Loose Ends

Even after all that went on at my last job I really don't hold a grudge or any truly nasty feelings. More than anything I would love to just move on and never think about that place again. I have never wished Dr. J ill-will, more than anything I just want to move on with my life. Of course since that's what I want do you think that's what's happening? Of course not. I found out on Tuesday that Dr. J has decided to contest my unemployment benefits. She fired me and didn't give me a severance and now she wants to turn around and try to make it so that I have no income while looking for another job. She doesn't have a clue about the part-time job but I'm sure that will come out soon enough and that will probably make her want to fight things all that much more.

I know I have spoken briefly about how extremely frustrating my job could be but I'll sum up the major issue now. When I was hired we were fully staffed with 3 front office people, 2 part-time front office people, me, and 1 part-time person to help me. Over the course of a year we let my part-time person go, one of the part-time front desk people, and then had a revolving door for the full-time positions. Any times the front office wasn't fully staffed I had to cover the phones and the desk and anything else that needed to be done. Of course the time spent on the front desk took away the time I could spend on my work, which in turn caused my work to suffer. I repeatedly (and I do mean REPEATEDLY) asked the owner to hire people and she put it off time, and time, and time again. All the while acting as though there shouldn't be a reason for me to be behind. Not only that but I worked extremely hard to keep that office running, even when I had Livi. I worked from home and in the office getting mail and processing payments and payroll only 4 days after Livi was born. Yes, you read that right. I basically took almost no maternity leave.

All that being said, during the year I was employed with them there was never one mention of the possibility of my being terminated, there was never one write-up done regarding my employment, and there was never a written warning documented to show that she was unhappy with my work, even if she thought I did horrible work (or whatever went through her messed up mind). Basically she doesn't have a leg to stand on but it will hold me up from getting any payment at all for 4-8 weeks. Trust me when I say there are a lot of profanities I could use right now to describe this woman.

One crazy thing that has shocked me during this week is how wrong I was about 2 of the people that I worked with. I know I've spoken about T here before and not in the most flattering of light. I regret that now. I don't think I've spoken about G here but basically the reason I was hired on at Dr. J's office is because G decided to work at home with her mother doing medical billing on her own. Even though she no longer worked with Dr. J full time she did end up staying on as an independent consultant to help with the A/R. Sorry, had to get introductions out of the way. Anyway, during my time in the office G always seemed like a very sweet person and someone I could depend on. She was always willing to help and we went out to lunch a few times, she really seemed like a friend. T on the other hand was just more rough. We didn't always see eye to eye, although we got along for the most part, but she didn't really seem like she'd give a flip about me one way or the other once I ever left that office.

How very wrong I was. Don't get me wrong, G acted like my friend. I called her to tell her the situation but she already knew. Dr. J had called her the night before to find out if G would take over the entire billing and payroll areas if she fired me, which of course G agreed to do. She claims it's because Dr. J has helped her so much in the past that she owes her but I know the money is the real motivation (which I don't even blame her for, I just can't stand the two faced person she is). She pretty much said how sorry she was and how wrong it was and how I could absolutely use her as a reference at her work number at home. That was on Monday and I haven't talked to her since.

T has called me every day to see how I'm doing. She wants to meet for lunch and was appalled at the way Dr. J treated me. On Tuesday night T called in tears because of the things Dr. J and G were saying about me. Dr. J wants T to testify against me when she contests my unemployment because I did T's taxes for her on the office computer at 10:30 in the morning - which isn't lunch time. First of all, I never had a set lunch time and secondly, I was on it when I did the taxes! She is basically grasping at straws. Then T heard G back in my office talking to the new girl (oh wait, did I forget to tell you Dr. J hired someone the Saturday after she fired me? so basically there are now 2 people to do my job, the one she fired me for because I needed help - hhhmmmm) about the work that was left undone. Then she turned to Dr. J and said she should take pictures of the work they were having to do that I left undone.

Of course I left work undone, I got fired!! Seriously, I know very few people that work in an office/bookkeeping position that go home every day with every piece or work done. Maybe I am the oddball here but seriously, do you all have your work 100% complete when you walk out the door each night? Either way T told Dr. J that I did the taxes on my lunch hour to keep T from having to pay hundreds of dollars to a crappy tax place to do them for her and got very upset. I know now she's worried about when Dr. J is going to turn on her and fire her next. Really, it's just a matter of time.

It's amazing to me the shocking way people will treat each other, even in times of hardship and strife. This most definitely has taught me a lesson about trust, sadly enough, and how to better see people for who and what they really are.