I am struggling today and am venting. My lifetime movie and obnoxious soapbox moment is below. Apologies for wild typos! It has been a fucking day.
Since 2021 I have been having an absolute hell of time finding any employment where I am not bait and switched, manipulated and fucked over. I am just upset and done over it but I have to just keep continuously flinging myself into the 21st century employment meat grinder to try to keep a roof over my head. I had dreams and aspirations once. I am sure everyone here did as well.
2021- I left a job I actually loved and people I loved because there was genuinely no room for advancement and prices in my area where making it to where I couldn’t confidently pay all my bills any more. I interviewed and accepted a remote position with a research company. They described the job and it sounded great.
However, when I actually logged in and after training I was told that I would be working on a super secret big deal contract with a tech giant and that since I was the first one added to this contract I also had to create trainings and info packets for other workers who would later be hired for the role. None of this was in the job description. Also, this household tech giant had their own way of doing things so I had to go through even more trainings and it added about 5 more bosses to my role that I had to report to.
This company constantly brags about being a great employer but it was absolute hell. My US national role became a worldwide role with bosses and clients scattered all over the planet. I pretty much had to be available 24 hours a day 5 days a week. I lasted 6 months and just couldn’t do it. Having to pretty much be on-call 24 hours really impacted my mental health and I wasn’t even really sleeping on my days off either. They would say it was not 24 hours but I would login to see constant missed messages and I was always tossed first thing in the morning into issues with no prep time. I was also constantly asked to stay late to be able to speak with others as well; way late like 12 am or later to “hop on a quick call” but to them they always said it was not a big deal because I was remote and could just quickly log back in.
If any of this had been hinted at I would have never accepted the role in the first place. But it’s still a strike for me on my resume because it’s a role I was in for only half a year.
2022- I spent about 6 months applying for tons of other jobs with no luck. I finally switched tactics and applied for an admin/coordinator role where I was in charge of handling applications and enrollments for social services. This was a bit of a departure from my previous roles but I had not been having any luck there so I switched things up to an adjacent type of role. The first 6 months were amazing and I honestly loved the role.
For this role I knew from the start it would grow after 6 months to include more programs for me to coordinate as they would be getting additional funding. I was excited for this. My bosses said they were very happy with my work and I was told the role would begin to include other social service contracts at the end of 2022.
My very first day in the updated role I walked into the location and was meet by the director of programs. He honestly look very, very frazzled. He did a typical welcome and then said “I guess the first thing is that everyone here splits the toileting duties”. I was so confused I couldn’t even create a follow-up question as to what the hell he was talking about. There much be a mistake?! Toileting who? What? Why? I was here to be an admin coordinator.
Now, part of what this org did was provide health services to the disabled. I knew they did this but my role had nothing to do with this and I have zero experience working with disability services. It all finally came out that what they were actually transitioning me to was a hands on role for the disabilities centers. This was never hinted at prior to that day. This is essentially a social worker or nursing coordinator role. I have no social work let alone nursing experience. I was so desperate and not wanting to have another 6 month job that I just went with it the best I could. I was also made aware that if I didn’t take the role they may have to suspend services to the disabled until they could hire a new person.
If I ever hinted at discomfort I was told “well you always knew your role would grow”. I didn’t want to hurt any of the participants and risk a shutdown so I sucked it up. In all honesty I also very much blamed myself like “well I did know the role would change so its was my fault for not being able to adapt and do my job.” There probably is a lot of truth to that as well.
It was soul crushing and I never had any guidance of any kind. Other than the MAs and CNAs I was the only other worker in the building most days. My calls and emails for guidance or clarification went unanswered by higher ups. I was all on my own in a role I knew nothing about. I went from having never seen a medical chart other than my own simple one. To needing to be able to request, manage, update and QA an entire programs worth overnight and this was on top of social work tasks and providing personal care like feeding and toileting.
The workplace was very toxic and understaffed. Some negative highlights were being punched in the chest, being sexually harassed by disabled participants with no help, being screamed at by family members as I did unfortunately make mistakes, being threatened with weapons as the person sat in the parking lot trying to get in, and having to hop a fence to stop someone from running into the street because none of the other workers were watching them when they were supposed to be and were instead all on a smoke break. I have never successfully cleared a hurtle in my life but I flew over that fence like a damn Olympian that day.
After about 5 months of that I caught covid from the location and actually got decently sick and missed a week of work. When I came back after that time I was told the location closed for good as due to the call outs they were severely understaffed. They said I would make it up by calling all the clients and their families and letting them know the location was closed and that they had to come a get their things.
So I spent the next month being screamed at and threatened by people who depended on these services who were having their lives turned upside down. I was also pretty much blamed by management because if I hadn’t needed a week off they might not have closed. I finally snapped when one of the disabled clients who was nothing but sweet ended up having to move away from her family for services. I left one day and never came back. Fuck them, they can dismantle peoples lives on their own now.
It was just too heartbreaking and I was blamed for it all by management and clients. I can understand where the clients rage came from. I was the constant bearer of bad news and confusion to them.
If I had known I would be expected to toilet, shower, and transfer disabled people as well as handle all of their social services and health needs I world have NEVER applied for the role as it not something I want to do and I have absolutely no experience. None of this was mentioned at anytime before the fateful day where the director told me I was to be toileting people.
I also watched him do the same thing to so many other people. They were all braver than me a quite after a few days. Came in for an admin role?! JK you actually get to deal with feces all day! Don’t want to? Well, that makes you a snob and not a team player.
Current time- after this disaster I took about 4 months we’re I didn’t even look for other jobs. Now I have started back and so far I applied and accepted another research job. However, when the offer letter came it was much lower than the agreed upon salary and it was followed up by a call letting me know that they actually could not provide any healthcare benefits like they said “but maybe in a year or two”. I declined.
Finally, today I went in person for a second interview and was told when I got there after driving and paying for parking that the role was just filled and my interview was cancelled.
I am just so fucking done. I know my resume looks nuts and I know there are millions of things I could have done better. It’s gotten to the point where I am just like what the fuck is wrong with me? Why does this keep happening? I know not all job descriptions can include all tasks but Christ I feel like companies should always mention a role needing all over the place work hours or the fact that workers would be required to toilet and bath 10 people a day. They are actively tricking people to get them through door where they can trap them. I need to stand up for myself more but then where will I be? Behind on my bills and with a crazy work history that will follow me well into the future.
If you made it this far thank you for reading my monologue. I was really upset today and decided to channel the upset into documentation so that maybe I or someone else could glean some insight. Venting helps sometimes.
TLDR: Companies omit important parts of the role or change the job role completely and employees are left to pay the price.