This is an older story but I love this subreddit and it fuels my hate fire and it feels only right to give back with a story of my own.
I worked as a vet tech for a large animal vet practice. Just out of college (I didn't graduate, school shut down during the pandemic) and desperately needed a job to pay bills. I was ecstatic to find a job in my field without a degree (should've been my first red flag in hindsight).
I was immediately set up for failure- as the position I was to fill was that of the /company owners/ tech, whom she has gotten very close to over the years. I had HUGE shoes to fill, but I was bright eyed and bushy tailed and eager to give this BARELY ABOVE MINIMUM WAGE job my absolute all.
My boss/vet did not like me.
I don't think I did anything wrong, I learned quick, asked plenty of questions (which I guess could have been annoying but better to ask about a procedure three times than guess and kill someone's horse???) Her issue with me was just that I wasn't her previous tech, and would never be her. She never really gave me a fair chance, so I stopped trying to be her friend during our 10+ hour days, and just did my job with my head down.
Then the inconsideration and complete lack of respect for my time started.
As the owner of the practice, she could take days or time off whenever she wanted. She was USUALLY pretty good about letting me know when this was happening, and I could usually sleep in and start working later or just have the day off. But then there was a day she didn't tell me.
I prepared our truck for the day, packed medications, prepared vaccines, did all of my usual early morning routine… And she wasn't there. I filled up her water bottle, cleaned her coffee mugs, wiped the truck windows, vacuumed the floor… Still no vet. I've been at work for two hours at this point without hearing a thing, seeing multiple office staff members walk past me without a word, until I finally caught somebody and asked where she was only to be told “Oh, she's going to be late today! She should be here soon!” So… They knew, and nobody thought I needed to know. Great. It still took over an hour for her to show up, and she didn't acknowledge the situation at all when she finally did. This happened more than once.
I always had Fridays off because SHE always had Fridays off. Well, one Friday I'm woken up to a phone call asking if I'm going to be in soon. Groggy and confused I asked the caller to repeat, and they said I was scheduled that day to cover for a tech that requested the day off…
Once again, shouldn't I have been made aware? She took a huge attitude with me saying I should have known this and uhh, yeah lady, I agree!!!! This office manager consistently overbooked me and made arrangements for me without letting me know. When I clock in for the day I don't CARE what I do as long as I get paid, but if I'm supposed to be there earlier, later, or on a day I'm not usually there? She needs to tell me.
The final straw was when I got sick.
I have a medical history of absolutely debilitating UTIs. It had been a long time since Id gotten one, but around 10pm the night before work I got one and thought I was dying. Around 11:30pm, I texted my boss explaining that I wasn't feeling well and wouldn't be in the next day, hoping that would give me enough time to go get some antibiotics.
Now for context, when she first hired me we did discuss call out procedures, and that was to contact the office in the morning if I won't be in. At the time I completely forgot about this conversation because of how much pain I was in, and even when I was first told this I thought it was a silly policy… If you have to cancel appointments because your tech isn't there, wouldn't you like as much notice as possible?
Furthermore, this policy is solely in place so as not to disturb the bosses sleep… What about me, the sick person's sleep? If I'm sick, why should I be waking up at normal work time just to call out when I should be resting and recovering? It makes the most sense to inform asap, and that's how every other job I've ever had has worked!
Well she texts me back 5 minutes later absolutely irate, claiming I was disrespectful of her time(ironic…) while she's trying to sleep, how we discussed the policy when I first started, and how I was unprofessional for contacting her outside of work hours, and that I was not to return until I had a negative Covid test.
So I didn't respond, not even with an apology because God forbid I text outside of work hours, right? The next day I did apologize, and tried to explain that I knew it wasn't Covid, it was a UTI and i was absolutely bathroom bound (for scale of severity: when I managed to drag myself to my car to an urgent care there was legitimate concern that my kidneys were bleeding. I ended up being fine in the end!) but she refused to hear it, and because of the demand and wait times on Covid tests back in the peak I ended up losing a week and a half of pay for something I KNEW wasn't Covid.
Well I used that week and a half to write my two weeks notice, print it, and have it prepared for my return.
When I finally got back to work, my vet and I walked past each other, didn't make eye contact at all, and the office manager called me in for a meeting. I am almost CERTAIN I would have been fired in this meeting, if I hadn't answered her “So, how is the job going for you?” with handing her my notice and a smile 🙂 she told me they didn't require my two weeks, and wished me luck, I walked out of the building and never looked back. That was probably one of the happiest and most serene days of my life. Anytime anyone mentions that clinic (the horse community is tight) I always advise against them, and again, it's a tight community and word of mouth is EVERYTHING. They may still be rich, but at least it's not my people's money they're getting.
So yeah!! They sure crushed my capitalist spirit nice and young 😉 that place singlehandedly instilled very firm boundaries when it comes to work place respect. If you don't respect me, I don't give you my labor.