[LiteraryLark]

I'm extremely irritated right now. I only worked 10 hours this month (I asked for 24 a week). Each week is a "what if"--What if I get hours, what if I don't? My superiors are constantly criticizing me over trivial issues: Call us if you have questions, we prefer that you don't; don't call us an email is best, we wish you would have called us instead of emailing us; don't call this person, call that person, but you really should have called an entirely different person; etc. I have been working with this company since November and yet I have only met the hourly requirements I need to pay my bills.

The last straw I had with them is when they took me off the schedule for a client who had changed their availability for caregivers; however, I found out today through a mass text that my shift was given to someone else who called out sick, and they did not ask me personally if I could cover that shift, they sent that call-out to the entire department of caregivers. That set me off. Three other people called out, and when they texted me and called me to fill in for those who called out, I ignored them all. I guess I could work, but I also need to set my foot down. I don't feel respected by them at all. They said they could work around my school schedule, but I've only worked 10 hours for the month I've been in school. They're always criticizing me, and I feel that I only get the clients that are last to fill. I've had no consistent clients like the rest of the other caregivers, even when I had no school or other obligations, I worked two hours here, two hours there, spaced out through the whole week and where clients were far enough away that the money I earned only covered the gas needed to drive to these clients.

So I have an interview for an entirely different company. It's something I've done in the past and its close enough where I can walk to work, and it's also something that will provide stability in my hours and it's a job that requires little thought, just go in, do your job, get paid. I need something stable while I go to school.

It really made me upset to find out they gave my shift away and then find out when that person called out sick. I can't take over that shift anyway because I scheduled the interview for that time.

I'm sure I'll get a call from work tomorrow, and I don't know what to say. I feel like a "last resort employee" and completely disrespected. I'd love to be mean and nasty and tell them off, but that's not who I am; I'm a very kind person and would rather lay low until I get in with the new job. But it's so frustrating and it makes me very upset to be treated like this.

[MickeyCheeky]

I'm so sorry your job isn't going too well, LiteraryLark Good on you for finding another job! If the current one isn't satisfying to you, then you have every right to look for another one. Unfortunately work can be very stressful, especially if you have to study as well. I hope you'll have better luck with your next one. Just try to do the best you can right now until you can get a new job. I don't think you need to tell them off, it would make things even more difficult. Like you've said, just try to lay low. Remember that I'm here for you if you need it. Feel free to PM me anytime. Let me know if I can do something to help you. Wish you good luck! Let us know how it goes. Sending many hugs to you

[LiteraryLark]

Well, after they asked me to call them, I called them and they told me they wish I didn't call them. They also explicitly called me a last resort employee when making the rounds of people who could cover for shifts....seeeeeeya.

[healingme4me]

Ugh! So sorry this happened to you

[Open Eyes]

I am sorry you experienced that LiteraryLark. What I see about this challenge however is how you could only work here and there due to your personal schedule and when it comes to an operation like this the individuals that get priority are the ones who can commit themselves in a way where the need is covered consistently where someone like you is just a last minute filler if someone has an illness and can't do the job. Often this can turn into you getting called for jobs that are far away from you and are not worth it for you due to the travel expenses. Unfortunately that isn't considered in that you are only a filler when needed and your complaints won't have as much value either simply due to you only being a filler instead of one of the employees that commit full time or consistently. And the truth is you will often be called last minute too. This can lead to your having the feelings you have shared. Unfortunately, it's the workers who can work on a consistent basis that always get priortized as they fit into the overall picture of the easiest way to function with this kind of service.

While I have not been involved with being a caregiver myself, I have experienced the kind of things you have described whenever I did not fit into being able to function on a consistent level.

[LiteraryLark]

@open_eyes Even when I had full open availability, I couldn't meet minimum hour requirements and they took up every day giving me a 2 hour shift here and there, and even then, half the shifts got canceled and the other half let me go an hour or two early.

[downandlonely]

I am sorry about what you're going through with this current job. It sounds very stressful.

I hope you can get the new job and that it works out better than you.

[saidso]

I have a friend who is a qualified nurse but who does caregiving in Europe. She gets all sorts of b's that you wouldn't believe. For example she gets sent to one woman where the keyholder is in a café but the café isn't open the hours that the woman wants here there. She gets emergency calls that no one has turned up to help a paralysed woman to the toilet because of a scheduling mistake.

Caregiving seems to be badly managed everywhere is my point. Eventually my friend will get promotion because of her nursing qualifications but meanwhile she... does what I couldn't do and laughs about it.

I hope that your other job will be less demanding so you can concentrate on your schoolwork!!! GOOD LUCK.