Jobless again...

What a fan-fucking-tastic start to 2008.

Over the holiday weekend (12/31, and 1/1) I got a call from one of our C.N.A.s. (certified nursing assistant). I wasn't on-call over these two days, and decided not to accept the call (mind you this call came on my personal cell phone).

I get back into work yesterday, and I find out that this person that called me never showed up for a private duty job. So I let one of my co-workers know this. No big deal. My boss comes in today and she finds out that I received a phone call from the C.N.A. that pulled the nc/ns (no call, no show), and asked why I didn't take it.

So, I calmly explain that I was not on call, and the phone call came through on my personal cell phone. I further explained that since the company I work for does not pay for my cell phone minutes, it really is up to me who I talk to and who I don't. At this point I was accused of 'giving attitude' -which really is my boss's way of shutting down a conversation when she knows she is in the wrong. This is just one of several occurrences in the last 4 months that has led me to look for other work. I told her that I wanted to give a 30 day notice and that I would stay and help train someone if needed. Her response was "you won't even be here that long". I then asked her why no one from our answering service could not get a hold of the on-call person ( I received 3 voicemails from the answering service stating this). She said "her phone wasn't working well".

At this point, I need to explain two things:

1.) My boss is gay -nothing wrong with that
2.) My boss's girl-friend is also my co-worker, and the person that was on call 12/31 and 1/1

I asked her "between the 2 of you you have 3 cellphones. Why didn't someone call the answering service and give them another number to reach you at"? No response there. There is a whole litany of things I could go on about. Such as:

She tells me I need to be more direct and 'prickish' -her exact wording on the phone with the caregivers because they are 'running the call' So I do what I'm asked, and let the caregivers know that if they don't renew their C.N.A. license by 12/31, they can't work for us. Ultimately my boss gets some phone calls saying that I pretty much told them they can't work for us until they get their credentials renewed. My boss comes to me and now says that I have to utilize 'the multi-stakeholder approach'. This means that I have to treat every caregiver as if they were my customer... ok HOLD THE FUCKING PHONE HERE. Did you or did you not tell me to be more direct on the phone? ! This is just one example of some of the bullshit I've encountered. Then there's the case of placing a C.N.A. Who wasn't even WORKING FOR US on a brand new private duty case. 'No problem' I was told, she will come in today and fill out new hire paperwork. Apparently ethics is not a term that this company is familiar with.

Anyways, back to today. We exchange a few more words, and she walks away from my desk. As she does so, she tells me that I 'need to leave'. So I say ok, gather my stuff, and walk the 4-5 miles to my house. When I get home, I get a message from her saying that "you left when I wasn't done talking to you". WTF you fired me! She further goes on to say that I am now suspended from work without pay for the next 3 days. Um, how can you suspend someone you fired?

I called her back and explained to her that she told me to leave, so I left. Furthermore I asked how you can suspend someone after firing them? My boss said that she didn't fire me, I simply got up and left... Ya, I'm pretty sure I didn't decide to walk out the door with no other prospects lined up.

So, here I am on the job hunting trail that so many of you seem to be on.

I called my wife, and she said "this just means that god is shutting one door and opening another". I sure hope so.

Maybe I will raise puppies full time........