So i’m thinking of giving my 2 weeks notice tomorrow and I want some options. Sorry for the long post, but i need to get this off my chest.
For context I am a dental assistant and work for a small private dental office with one dentist, one other assistant besides myself (hired a month after me), one hygienist and one front desk person. I am also 30 weeks pregnant currently.
I’ve been working for this office since the end of February of this year. Ever since I started working there i’ve gotten weird/bad vibes about the office and the dentist. When I had my working interview he offered me the job in the middle of the work day which i felt was a bit rushed. I didn’t even have time to think the position over. I accepted the position because I was really needing a job at the time. During my first week I was the only assistant there because his current assistant broke her ankle on some ice and wasn’t showing up for her shifts. The dentist proceeded to tell me how he was most likely going to be letting her go and basically bad mouth her work/ work ethic which was a red flag to me. I think it’s unprofessional to bad mouth your employees to your other employees let alone a new hire.
About a week after that the employee he was bad mouthing is back suddenly and even after all the stuff he said about her he lets her back. He said it was “better to have her than no one”, so she was basically a body to him. She would be late some days and i figured it had something to do with her injury. The Dr was not very understanding when it came to that. She also came back on crutches so she had limited duties that she could perform. He continued to bad mouth her to me saying that she could most likely do more than she’s actually doing which I didn’t think was true. Fast forward about a month and he did proceed to fire her. I don’t know the exact reason he told her she was being let go, but I did hear from my coworkers that she stated she got “fired for breaking her leg”.
Since then he has hired a new assistant that i get along with for the most part, but even she’s noticed some off/rude things about this dentist and is as fed up as i am. He comes off very demanding and micromanaging, doesn’t seem to appreciate the work that we do for him (we can’t even get a “please” or “thank you” out of him half the time), and shoots down basically every idea i have to improve things around the office. He has had several different assistants over his career and i’m starting to see why.
I also found out that he uses our PTO when we call out sick. There is no option for us to take an unpaid day. I have been trying to save up my PTO for maternity leave. I have called out a couple of times due to being pregnant and he will take my pto during those times whether i want him to or not. He thinks of it as being a “vacation day” when we call out sick saying it’s not fair for us to call out sick and then take a week vacation. He also did not pay us for the fourth of July. The office is closed on Tuesdays which the fourth fell on and that’s why he didn’t pay us. It’s his choice to close on Tuesdays and it clearly states in the handbook that we are to be paid on the fourth. He acts like he doesn’t make these rules himself and can’t change them.
Another thing about our PTO is that he just changed it to us accruing 0.0417 hours for each hour we work instead of accruing it per paycheck. So if we call in a day we do not accrue pto and we will accrue it very slowly. It’s complete bullshit.
One last thing (seriously, sorry for the long post) is that he is going on vacation at the end of this month and he is closing the office for the whole week. I also planned a trip during this week because the office will be closed. He is still expecting me to use my pto during this time even though we are closed! He states that it doesn’t matter when i use my pto that it’ll all be the same payout which is incorrect. If i use it during this time it will be like a regular paycheck. I’d rather not get paid for this time (which we aren’t anyways) and have the pto to use during my leave. I planned my trip like this on purpose.
I am really considering giving my notice on Monday. There has been too much shit going on in the couple of months that i’ve been there. I only have 2 more months until my due date anyways and can find work up until then need be.
For some reason my anxiety/people pleasing mentality is taking over and i’m nervous to give my notice. I’d really appreciate some opinions letting me know if i’m making the right decision.
Thank you so much if you have read this far.