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Aristus

(66,096 posts)
Thu Aug 27, 2020, 12:44 PM Aug 2020

I'm so f*****g DONE with my clinic manager.

I just got an e-mail from him in response to my request for time off in October for continuing education classes.

FWIW, I need fifty hours a year of continuing education in order to maintain my medical license.

I gave him two whole months' worth of notice for the time off; I also told him my formal 'request' was really just an FYI, because I'm taking the time off, come what may.

His e-mail said that he's having trouble finding coverage for that time period, and could I have the sponsors move the conference to a different week.



I shook my head wearily and e-mailed him back. "No. The conference is the conference. They're not going to move it just because I asked them to. If I don't get these hours in, I lose my medical license. Bottom line.

His response: Basically "Oh, okay. I guess I'll keep trying to get coverage."



This sort of thing never goes the other way. When the mainstream clinic is down three providers, or whatever, I have to pick up the slack, no matter how many patients a day that means. But sheesh! If I need some time off, the manager is never able to find coverage for that time period; it becomes this awful hardship and how come I never think of his difficulties?

I just want to shout at him: "You're the manager! MANAGE!"

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Phoenix61

(16,954 posts)
1. I'm sorry. It sucks working for a jerk.
Thu Aug 27, 2020, 12:57 PM
Aug 2020

The whole “I’m counting on you” bs. Enjoy your conference he’ll find a way to make it work.

Aristus

(66,096 posts)
2. That's one of the irritating things about all this: I don't work for him.
Thu Aug 27, 2020, 01:01 PM
Aug 2020

He's the manager; he's supposed to be working for me; or at least working for the team of clinic providers.

I've told him more than once that his job is to make sure we have what we need, and then stay out of our way.

Most of the clinic and regional managers have backgrounds of one kind or another in medicine, or at least medical administration. Our guy is an ex-cop (that figures), and I've heard gossip that he wasn't even a very good cop.

Pisses me off...

NNadir

(33,368 posts)
13. Well, look at the bright side. He's not out on the street...
Thu Aug 27, 2020, 02:50 PM
Aug 2020

...shooting people for being black.

Incompetence sucks, but incompetence among the police is tearing out country apart, with help of course, from the racist in chief, assisted by the murder conspirator Tucker Carlson on the propaganda channel.

NotHardly

(1,062 posts)
16. There are LABOR LAWS and no doubt Company policies that you have not researched but need to..
Thu Aug 27, 2020, 03:19 PM
Aug 2020

Look, if your employer causes you to lose your certification, credentials, or licensing they are liable for Labor Law violations and a civil suit you can legitimately bring. You need to do some research, chat with a friendly attorney not their's, and help your manager get smarter.

Midnightwalk

(3,131 posts)
3. He's managing by guilt and projection
Thu Aug 27, 2020, 01:05 PM
Aug 2020

You were clear in telling him you have to take time off for training and gave him plenty of time to make arrangements.

You aren’t going to jeopardy your license, so you are going to take the time off. If it weren’t for covid you would probably be looking forward to the conference as a well deserved work related trip even if the hours might be grueling.

He’s trying to make you feel responsible for his failure to manage. As best you can, don’t fall for it.

Just my two cents.

Aristus

(66,096 posts)
4. Two cents well-spent. Thank you.
Thu Aug 27, 2020, 01:07 PM
Aug 2020


I couldn't believe it myself when he hit me with "We may not have the coverage" two months out.

I checked the providers' availability calendar before putting in my request. Both weeks I requested were wide open. He's just being an asshole.

dixiegrrrrl

(60,010 posts)
5. I had exactly the same problem once.
Thu Aug 27, 2020, 01:13 PM
Aug 2020


Slightly worse...I was told I couldn't attend a conference for license credits 2 days before the conference,
after I had paid and registered. ( normally the job would pay me back for the expenses, after the conference)

AND she said it with a smirk.

That smirk cost her the $250,000 a year program I was running. I went to the conference, and got another job within a week.

I fully appreciate that not all people have the luxury of that option.

It did feel good tho.


Wicked Blue

(5,767 posts)
6. They are too cheap to hire enough people
Thu Aug 27, 2020, 01:13 PM
Aug 2020

to get the job done. Happens in a lot of places. It sucks to be the one who gets stuck with it and unable to take off needed time. I hope you get the time off when you need it.

Rant:
Employers have far too much power over employees these days. I don't think things were like that 30-40 years ago. People got 15-minute coffee breaks twice a day. They got to leave work after putting in 8 hours. They got vacations and holidays.

My husband is a DBA with somewhat similar issues to yours. He's the only DBA, so when problems arise, he deals with them. He has to bring along a laptop during vacations, family reunions, holiday weekends and holidays. He's worked in the middle of a reunion, during vacations, etc. One time he was driving home from visiting a relative 200 miles away. He got a call to do something, pulled into a rest area with wifi, and worked from there. They are too cheap to hire a second DBA. They would rather work him to death.

I ask him from time to time, what they would do if you get really sick or heaven forbid, land in the hospital. I imagine they would expect him to work regardless. Once in a long while they hire someone as a backup, but at a much lower salary level, without adequate skills. They quit within days when they find out how much work is involved.

Yavin4

(35,357 posts)
19. A lot of companies believe that all you need for tech is one person with a computer.
Thu Aug 27, 2020, 08:07 PM
Aug 2020

I am in the field, and I know your husband's pain. These companies think of us as the "Computer Guy". That one guy can support an entire enterprise.

Wicked Blue

(5,767 posts)
20. And no overtime pay, right?
Fri Aug 28, 2020, 09:07 AM
Aug 2020

Computer people are classified as professionals, so they don't get paid for overtime hours. They work all-nighters, weekends and holidays without ANY extra compensation, not even comp time off. Their reward: exhaustion.

Sherman A1

(38,958 posts)
7. Been there.
Thu Aug 27, 2020, 01:14 PM
Aug 2020

Different field entirely, but same management technique. Trying to get a vacation week was fine as long as I was willing to work half of it covering their needs and be sure to pick up the slack when they took their time off.

MLAA

(17,165 posts)
11. Here's a trick that sometimes works when dealing With idiots
Thu Aug 27, 2020, 01:37 PM
Aug 2020

First for anything likely or possibly to be controversial or a pain, I go for live/phone conversations. Sometimes harder to say stupid things or outrageous requests live than in emails.

When they then say something stupid, repeat it back very slowly. So in your crazy situation “So you want me to ask the conference coordinator if they will move an entire conference that has been advertised and already accepted enrollments just for me? Remember the slowly part 😬

Sometimes the stupid one realizes themselves how stupid it was.

Jirel

(1,993 posts)
12. Sounds lazy, dumb, incompetent, or all 3.
Thu Aug 27, 2020, 02:09 PM
Aug 2020

Clearly not a medical person. Otherwise “we do this to keep out licenses and you WANT THAT” would make sense.

Yavin4

(35,357 posts)
18. I'm dealing with that exact issue on my job, a manager that does not understand resource planning.
Thu Aug 27, 2020, 08:04 PM
Aug 2020

Because of resignations, we have less than half the staff of 2 years ago, but instead of hiring when people were leaving 2 years ago, he did nothing.

Now, we're in a situation where if more people leave the current workload becomes too much for the people who remained, and he cannot hire anyone else because of the pandemic.

So, we're getting crushed with work. I see people making mistakes left and right. Things falling through the cracks. I can only do what I can do. I'm taking my vacation time.

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