I’m a 32 year old who worked at a local law firm for 2.5 years, starting just before the pandemic. Due to “client regulations” I was never allowed to work from home even as they laid off half their employees to “minimize in-person exposures”. However, no mask mandate was ever given and they certainly didn’t require any proof of vaccination, or the like. So while everyone else collected unemployment or enjoyed work-from-home gigs throughout 2020 I was trekking it into the office every day to keep their small law office running smoothly since the operations manager deemed us an “essential business”.
Flash forward to more current times and I’m running an entire state’s civil suit filing by myself as well as a variety of other responsibilities due to understaffing only to have to beg for $1 raises, and a legit title after 2 years (they “graciously” promoted me to “Paralegal” after I brought up the fact that entry level positions had the same title as myself with 11 years industry experience). Meanwhile, a 24 year old snot-nosed know-it-all with zero experience outside of his father being a career attorney, is awarded a department head position, his own office, and given free reign to involve himself in other department’s processes.
I finally had enough of being walked all over for pennies and submitted my two weeks notice, much to my boss’s supposed shock. She claimed to be completely unaware of any of my issues even after bringing them to her attention throughout various one-on-one meetings over the past couple years. I told them I was offered another position at 55k annually, to which the response was that I had the potential to earn more than that, through potential bonuses in my current position. The kicker however is that bonuses are tied to collector performance, and I was not actively collecting in my position. So, ultimately the response to my qualm about being undervalued and under-appreciated was that I could possibly earn more if other people do their jobs well. It was a no-brainer at that point.
A few days after submitting my notice my boss asked me not to say anything to the other employees. I can only assume as to not cause a massive walkout. I complied and kept silent, however that meant that no one knew I was leaving, and on my final day senior management did nothing to say goodbye or thank me for my efforts in getting them through the past 2.5 years of really rough business.
However, when one of the partner’s nephews came to work for the office for 2 weeks this past summer they threw him a pizza party as he left and made it a point to thank him for coming to help. Even though he actually messed up a bunch of accounts and ignored established procedure the entire time he was there because again, he had zero experience.