complexity of the work I was doing to try again. I was stoked. I was finally able to ask questions and learn the job!
I took full advantage of this. Getting as much clarification as possible in as many different senerios as I came across. Really starting to understand what I was doing. One month passes and I get a meeting with my bosses boss again. Quality score is good. But she feels like I am asking too many questions. That I should know this stuff and she wants to find out if I'm doing better because of me. She then says that for the next month she wants me to limit the number of questions I ask and then check my quality again. I could understand if I was asking the same question over and over again but I keep very detailed notes with the answers and I don't repeat myself. It's always a new senerio.
At this point I'm finally realizing how I've been treated. Asking someone who is supposed to be learning to limit the amount of questions is ridiculous when I haven't had the opportunity to ask anyone before that.
I agree. I should have known the answers to these questions at almost 2 years into working. But since I was never trained I never got the opportunity to. Other people would be 2 steps ahead of me in the career ladder by now and I'm still an apprentice. The bosses boss tells me she is giving me 4 weeks and will check my quality again then. If I am not there then she is demoting me.
Every day I was a wreck wondering if I ask this question is that too many and I'll be demoted. I realized this is not healthy and I've been done wrong. I start looking for a new job.
I found one. Where they say I'll have a group of people that I can ask as many questions as I need to. No limits. They are giving me a $11 pay increase. Better benefits too.
Even though I'm angry at my current job I wanted to give 2 weeks notice. I sign the offer letter and the next day put in my two weeks notice. My boss asks to call me immediately. She asks if I want to talk about it and I said no. That the new company will offer more support in learning and allow me to ask as many questions as I need. I leave it at that.
She then informs me that I have to give 3 weeks notice if I want to be paid out my pto and be eligible for rehire. I told her that isn't happening. I am starting my new job immediately after this one.
Since I already had most of the next two weeks off approved using as much pto time as I can I wasn't worried about it. But I figured if I can't be paid it I might as well use it and take the remaining 2 days off the next week too.
This means that I would be on vacation until I quit. I wrote thank you notes to some of the higher ups thanking them for their help and letting them know that that day was my last day.
Next thing I know I'm being emailed by the bosses bosses boss stating for clarification on when my last day was. I informed her that it's 2 weeks from now but I'm taking the two weeks off. I already had it approved and have plans. She then sends me back a snipit of the handbook stating for my termination to be valid I can't take off any time during the next 3 weeks.
I told her that that is unfortunate but I've have the time approved and have plans.
The way I see it is that I'm already not getting my pto paid and can't be rehired. What harm does taking my hard earned vacation do at this point? I have the hours saved and approved. I am very proud of myself for sticking to my guns and not caving.
Anyway. Thank you for reading my ramblings. I just wanted to get this off my chest. Sorry for formatting I'm on phone.
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