By angelolucas pixabay.com
So, that was it.
When I interviewed for the lab job, they told me it'd be 5-6 days/week, and I agreed to these conditions as they would've given me enough time to do college work on the side (still need to graduate despite the pandemic, heh).
Then hours were increased from 8 h to 10 h/shift.
Then our day off was cancelled, again.
After working 7 days in a row, 64 h (5 days night shift), I had to throw the towel because things wouldn't get better. My shift managers hadn't had a day off since St. Patrick's Day (17th of March)!
I offered to stay on a "reduced" schedule with "just" 50 h/week. Still a lot of work, but enough free time to allow me to finish my assignments and study for my exams.
They declined that and wished me goodbye.
They prefer letting someone who's already trained go, to then train someone new.
I do regret quitting because I wanted to do this work. I wanted to help, I wanted to make myself useful - I still do! I told my shift manager I'd return on 50 h/week and she said she'll try to talk to them.
The problem is, if they give me sensible hours, they have to give them to everyone, and that's just not acceptable.
The lab is a private company, usually doing agricultural testing. They have been tasked with this job by a national agency which, as far as I know, pays for the workers and new facilities/equipment. Does the company itself get paid? I don't know.
But this behaviour doesn't make sense. Two other people (that I know of) quit this week before I did. My last straw was the fact that they didn't want to give us Sunday off, making me work 15 consecutive days - assuming the Sunday after that would be off.
Most people working in this lab are in their (very early) 20s. They're often undergrad students, most of them still live with their parents. They're paid well, compared to what they'd get elsewhere, and many stay with this job for the money. Others need a work placement to graduate, and thanks to Covid19, their summer placements have been cancelled.
Yes, this is an emergency situation. Yes, they need to get as many tests processed as possible. But honestly? The way they are handling this is wrong, it harms people, and it is highly unethical.
I signed up with the HSE (Irish health services) and registered for a volunteer newsletter to see if there are other ways in which I can be helpful during this pandemic. I still want to help, and I am willing to work my ass off.
But I'm not willing to trade my health.
Signature by @atopy
<3 Good decision.
Sad they don't understand that having people work reasonable hours is more sustainable in the long run (and this run will be long).
Stay healthy!
I really don't understand their approach. What good is it to burn through people in the first few weeks?
I feel like it's just PR and money they're after.
Sad. And probably true.
What a wild ride to catch up on your posts!
This was a noble choice but I think it was right for you to quit when you did, especially considering the management style. You can't save the world but you made it a little better.
It's really strange; I know four doctors and none of them seem worried about it. A customer of mine is a general practitioner who says "It's just a flu and the panic is doing more damage than the virus." My neighbor is a pediatric pulmonologist at Mass General Hospital who just shrugged and said, "Yeah, there's a few cases at the hospital but it doesn't affect my patients because they're young." (Which surprised me, because they have other risk factors like cancer.) Her husband is a cardiac surgeon who took a week off. And my buddy who's an ER physician, his husband posted pictures of him on Facebook relaxing in his pajamas at home.
Oh, and the pulmonologist wouldn't stop talking to me from like one foot away! I was sitting in my car and she kept leaning into my window. (No mask.)
Meanwhile the hospital parking lots are all empty.
I really hope this thing doesn't turn out to be as bad as they say, but maybe the front-line people are geared down now because they're saving the strength for when the virus really goes exponential.
Well, one of my classmates is a nurse and she says it's awful.
There aren't many people (yet) who need intensive care, but the ones that do? They're fucked. Absolutely fucked.
And there's not much PPE for the healthcare workers, they have to improvise in many cases.
I am surprised your four doctors are so lax about it, it's a bit worrying.
Good. You did the right thing here. Society too often accepts self-sacrifice as some sort of ethical ideal. It's not. It's terrible, and it leads to the absolute best people living the absolute worst lives.
I hope you find some way to fulfill your desire to help that will still leave you the time and energy you need to take care of yourself. Oxygen mask instructions apply.
For now, I'm organising video meetups to keep the people around me sane. It's something.
Uff, that's some hard core hours, and 5 night shifts in a row! I haven't done even a single one in my life, and don't even plan to because I'd like to keep my health.
Working in that lab seems like a guaranteed way to burnout.
Well, it would've been 7 night shifts (as Sunday is not off) and one of my ex-coworkers actually told me she's on another week night shift, so ... fun times, fun times.
I was on prophylactic pain killers because bad sleep rhythms give me migraines.
They get to check a box, and slap themselves on the back and use it for the next government give away. You would think a testing facility would be more concerned with sleep deprivation and all the effects that come with it and the mistakes that happen from over work. But they get to check that all important box in any future government give away.
Probably that, yea.
It just makes me so angry.
I tend to have a very strict routine and clean workplace setup to avoid mistakes, and in my last shift I almost threw away not one but three processed samples because I was so tired that I couldn't focus that well.
Luckily, it was only almost because I usually double and triple check after every step that I didn't do a mistake.
Sleep deprivation and exhaustion will get to people, and it will not be pretty.
What's the Covid19 situation in Ireland ?
We're on week 2 of a general lockdown, you can see the stats here: https://www.gov.ie/en/news/7e0924-latest-updates-on-covid-19-coronavirus/
Looks like its hitting the old max.
Yes, but also any death is still a death and thus tragic.
Working people to the ground in the testing facility won't change it though.
the most important thing is you having time for yourself
I'd prefer spending some time of it helping to be honest. But there are limits
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