I work as a vet tech in a very small practice of 1 doctor and 3 employees including myself. I started at this practice in Nov 2022 after leaving my previous large 4-doctor, more adequately staffed (still understaffed, but less-so) hospital. In my 3 months here, I have called out 3 times due to completely unexpected family emergencies.
Mind you, I am not one to randomly call out for no reason, even as someone who has been dealing with ongoing family issues, healing from an extremely abusive home-life, and as someone living with cptsd, and just simply as a healthcare worker with burnout! I still show up and show passion and drive, stay late every day and show a commitment to my work and the patients and clients I service.
Anyway… I was recently sat down by my boss, the Dr and practice owner of this clinic, and she informed me that she will be extending my 90 day probationary period another 90 days bc I call out far too much. She said that in these next 90 days, I cannot call out, and she eluded to the fact that I would be fired if I do. She claimed that she sees my drive and desires to help me in my journey to vet school but is constantly an unpredictable ball of stress and takes it out in passive aggressive ways towards us.
Below, I have listed the reasons for my calling out:
– December 19th- I was vomiting and couldn’t keep any food down, could barely stand up
– January 9th- My 85y/o grandma fell but was okay (context: I live with my grandparents & my mother and myself are their only caretakers)
-January 19th- my 87 y/o grandpa fell, sustained injuries, and had to stay in the hospital with my mother’s visitation while I had to stay home to care for my grandma as she is completely unable to care for herself.
-January 20th-30th- I found out that I had Covid (of which I believe I contracted due to my boss’s negligence with my coworker who had it just one week prior) and showed her proof. Was ready to return to work after the 5 days but she asked my symptoms and since I still had a little shortness of breath, she didn’t permit me to return until after a full 10 days after symptom onset.
So….calling out too much? Seriously? I couldn’t control literally any of these circumstances. I’m just baffled that she said that and had the nerve to tell me “as an aside, when you first start at a new job, it doesn’t look good to call out repeatedly”….like thanks for the advice I’ll tell my grandparents to stop getting hurt bc no one else is around to care for them………..like okay I’ll make sure to never get a stomach bug or Covid ever again even tho I believe I got Covid from ole girl at work bc I had no other exposure.