I recently started a position as an activities assistant at an assisted living facility. Previously, I had been an early childhood teacher for 6 years, but due to chronic back pain I cannot work with toddlers easily anymore, and I thought this position would also align well with my background and degree.
It has been the most tortuous 3 months of my life. It is a family run company, but the son that runs this place often doesn't seem to know what's actually going on. His own mother at one point, when she heard about meetings with family members that were being missed because he can't show up on time, said “Oh, he's just a baby”. He is at least 35 years old and is the admin of the building.
His administrative assistant (AA1) is one of my supervisors, and the head of HR is also involved in managing the activities program for some reason. Then they hired a NEW administrative assistant (AA2) who's job is to help AA1 with her job? I'm honestly not sure what her role is, except that it is more on the medical side and helping to manage the medical staff, but for some reason she's also one of my supervisors I think.
HR told us that we were revamping the activities program with my arrival because there is me working full time and another woman who works part time to do activities. She made up this weird paper calendar with AA1 with little pieces of paper cut out for different sized time slots and two columns per day, for me and the part time activities person, that have to be taped and untaped to change things around. It is so confusing to look at. I immediately made it into a Google calendar with color coordination for me and the other activities person. They refuse to look at it or use it, but whatever.
This paper calendar mess is supposed to be what I look at for the daily scheduled activities, according to HR. BUT we also have an electronic calendar system for assisted living that things can be entered into, but even though I know how to use it (it is very intuitive), I'm not allowed to put the daily activities into this system. AA1 does that.
AA1 doesn't know how to schedule reoccurring events or put things into this calendar so that everything shows up. This is important. Some things are still not in the electronic system that are on the paper calendar for activities. Still, since I have everything in google calendar as it is on the paper calendar I keep on top of activities that are still not in the electronic system.
Physical Therapy also puts things into this electronic calendar, so that families and residents can see everything happening for the day. I do not do the PT events, only activities, WITH ONE EXCEPTION. I'm supposed to do a walking club with therapy twice a week as they need two people for this. This is on WEDNESDAY and FRIDAY mornings.
Today I come in, and AA1 and AA2 over my weekend changed the complete layout of all of my activities materials in the cabinets. Stuff that I use every day is now down below the counter, where I have to bend multiple times a day to find stuff like construction paper, when it used to be easily accessible in the top cabinets. There is a lot more background into this moving stuff around where I've been told I can put things somewhere, but then am reprimanded later for doing so.
I was shocked by how much everything had moved around, and how nonsensical the layout was considering AA1 and AA2 don't even use any of these things, and was discussing this with a coworker as I began to move my paper supplies back to where I can easily use them. Here comes AA1 and AA2 down the hall and they heard the coworker say it doesn't make any sense. AA1 is all defensive immediately, saying “What doesn't make any sense?”
I told her the paper needs to be more accessible so I'm not bending constantly for my supplies. There is some large paper that is down below because it simply doesn't fit in the top cabinets, which is fine because the things I put down below are things I use rarely, and the large paper is one of those things. I tell her this, and she says all of the paper needs to be together. I said “It will all be together, in the top cabinet where I can access it easier as I use it often, except the big paper that I don't.” This apparently is unacceptable and all the paper needs to be together, period. I told her that I am the one using these supplies every day, and it does not make sense to me to have it laid out like this when she doesn't even use it and this layout makes my job more difficult. She doesn't care. She wants these huge, useless books THEY TOLD ME I could keep in another place in the top cabinets.
Then she reprimands me for discussing this with a coworker. Apparently I'm not even allowed to say something doesn't make sense to a coworker. I told her “I just said to her what I'm saying to you now about this layout of supplies. I'm not talking about you behind your back.” She then launches into how I'm supposed to be doing walking club this morning and it's past time for it. It's Tuesday. It's not on the schedule for activities to do walking club on Tuesdays, and therapy isn't even here to assist with it as it is a two person activity. I tell her this and she says, “No, it's on the electronic calendar every day, you are supposed to be doing this every day. You didn't even ask me to help you with it, but I'm here and I can.” She never has said she will do walking club, ever.
I tell her that this is the first I'm hearing about doing this every day, its on the paper calendar for twice a week, and there are a lot of therapy events on the electronic calendar so how was I supposed to know these were now my duties too? Additionally, there are things on the paper calendar that are NOT on the electronic calendar still that I know she wants me to do, so do I not do those now because we are supposed to follow the electronic calendar? After saying this, she says “You are supposed to be doing this every day at 9, period.” and walks away.
I do not handle this kind of miscommunication well and start crying and hyperventilating right after she left. I started shaking so much my knees gave out. My coworkers came to comfort me, and all told me that this doesn't seem worth it. Once I had myself gathered more, I went and told AA1 I'm going home for the day and she's all “Well we were going to discuss these things later, everything should be clear I don't understand why you're so upset, sorry if I played any part in that”.
I'm not going back. I've already lost 15 pounds due to stress from this job and start shaking before I even enter the building in the mornings. I have like, 4 supervisors when I don't feel I even need one, I know how to do this job and am far overqualified. Any miscommunications between these supervisors is always my fault I cannot read their minds. Luckily, I have a husband who is very supportive, and I'm going to take this time to get a part time job and focus on my furniture refurbishment side business. Their turnover rate is so high, they are going to regret that they pushed out someone who was as good at this as me. I'm just sorry that the residents that I love I won't see again, and that they will suffer because of poor management.