June 28, 2010

• 5-issued fist of fury

  Well, I haven’t been around for a while because I’ve been “training” at my new job at the assisted living mental health facility. I put training in quotes because I’ve been working like a horse for very ungrateful people who gave me next to no training but still felt free to criticize my work.

  Today I quit. There was a lot leading up to it in the two weeks I basically worked there.

  My first complaint about the job was the commute. It’s a 45 minute to 1 hour trek one way. So basically a two hour commute every day I worked. Second was the training… there basically was none. They made us watch a video about safe handling of possible contaminated materials. That was the “training” we received before being dropped feet first into a hostile environment. True, I was shadowing someone, but that doesn’t mean I had the necessary training to actually do the job. I’ve had other jobs that were a lot less stressful and dangerous where I was given training out the wazoo. Borders gave me training for the first three days before they even set me loose on the floor and had training at least once a week thereafter, and there was less possibility someone would murder me and shove me behind a bush. The possibility of catching an incurable and deadly disease (HIV or Hepatitis C) was another blinking neon sign of “you don’t want to be here.” They made surgical gloves available, but many of them were way too small for anyone to use. I know… others complained of the size as well.

  The icing on the cake was that I’ve been cleaning the kitchen very hard because it’s just disgusting. I was picking a little project every time I worked and really using the elbow grease to whip the place into shape. This was because I couldn’t in good conscience allow people to eat food from that kitchen, not because their state inspection is coming up or because I was asked. I did it because it needed to get done and no one else was doing it. I think I could call OSHA or the state right now and point out things I’ve seen and have the place shut down in a day. The conditions are horrendous. There are issues that shouldn’t be issues; they should be addressed every day, not because inspection is approaching, but because this is a place where people’s lives depend upon the quality of service.

  So yesterday when I went in to work the director or owner or whatever she is came in and talked down to us at the shift meeting, said third shift wasn’t doing their jobs and mentioned the kitchen in particular. Excuse me?

  There’s also the fact that one of my (former) coworkers spends at least an hour in the kitchen cooking every night she works, making the cleaning of the kitchen that much harder. I told her to clean up after herself. I have no idea if she actually did Saturday or last night.

  Saturday, I was dropped feet first into the mess of doing all the room checks with one other “free” mentor to help me. Technically there were five people on hand, but I did all the work. I did all the fire and security checks. I took out the garbage. I cleaned the kitchen. I did all the two hour and 15 minute checks. I even did some laundry. I filled the cleaning carts for Service Master. The free mentor took care of waking everyone up who needed to be reminded to use the bathroom. The med tech girl (the elicit cooker) spent most of her time somewhere else. I rarely saw her outside of the kitchen. Then one of the clients broke the file room door, where we keep our stuff, and she couldn’t comprehend why I was upset? Then she broke the door further by trying to force it shut when it clearly would not close. I tried calling for assistance on the walkie and NO ONE answered. What if there’d been an emergency? Eventually I moved my stuff over to the office and continued to make my rounds, very much behind.

  So yesterday I brought up in the shift meeting how short handed we’d been the previous night, how just one more person would have been helpful, and the administrator told me point blank that I was spoiled. I’ll take a lot of criticism, but I am not lazy. She said that technically the state only requires that they have two people on staff for 3rd shift. I call BS. That might be true if the people in question were fully trained, but I haven’t finished my SCM (safe crisis management) or CPR or any of the other anomalous training I was supposed to have. There was a huge list when I filled out all my employment papers, and I was told that I would be informed when such training became available.

  I still have no idea what training I was lacking, what training might have made my job easier. I had two out of three 2-hour SCM sessions under my belt (and wasn’t that a waste of a 2-hour commute), and you know what I learned? Basically I can’t do anything. Someone wants to hit me? I’m helpless. Someone wants to beat the crap out of me, I can’t do a darn thing. The only time I could technically restrain a client according to the rules was if a client was hurting or had the potential to hurt themselves or other clients. They want to hit me; apparently that’s just peachy. I hadn’t even learned any of the holds, and I know the mentor hadn’t either because she started at the same time I did. Considering how often the med-tech girl disappeared, I’d have been up the creek without a paddle if anything untoward had happened.

  Then this morning one of the clients hit me as I was leaving because she wanted a cigarette, and she was out until the first shift replenished everyone’s stash. I know others have been hit worse by her and other clients. One of the service masters ladies ended up in the hospital for 3-4 days with a concussion. This was before I started there. One of the clients slammed her head into the door several times.

  My arm still hurts. A bruise will probably show up in a couple days. All the other staff that was there basically laughed it off (and what kind of message does that send to the clients?).

  So that’s five issues, six if you count the fact that I’m allergic to all the pine trees surrounding the place, and to me, five issues makes a fist that should knock some sense into me about continuing my employment. Long story short, I called today when I got up and told them I wasn’t coming back. No 2 weeks. I’m sorry. They don’t respect me, want to call me lazy, want to treat me like I’m a drudge? They don’t deserve the respect 2-weeks notice denotes. I think most of the clients are very sweet people, and I really feel for them, but the violent ones should not be there. Assisted living should be for the ones who only need assistance, not the ones who are liable to lash out at everyone around them. I could use the whole place in one of my horror stories and not change a thing but the names!

  I won’t name the place. My sister works there, and I’m not going to cost her her job, even though I’m sure she’ll hear enough about my leaving. I’m almost positive that the place will be shut down when the state does its inspection, but I’ve been told by others that despite many citations, it’s still open, so who knows. Apparently the state doesn’t want to have to find placement for all the clients, so they let things slide when I for darn sure wouldn’t. The kitchen alone is a horrendous health code violation, not to mention the mold on the vents throughout the building fed by water condensation from the pathetic air conditioning. Maybe more of the clients would sleep through the night if more than just the office was properly cooled. Or the bugs… so many bugs… spiders, beetles, moths, lightning bugs, click beetles, cockroaches, flies, deer flies, mosquitoes, gnats, pincer bugs, stag beetles, and other things less identifiable. The place is filthy. They don’t employ enough people to properly take care of the clients or the building, Many of the clients have rashes from wetting themselves at night. I consider myself well quit of the place even though my savings are nearly gone. I’d rather work as a dishwasher making $5 an hour than stay in a place that insults my self-respect and my work ethic.

  • 8:41 pm
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