Hi all. Throwaway account. A little bit of background: I am a certified dog trainer and have been working in the industry for the past 4+ years. I love what I do and wouldn't change it for the world. A little over a year ago I accepted a job at a dog daycare. I ran the training program on my own and essentially built it from the ground up. It was a lot of work but it was fulfilling. The pay, not so great, but you can't have it all, right?
Anyways. About a month ago an incident occurred where a dog unfortunately died whilst boarding with the daycare (possibly health related).
I only had initial contact with the dog when accepting him from the owners and guiding him into his containment- after that I continued with my training tasks for the rest of the day. Ended the workday early and was not present at the time of the incident. Came back from a weekend trip to an absolute shit show. There were cancellations left and right. Social media was on fire. In the spirit of transparency my former boss met with the owners of the dog who had passed. They reviewed video footage of the dog's stay and he even gave them a printout which outlined the timeline leading up to the event. From what I witnessed, the owners left the daycare amicably that day.
Things slowly returned to normal. I didn't think much of what had happened until last Monday. My friend called to warn me about some posts she had seen on Facebook. Apparently when my former boss gave the owners the printed timeline he had replaced all of the names to “Staff”….except mine. And since I had initial contact with the dog my name was at the top of the page followed by the generic “Staff”. The assumption was made that I was “Staff” in all interactions. My name, and my name only, was now directly linked to the death of a dog. The social media pit was burning yet again. I was the fuel.
So I sat down with my former boss on Thursday to go over WHY he had handed the owners this sheet of paper detailing the events leading up to the dog's death; and more importantly, WHY my name was the only one on the list. He apologized and insisted it was an honest mistake, but in the same breath assured me it was not a “big deal”. It didn't matter that my name was on the list, since it was merely a list of facts. He did not comprehend that it was in fact a huge mistake and was potentially grounds for defamation. Who knows how many potential clients I have lost because of this huge mistake? I thought it over for a day and then submitted my generic “thanks for the opportunity” resignation on Saturday. Best to leave amicably, even if only on paper. I just could not remain at a company that would be so negligent of details to the point where it is harmful to their employees.
I experienced panic almost immediately after my decision; however that quickly faded when I spoke to a friend who works at the same daycare. This daycare had been charging out the nose for the training packages that I had meticulously cultivated. I'm talking 100+ per lesson and thousands for a board and train. I made a steady 18/hr with zero commission….and it was a struggle to fight for that dollar raise (started at 17/hr). Apparently many of my coworkers had assumed I was also being compensated through commission just like the groomer. Nope.
Anyways. I just needed a place to vent about what had happened. If you got through my entire post, thank you. If not….
TLDR: Dog dies at work. Former boss directly linked my name, and my name only, to the incident despite me only having initial contact with the dog and not being present when the incident occurred. Former boss gaslit me when I asked why this had happened. I quit. Oh, and he was taking advantage of me the entire time. Good riddance ya dick.