Visit website: GrammaBurp.com
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
The Challenges Of Starting A Greeting Card Business
Well... that last post was difficult to read again. I haven't looked at it in years. I've got to say though, it's relieving knowing that I don't have to live that life anymore.
My spouse & I have been foster care providers for the last decade. After I resigned from the job I had for 13 years, we decided to do foster care full-time. We really do enjoy it. I much prefer a house full of noisy teenagers, than peace & quiet. There's something unnatural about complete silence. And I have never really been able to explain it, but I feel much happier when I'm surrounded by the chaos that comes with having a house full of kids.
Two years ago my greeting card business, GrammaBurp, officially opened. Starting a new business without any financial backing, whether it's a savings account, investors, or loans, is quite a challenge. The stipend you get for foster-parenting is officially said to be "for room & board", and if anyone reading this has ever raised a child ... teenager, you'll know that I'm not kidding when I say that the stipend barely covers it. So that leaves me without a lot to work with, in starting a business. I had a little from unemployment benefits, and that got me started. I also did a bit of eBay sales, but I learned to loathe that, so I only did it when I had no other options. And then, little by little, one sale at a time, my greeting card business became self-sustaining.
That's been one of the biggest challenges, making sure the business could support itself.
Another challenge I've faced, or not ... is DA- DA - DAAAA!!!! (((low echoing movie announcer guy's voice))) S-A-L-E-S. The word alone sends shivers of fear down my spine.
Yes, I took classes, I subscribed to newsletters, I read the best books ... but still I have yet to tackle my fear of sales. I know I have a great product & I know that it sells really well, but I don't know how to convince retail stores that it's a win / win situation. When they find me, and order... they're always happy. But I have yet to find much success in making the dreaded cold calls. I hate receiving sales calls, I know they hate it too. & I'm not naturally a pushy person... so it's really, really difficult for me.
Another challenge I've dealt with, successfully, is time management. In the beginning, the family didn't understand that I was actually working when I was in my home office. I think they thought I was just screwing around on the computer. They would come in & ask me anything & everything, like: "Hey barbie, where's the milk?". Usually I'd say "It's on the porch" or something ridiculous, and you always get the same response to that kind of comment. They all say: "Huh?" (Which sounds like a snippet of a yodel in slow-motion... starts out really low on the 'h', then rolls up to higher notes on the 'u' & the last 'h' ... sort of like Tim Allen / Tim Taylor -- the dad on home improvement -- Tool Time -- when the light bulb went on...) Eventually they realize the milk is in the fridge, behind the juice & not on the porch... although some of them actually looked outside for it.
We're known for having "family meetings" ... which I think is something I make them all go through because I had to sit through them as a teen also. Eventually, after several family meetings, we all agreed that while I'm in my office, I'm not the 1st person to ask where the dairy products are hiding.
It's working out a lot better now, than it did in the beginning. I think that when they started seeing my cards in stores it hit them that I was serious. One of the kids was with my spouse one day, & they went into a store in the next state over. He spotted the spinner full of my cards the minute they walked in & he said: (not quietly) "Oh my God! Those are GrammaBurp cards! Wow! I can't believe it! I know a famous person!" The clerk got a kick out of it. And after that, he started showing a genuine interest in the cards.
All in all, it's been a wonderful adventure so far. but right now my granddaughter would like to play a computer game, so .... until next time....
My spouse & I have been foster care providers for the last decade. After I resigned from the job I had for 13 years, we decided to do foster care full-time. We really do enjoy it. I much prefer a house full of noisy teenagers, than peace & quiet. There's something unnatural about complete silence. And I have never really been able to explain it, but I feel much happier when I'm surrounded by the chaos that comes with having a house full of kids.
Two years ago my greeting card business, GrammaBurp, officially opened. Starting a new business without any financial backing, whether it's a savings account, investors, or loans, is quite a challenge. The stipend you get for foster-parenting is officially said to be "for room & board", and if anyone reading this has ever raised a child ... teenager, you'll know that I'm not kidding when I say that the stipend barely covers it. So that leaves me without a lot to work with, in starting a business. I had a little from unemployment benefits, and that got me started. I also did a bit of eBay sales, but I learned to loathe that, so I only did it when I had no other options. And then, little by little, one sale at a time, my greeting card business became self-sustaining.
That's been one of the biggest challenges, making sure the business could support itself.
Another challenge I've faced, or not ... is DA- DA - DAAAA!!!! (((low echoing movie announcer guy's voice))) S-A-L-E-S. The word alone sends shivers of fear down my spine.
Yes, I took classes, I subscribed to newsletters, I read the best books ... but still I have yet to tackle my fear of sales. I know I have a great product & I know that it sells really well, but I don't know how to convince retail stores that it's a win / win situation. When they find me, and order... they're always happy. But I have yet to find much success in making the dreaded cold calls. I hate receiving sales calls, I know they hate it too. & I'm not naturally a pushy person... so it's really, really difficult for me.
Another challenge I've dealt with, successfully, is time management. In the beginning, the family didn't understand that I was actually working when I was in my home office. I think they thought I was just screwing around on the computer. They would come in & ask me anything & everything, like: "Hey barbie, where's the milk?". Usually I'd say "It's on the porch" or something ridiculous, and you always get the same response to that kind of comment. They all say: "Huh?" (Which sounds like a snippet of a yodel in slow-motion... starts out really low on the 'h', then rolls up to higher notes on the 'u' & the last 'h' ... sort of like Tim Allen / Tim Taylor -- the dad on home improvement -- Tool Time -- when the light bulb went on...) Eventually they realize the milk is in the fridge, behind the juice & not on the porch... although some of them actually looked outside for it.
We're known for having "family meetings" ... which I think is something I make them all go through because I had to sit through them as a teen also. Eventually, after several family meetings, we all agreed that while I'm in my office, I'm not the 1st person to ask where the dairy products are hiding.
It's working out a lot better now, than it did in the beginning. I think that when they started seeing my cards in stores it hit them that I was serious. One of the kids was with my spouse one day, & they went into a store in the next state over. He spotted the spinner full of my cards the minute they walked in & he said: (not quietly) "Oh my God! Those are GrammaBurp cards! Wow! I can't believe it! I know a famous person!" The clerk got a kick out of it. And after that, he started showing a genuine interest in the cards.
All in all, it's been a wonderful adventure so far. but right now my granddaughter would like to play a computer game, so .... until next time....
Old letter explaining why I resigned - job burnout - the causes
Clearing out my old e-mail & computer files, and I came across this... The reasons I resigned from my old job. Reading it brought me back, I traveled through time -- that old ache in my gut returned -- my stomach remembers the stress.
It's a long read, but it is all truth. (Asterics substituted for names.)
After more than 12 years of employment with **TheAgency** , I had to resign because of consistent poor working conditions, safety issues & being treated disrespectfully, which all together resulted in my experiencing numerous physical & emotional symptoms of job burnout.
I went to my supervisor when I realized I was experiencing a great number of job burnout symptoms & told her. I was not offered an alternate position, nor was I offered any counseling. Instead, my direct supervisor made jokes about me needing an antidepressant.
A large number of things contributed to my job burnout;
-recent cut in time off benefits
-frequent, mandatory overtime / having to work on days off
-numerous financial cutbacks
-issue with supplies
-a general sense of job insecurity
-increase in expectations coupled with decrease in staff
-communication issues throughout agency
-too much responsibility
-conflicting expectations
-frequently having to run programs short staffed
-unpleasant working conditions
-dangerous working conditions
-huge workload
-infrequent breaks
-long hours
-lack of control over my job
-little or no support from new supervisor
-constantly questioned & second-guessed about office or household supplies
(especially lightbulbs, paper towels & computer & fax ink)
-inability to participate in decision-making, little recognition for all the work I was doing
-supervisor joking about my job burnout - asked if I had gotten an antidepressant yet
-maggots
-rodents
-fleas
-loose stair treads
-icy parking lot
-lack of salt & sand
-bodily fluids in personal vehicles (vomit, urine, feces)
-2 years reporting foundation collapsing issue ignored
-no safety lighting
-cheap telephones that do not work well causing inability to dial 9-1-1 when needed & nothing was done
-being treated disrespectfully by human resources
resignation facts & dates
August 04 New supervisor. She was supposed to have weekly supervision with me. She consistently meets with the other site manager, for a weekly scheduled supervision. She scheduled one with me, then didn't come, so we had supervision on the phone that day. Did not have any other supervisions, though I did drop in a couple of times to communicate. My workload is twice that of my counterpart who was having weekly supervision. I have more than twice the # of clients & 1 1/2 times the staff to supervise, with little to no support.
New supervisor has bad follow-through. I asked her to speak with a therapist about a client wanting support group for breast cancer, the therapist told my staff to cancel the clients support group appt. A month later, my new supervisor followed up in staff meeting, which was a bit late, as the client had already had her mastectomy 2 weeks prior.
Increasingly more often being asked to come in on my days off. It happened 3 times in Sept / October.
In September I submitted a purchase request for four, $4 calculators for the staff to calculate mileage & for use while grocery shopping with clients. The request was denied. Staff & I had to purchase out of pocket & donate the calculators.
In September, I was given a 5 year service pin after having worked for **TheAgency** for 12+ years.
Physical symptoms I was experiencing:
Stabbing temple headaches daily.
Jaw aches daily d/t clenching jaw / teeth all night, every night (insurance would not cover the dental guard).
Irregular heartbeat diagnosed as premature ventricular contractions (which disappeared the day after my last day of work).
Days I would call out because I just couldn't stand the thought of going in were increasing.
Crying out of stress before going in to work.
Felt like I was busting my butt constantly, & doing more work than ever, yet every time I turned around, I was being told that I wasn't doing enough.
I was having nightmares about work & so not sleeping well. 4-5 hours sleep per night at best.
Dreaded getting out of bed in the AM.
My spouse & I went 5 months without having sexual relations. (I'm sure they had a good laugh after reading this line.)
I was at my breaking point. I'd gone so long doing so much hard work, giving my all & feeling so much stress, with so little recognition, & experiencing so many physical & mental symptoms that my spouse suggested I look up job burnout symptoms on the internet. I did on 9-27-04. This is when I recognised the problem.
During a meeting with ***supervisor 1 & supervisor 2*** I told them I was completely burnt out & felt that I would have to quit within the next few months. I told them I had recently read up on job burnout symptoms & that I have 90% of them, all except I am not doing drugs & I'm not suicidal.
On 10-?-04 ***supervisor 1*** called ***supervisor 2*** at the residential site & told her to ask me if I had started my antidepressant yet. This was said in front of staff, in a joking manner, but I did not find it funny at all. It was clear to me at that point that they were not taking my problems seriously, and ***supervisor 1*** thought it was all a joke.
On 10-20-04 ***supervisor 2*** asked me to meet with her & ***supervisor 1*** that morning. Accused me of doing the schedule too far in advance, ""staff get too anxious when they see a whole months schedule up" (not true, they're not children) & accused me of not filling the schedule (this because of staffing shortages). They added: "You may feel like we're attacking you, but these are things you need to take care of". (My former supervisor & I had been asking Human Resources to advertise for staff for 4 months), so I told them it is not my responsibility if HR isn't doing their job. They didn't begin to advertise until 10-25-04. At that time there was still nothing in the newspaper, just on the internet, as of the date of this writing, there is still no newspaper ad. Also accused me of not using new medical forms, but ***supervisor 1*** was referring to a form that was completed in May, which was before we started using the new ones. Also accused me of: "you & your staff don't even bother to replace the burnt out lightbulbs!" I responded by reminding them that: "Facilities has been testing the building for wiring / electrical problems ... the bulbs burn out too fast, staff were accused of stealing bulbs when in fact the problem is the building. Also, the supply ordering dept. never sent enough lightbulbs. As of Sept. the staff started tracking what bulbs were burnt out & replaced & where.
On 10-20-04 I turned in my resignation to ***supervisor 2*** . Gave 2 weeks notice, offered to do 1 month if needed... they declined.
I had my yearly physical on 10-18-04? and reported everything that had been going on, to my Doctor. He said that he supported my decision to resign, it sounded like a good decision & he added, he was really not surprised as I am not the first person to tell him about **TheAgency** treating their employees badly, but he is appalled that they, being a mental health agency, made no offers to help me work through my job burnout with therapy or by offering another position to me, or anything.
===============================================================
SPECIFICS
===============================================================
consistent poor working conditions & safety issues & disrespect
Maggots in the walls and ceiling 2002, a client had left food rotting in a cabinet. We actually had maggots falling onto our heads. We had to locate source & clean & get rid of maggots.
The house has been rodent infested since we moved there. (Exterminators finally came a month ago.)
Staff are held accountable for client medications & narcotics, yet med cabinets & narcotic locked boxes so cheap, they can be opened with just about any key or hairpin, etc. Issue was been addressed once last year & twice this year & nothing has been done.
Stair treads were loose for 2+ years. People did trip & fall.
Three foot long icicles hung above entrance & exit & fell often (2-story building with full attic). I had to bring a 3 foot icicle to a staff meeting and plop it on the meeting table to prove the size & potential danger before an awning was put up. One staff did get hit in the back (hit his backpack) with a large falling icicle.
Personal vehicles get vomited in & on, urinated in & fecal matter stains on seats. Staff are told to line their car seats with garbage bags for the clients to sit on. (disrespectful to staff & clients, stigmatizing of clients, not nice, potential health hazard d/t bodily fluids)
Consistent insufficient heat (inside temp only reached 55 degrees last winter). (unsafe, potential to be a health hazzard to elderly clients, disrespectful to all having to live or work there)
Over the years there has been a consistent, significant increase in paperwork expectations along with a consistent, significant decrease of the number of staff, and an increase in the number of clients and programs, which leaves less time for actual direct care of the clients.
Staff are expected to keep the front & back porch clean, which involves cleaning vomit daily, and urine at least once weekly... yet it took over a year for the agency to provide a hose for staff to use to clean the urine & vomit.
I told maintenance - facilities people that there was a growing gap between the floor & the wall in the hallway. They dismissed my reports, said it was nothing, and covered the gap with 1/4 round molding. This went on for 2 years, I reported it numerous times. Finally a contractor was hired to look at it & ended up having to jack up the center of the building & pour cement into the foundation & add new beams, as it was collapsing. (unsafe, potential to be life threatening, disrespect by dismissing my report)
No safety lighting inside. Was brought up over a year ago. (unsafe, potential to be life threatening, disrespect)
Staff go out into the community to deliver carded medication, carrying 30 or more cards of meds at a time, yet it took more than 2 years for the agency to get bags for them to carry the meds in. For the 1st year & 1/2 staff had been purchasing the duffle bags on their oun, out of pocket. (disrespectful & not nice)
Constantly questioned & second-guessed about office or household supplies I ordered. Staff are expected to keep FOUR, 5-bedroom apartments, 3 offices + 4 bathrooms & 4 kitchens clean at all times, yet it was literally a 2 year battle before we were allowed to receive a sufficient amount of paper towels.
More recently, staff were given computers to do all paperwork on, yet the supply ordering person, ********, insists on the most inexpensive ink cartridges, which of course contain less ink than the bulk ones, so we run out of ink & cannot do paperwork, which in turn causes the staff to be "spoken to" about doing paperwork in a timely manner".
Similar issue with fax machine. I would order ink, we did not receive the # of ink cartridges I ordered, we would run out, we would not receive important faxes (hospital discharges, etc) (felt unprofessional & foolish having to call & say hi, sorry we're out of ink again, can I come pick up the paperwork?) For a 6 month period of time, the staff were being blamed for misuse of the fax, using all of the ink to make copies, etc. when in fact it was the spam faxes that we were receiving that used the majority of the ink, and the lack of ink in the first place. (disrespect, distrust of staff)
The portable telephones are the cheapest phones available. This becomes a safety issue when you run upstairs to evacuate clients as the smoke detectors are sounding & you go to dial 9-1-1 for fire department, but the phone is so cheap that it does not work. When they do work, they are staticy & unreliable at best. This was reported to the exec. director. Within 2 weeks, we had new, cheap phones, that work just as poorly as the old ones. I contacted the exec director again on the issue, she said we lose phones, which is an untruth.
Never providing enough lightbulbs for the building. For 3 years, administration blamed staff of stealing lightbulbs, when they now suspect a wiring issue is the cause of going through so many lightbulbs. STaff have to actually keep a tracking sheet for lightbulbs that burn out & are replaced, date, time, location, etc ... so they will stop getting accused of stealing.
HR director has extremely poor communication skills. He will explain something, then assume you did not understand his explanation, and explain it again in a different way, then explain it again a third time, (honestly - no exaggeration -- he really did this) so that even if you did understand him the 1st time, you feel completely lost by the end of the 3rd explanation. And although he always appears very attentive, he is definitely NOT a good listener. (poor management, disrespect, blatantly obvious that he assumes all staff are stupid)
Frequently running short staffed d/t lack of Human Resources advertising. This issue has been going on consistently for the past year. Management expects the day & evening staff to work overnight shifts, whether this is planned or unplanned, switch shifts, unwanted overtime, etc.
================================================================
Quotes from job burnout information:
"can be triggered by long hours & herculean tasks or by a sense that one's work isn't good enough or doesn't count." "the problem ... too little recognition" "lack of recognition is a key reason for burnout"
"The insurance company study found that workers who had little control and too many constraints on how to do the job were at a high risk of burnout -- a finding that may come as no surprise to frazzled clerical or assembly line employees. A substantial cut in employee benefits and frequent, mandatory overtime also upped the risk of burnout, as did layoffs, a merger or change of ownership, or other cutbacks."
"the people most likely to succumb are often those with the greatest sense of mission in their work ... resilient & hardy ... they tend to be givers ... they want to contribute and make a difference. These are people who are caring & spiritually generous. They can take on enormous stress as long as long as they have some sense that they are being recognised."
"The reasons for job burnout, the researchers concluded, are varied and complex. In fact, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has its own take on what stresses workers to the point of no return. Along with workloads, infrequent breaks and long hours, NIOSH cites a lack of control over your job -- including little or no support from bosses and co-workers and an inability to participate in decision-making. Other factors contributing to stress and burnout may be familiar to many workers: They include job insecurity, too much responsibility or conflicting expectations, and unpleasant or dangerous conditions, such as crowding, noise, or ergonomic problems."
"When someone is burned out, she will probably need help figuring out a way to recuperate. If the problem is overwork, then she might need to ask for an assistant or take an overdue vacation. But time off won't be enough if it means returning to a work situation that leaves her feeling worthless. In that case, it's a good idea to seek professional help. Many companies offer EAPs (Employee Assistance Programs). These are services offering a counseling hotline that workers can call for free. A counselor can help someone identify areas that she might change, for instance, asking for a reassignment or arranging a more flexible schedule. The insurance company survey found that just having an EAP available -- whether or not it was used -- had a salutary effect on workers."
References
Interview with Ruth Luban, a career consultant and author of Burnout: Keeping the Fire.
Interview with Karen Lawson, a management consultant based in suburban Philadelphia
Interview with Michael Leiter, a professor of psychology at Acadia University in Nova Scotia
Christina Maslach and Michael P. Leiter. The Truth About Burnout : How Organizations Cause Personal Stress and What to Do About It. Jossey-Bass: New York, New York: 1997, 256 pp.
Wilmar Schaufeli and Dirk Enzmann. The Burnout Companion to Study and Practice : A Critical Analysis (Issues in Occupational Health). Taylor & Francis: 1998
The Truth About Burnout : How Organizations Cause Personal Stress and What to Do About It, by Christina Maslach and Michael P. Leiter, Jossey-Bass, 1997
When Stress Won't Go Away, by William Atkinson, HR Magazine, December 2000, Vol. 45, No. 12 http://www.shrm.org/hrmagazine/articles/default.asp?page=1200atkinson.htm
Well... that's the write-up that unemployment had me do to explain the situation. **TheAgency** never fought my unemployment claim.
It's a long read, but it is all truth. (Asterics substituted for names.)
After more than 12 years of employment with **TheAgency** , I had to resign because of consistent poor working conditions, safety issues & being treated disrespectfully, which all together resulted in my experiencing numerous physical & emotional symptoms of job burnout.
I went to my supervisor when I realized I was experiencing a great number of job burnout symptoms & told her. I was not offered an alternate position, nor was I offered any counseling. Instead, my direct supervisor made jokes about me needing an antidepressant.
A large number of things contributed to my job burnout;
-recent cut in time off benefits
-frequent, mandatory overtime / having to work on days off
-numerous financial cutbacks
-issue with supplies
-a general sense of job insecurity
-increase in expectations coupled with decrease in staff
-communication issues throughout agency
-too much responsibility
-conflicting expectations
-frequently having to run programs short staffed
-unpleasant working conditions
-dangerous working conditions
-huge workload
-infrequent breaks
-long hours
-lack of control over my job
-little or no support from new supervisor
-constantly questioned & second-guessed about office or household supplies
(especially lightbulbs, paper towels & computer & fax ink)
-inability to participate in decision-making, little recognition for all the work I was doing
-supervisor joking about my job burnout - asked if I had gotten an antidepressant yet
-maggots
-rodents
-fleas
-loose stair treads
-icy parking lot
-lack of salt & sand
-bodily fluids in personal vehicles (vomit, urine, feces)
-2 years reporting foundation collapsing issue ignored
-no safety lighting
-cheap telephones that do not work well causing inability to dial 9-1-1 when needed & nothing was done
-being treated disrespectfully by human resources
resignation facts & dates
August 04 New supervisor. She was supposed to have weekly supervision with me. She consistently meets with the other site manager, for a weekly scheduled supervision. She scheduled one with me, then didn't come, so we had supervision on the phone that day. Did not have any other supervisions, though I did drop in a couple of times to communicate. My workload is twice that of my counterpart who was having weekly supervision. I have more than twice the # of clients & 1 1/2 times the staff to supervise, with little to no support.
New supervisor has bad follow-through. I asked her to speak with a therapist about a client wanting support group for breast cancer, the therapist told my staff to cancel the clients support group appt. A month later, my new supervisor followed up in staff meeting, which was a bit late, as the client had already had her mastectomy 2 weeks prior.
Increasingly more often being asked to come in on my days off. It happened 3 times in Sept / October.
In September I submitted a purchase request for four, $4 calculators for the staff to calculate mileage & for use while grocery shopping with clients. The request was denied. Staff & I had to purchase out of pocket & donate the calculators.
In September, I was given a 5 year service pin after having worked for **TheAgency** for 12+ years.
Physical symptoms I was experiencing:
Stabbing temple headaches daily.
Jaw aches daily d/t clenching jaw / teeth all night, every night (insurance would not cover the dental guard).
Irregular heartbeat diagnosed as premature ventricular contractions (which disappeared the day after my last day of work).
Days I would call out because I just couldn't stand the thought of going in were increasing.
Crying out of stress before going in to work.
Felt like I was busting my butt constantly, & doing more work than ever, yet every time I turned around, I was being told that I wasn't doing enough.
I was having nightmares about work & so not sleeping well. 4-5 hours sleep per night at best.
Dreaded getting out of bed in the AM.
My spouse & I went 5 months without having sexual relations. (I'm sure they had a good laugh after reading this line.)
I was at my breaking point. I'd gone so long doing so much hard work, giving my all & feeling so much stress, with so little recognition, & experiencing so many physical & mental symptoms that my spouse suggested I look up job burnout symptoms on the internet. I did on 9-27-04. This is when I recognised the problem.
During a meeting with ***supervisor 1 & supervisor 2*** I told them I was completely burnt out & felt that I would have to quit within the next few months. I told them I had recently read up on job burnout symptoms & that I have 90% of them, all except I am not doing drugs & I'm not suicidal.
On 10-?-04 ***supervisor 1*** called ***supervisor 2*** at the residential site & told her to ask me if I had started my antidepressant yet. This was said in front of staff, in a joking manner, but I did not find it funny at all. It was clear to me at that point that they were not taking my problems seriously, and ***supervisor 1*** thought it was all a joke.
On 10-20-04 ***supervisor 2*** asked me to meet with her & ***supervisor 1*** that morning. Accused me of doing the schedule too far in advance, ""staff get too anxious when they see a whole months schedule up" (not true, they're not children) & accused me of not filling the schedule (this because of staffing shortages). They added: "You may feel like we're attacking you, but these are things you need to take care of". (My former supervisor & I had been asking Human Resources to advertise for staff for 4 months), so I told them it is not my responsibility if HR isn't doing their job. They didn't begin to advertise until 10-25-04. At that time there was still nothing in the newspaper, just on the internet, as of the date of this writing, there is still no newspaper ad. Also accused me of not using new medical forms, but ***supervisor 1*** was referring to a form that was completed in May, which was before we started using the new ones. Also accused me of: "you & your staff don't even bother to replace the burnt out lightbulbs!" I responded by reminding them that: "Facilities has been testing the building for wiring / electrical problems ... the bulbs burn out too fast, staff were accused of stealing bulbs when in fact the problem is the building. Also, the supply ordering dept. never sent enough lightbulbs. As of Sept. the staff started tracking what bulbs were burnt out & replaced & where.
On 10-20-04 I turned in my resignation to ***supervisor 2*** . Gave 2 weeks notice, offered to do 1 month if needed... they declined.
I had my yearly physical on 10-18-04? and reported everything that had been going on, to my Doctor. He said that he supported my decision to resign, it sounded like a good decision & he added, he was really not surprised as I am not the first person to tell him about **TheAgency** treating their employees badly, but he is appalled that they, being a mental health agency, made no offers to help me work through my job burnout with therapy or by offering another position to me, or anything.
===============================================================
SPECIFICS
===============================================================
consistent poor working conditions & safety issues & disrespect
Maggots in the walls and ceiling 2002, a client had left food rotting in a cabinet. We actually had maggots falling onto our heads. We had to locate source & clean & get rid of maggots.
The house has been rodent infested since we moved there. (Exterminators finally came a month ago.)
Staff are held accountable for client medications & narcotics, yet med cabinets & narcotic locked boxes so cheap, they can be opened with just about any key or hairpin, etc. Issue was been addressed once last year & twice this year & nothing has been done.
Stair treads were loose for 2+ years. People did trip & fall.
Three foot long icicles hung above entrance & exit & fell often (2-story building with full attic). I had to bring a 3 foot icicle to a staff meeting and plop it on the meeting table to prove the size & potential danger before an awning was put up. One staff did get hit in the back (hit his backpack) with a large falling icicle.
Personal vehicles get vomited in & on, urinated in & fecal matter stains on seats. Staff are told to line their car seats with garbage bags for the clients to sit on. (disrespectful to staff & clients, stigmatizing of clients, not nice, potential health hazard d/t bodily fluids)
Consistent insufficient heat (inside temp only reached 55 degrees last winter). (unsafe, potential to be a health hazzard to elderly clients, disrespectful to all having to live or work there)
Over the years there has been a consistent, significant increase in paperwork expectations along with a consistent, significant decrease of the number of staff, and an increase in the number of clients and programs, which leaves less time for actual direct care of the clients.
Staff are expected to keep the front & back porch clean, which involves cleaning vomit daily, and urine at least once weekly... yet it took over a year for the agency to provide a hose for staff to use to clean the urine & vomit.
I told maintenance - facilities people that there was a growing gap between the floor & the wall in the hallway. They dismissed my reports, said it was nothing, and covered the gap with 1/4 round molding. This went on for 2 years, I reported it numerous times. Finally a contractor was hired to look at it & ended up having to jack up the center of the building & pour cement into the foundation & add new beams, as it was collapsing. (unsafe, potential to be life threatening, disrespect by dismissing my report)
No safety lighting inside. Was brought up over a year ago. (unsafe, potential to be life threatening, disrespect)
Staff go out into the community to deliver carded medication, carrying 30 or more cards of meds at a time, yet it took more than 2 years for the agency to get bags for them to carry the meds in. For the 1st year & 1/2 staff had been purchasing the duffle bags on their oun, out of pocket. (disrespectful & not nice)
Constantly questioned & second-guessed about office or household supplies I ordered. Staff are expected to keep FOUR, 5-bedroom apartments, 3 offices + 4 bathrooms & 4 kitchens clean at all times, yet it was literally a 2 year battle before we were allowed to receive a sufficient amount of paper towels.
More recently, staff were given computers to do all paperwork on, yet the supply ordering person, ********, insists on the most inexpensive ink cartridges, which of course contain less ink than the bulk ones, so we run out of ink & cannot do paperwork, which in turn causes the staff to be "spoken to" about doing paperwork in a timely manner".
Similar issue with fax machine. I would order ink, we did not receive the # of ink cartridges I ordered, we would run out, we would not receive important faxes (hospital discharges, etc) (felt unprofessional & foolish having to call & say hi, sorry we're out of ink again, can I come pick up the paperwork?) For a 6 month period of time, the staff were being blamed for misuse of the fax, using all of the ink to make copies, etc. when in fact it was the spam faxes that we were receiving that used the majority of the ink, and the lack of ink in the first place. (disrespect, distrust of staff)
The portable telephones are the cheapest phones available. This becomes a safety issue when you run upstairs to evacuate clients as the smoke detectors are sounding & you go to dial 9-1-1 for fire department, but the phone is so cheap that it does not work. When they do work, they are staticy & unreliable at best. This was reported to the exec. director. Within 2 weeks, we had new, cheap phones, that work just as poorly as the old ones. I contacted the exec director again on the issue, she said we lose phones, which is an untruth.
Never providing enough lightbulbs for the building. For 3 years, administration blamed staff of stealing lightbulbs, when they now suspect a wiring issue is the cause of going through so many lightbulbs. STaff have to actually keep a tracking sheet for lightbulbs that burn out & are replaced, date, time, location, etc ... so they will stop getting accused of stealing.
HR director has extremely poor communication skills. He will explain something, then assume you did not understand his explanation, and explain it again in a different way, then explain it again a third time, (honestly - no exaggeration -- he really did this) so that even if you did understand him the 1st time, you feel completely lost by the end of the 3rd explanation. And although he always appears very attentive, he is definitely NOT a good listener. (poor management, disrespect, blatantly obvious that he assumes all staff are stupid)
Frequently running short staffed d/t lack of Human Resources advertising. This issue has been going on consistently for the past year. Management expects the day & evening staff to work overnight shifts, whether this is planned or unplanned, switch shifts, unwanted overtime, etc.
================================================================
Quotes from job burnout information:
"can be triggered by long hours & herculean tasks or by a sense that one's work isn't good enough or doesn't count." "the problem ... too little recognition" "lack of recognition is a key reason for burnout"
"The insurance company study found that workers who had little control and too many constraints on how to do the job were at a high risk of burnout -- a finding that may come as no surprise to frazzled clerical or assembly line employees. A substantial cut in employee benefits and frequent, mandatory overtime also upped the risk of burnout, as did layoffs, a merger or change of ownership, or other cutbacks."
"the people most likely to succumb are often those with the greatest sense of mission in their work ... resilient & hardy ... they tend to be givers ... they want to contribute and make a difference. These are people who are caring & spiritually generous. They can take on enormous stress as long as long as they have some sense that they are being recognised."
"The reasons for job burnout, the researchers concluded, are varied and complex. In fact, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has its own take on what stresses workers to the point of no return. Along with workloads, infrequent breaks and long hours, NIOSH cites a lack of control over your job -- including little or no support from bosses and co-workers and an inability to participate in decision-making. Other factors contributing to stress and burnout may be familiar to many workers: They include job insecurity, too much responsibility or conflicting expectations, and unpleasant or dangerous conditions, such as crowding, noise, or ergonomic problems."
"When someone is burned out, she will probably need help figuring out a way to recuperate. If the problem is overwork, then she might need to ask for an assistant or take an overdue vacation. But time off won't be enough if it means returning to a work situation that leaves her feeling worthless. In that case, it's a good idea to seek professional help. Many companies offer EAPs (Employee Assistance Programs). These are services offering a counseling hotline that workers can call for free. A counselor can help someone identify areas that she might change, for instance, asking for a reassignment or arranging a more flexible schedule. The insurance company survey found that just having an EAP available -- whether or not it was used -- had a salutary effect on workers."
References
Interview with Ruth Luban, a career consultant and author of Burnout: Keeping the Fire.
Interview with Karen Lawson, a management consultant based in suburban Philadelphia
Interview with Michael Leiter, a professor of psychology at Acadia University in Nova Scotia
Christina Maslach and Michael P. Leiter. The Truth About Burnout : How Organizations Cause Personal Stress and What to Do About It. Jossey-Bass: New York, New York: 1997, 256 pp.
Wilmar Schaufeli and Dirk Enzmann. The Burnout Companion to Study and Practice : A Critical Analysis (Issues in Occupational Health). Taylor & Francis: 1998
The Truth About Burnout : How Organizations Cause Personal Stress and What to Do About It, by Christina Maslach and Michael P. Leiter, Jossey-Bass, 1997
When Stress Won't Go Away, by William Atkinson, HR Magazine, December 2000, Vol. 45, No. 12 http://www.shrm.org/hrmagazine/articles/default.asp?page=1200atkinson.htm
Well... that's the write-up that unemployment had me do to explain the situation. **TheAgency** never fought my unemployment claim.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Digging out
Visiting family in upstate NY. I sure timed it well. I think I was complaining recently about the weather being very ... not winter-like ... & while complaining, I went on to say how I remembered the snowstorms of the 70's. Walking outside & all of the steps to the front door were buried. All 5 steps! And now, we've been transported back in time. It's the relentless snow. One storm comes through & buries us. We dig out. And we say, WOW. That's a lot of snow. Schools are closed, stores are closed... Then the weather report informs us that the nor' easter has passed, but there's a band of lake effect snows heading our way. And they sit above us, dumping & dumping. And we dig out. And stores close. And they declare emergency conditions & get federal funding ... & schools cancel february vacations because they've used too many snow days... And I look at the snow banks that are tall as me & wonder how the hell I shoveled all of that... And I think to myself, I KNOW we are all secretly hoping out roofs are strong enough to handle the weight. And now I realize, that the snowstorms I remember from the 70's were much less worrysome, & a heck of a lot more fun.... probably because my job at the time was to play in it, not to shovel it. :-)
Monday, February 5, 2007
The DUMBEST thing I've done ALL YEAR.
Superbowl was last night & we pigged out for hours. Naturally, after the game, we all crashed. Everyone was in a carb-induced food coma. No one felt like cleaning.
This AM I got up with the kids, they went off to school, and I stood there, staring at 2 sinks full of dirty dishes... the remnants of last night's feast.
Several months ago I read about microwaving sponges to kill germs & other nastiness... & I've been tossing my sponges in & nuking them for 2 minutes, just about every day. And I've got to say, I'm really pleased with the results. They don't get gross-feeling, or smelly, so I'm convinced it actually does work.
Leaving dishes overnight always makes the job more difficult, and there are usually a few particularly nasty items you really wish you had rinsed out the night before. When I came across our wooden spoon, that's exactly what I was wishing. It was coated with day-old refried beans & slimy water from a combination of several different beverages & someone's half-hearted attempt of soaking the dishes last night. It was gross. Wood is porous, so I was sure it had all kinds of nasty germs & evil spores on & in it. I thought of throwing the wooden spoon away, but I really like the wooden spoons & I don't like to waste. And THAT'S the moment it hit me! My eyes got wide... my eyebrows rose up ... and I said to myself: "Barb, you're brilliant!"
I walk myself with my slimy wooden spoon over to the microwave, set it for two minutes, (just like the sponges) and walk back to the sink.
Not EVEN a minute later I think to myself ... "what's that smell?" ..... 20 seconds after that, the ENTIRE kitchen & living room are filled with smoke. I turn around & see smoke coming out of every crevace of the microwave. I ran to the microwave & whipped open the door -- no flames, but a PILE of thick, disgusting smoke comes pouring out, into the already choking air. I decide I do not need the extinguisher, I just need air so I run around & open the windows & doors & stand there trying to breathe some fresh air for a minute, thinking to myself ... "man! I'm a dumbass". The air clears enough for me to get the (completely charred) wooden spoon out of the microwave. (At this point, I'm pretty sure it no longer contains ANY germs or evil spores.) I pick it up with our potholder & it immediately falls apart in my hand. Wow.
So, if you ever thought to yourself: "Gee, I wonder how long it would take for a wet, slimy wooden spoon to catch on fire if I put it in the microwave?" The answer is... exactly 1 minute, 15 seconds.
And THAT my friends, is The DUMBEST thing I've done ALL YEAR. (And it's only February.)
This AM I got up with the kids, they went off to school, and I stood there, staring at 2 sinks full of dirty dishes... the remnants of last night's feast.
Several months ago I read about microwaving sponges to kill germs & other nastiness... & I've been tossing my sponges in & nuking them for 2 minutes, just about every day. And I've got to say, I'm really pleased with the results. They don't get gross-feeling, or smelly, so I'm convinced it actually does work.
Leaving dishes overnight always makes the job more difficult, and there are usually a few particularly nasty items you really wish you had rinsed out the night before. When I came across our wooden spoon, that's exactly what I was wishing. It was coated with day-old refried beans & slimy water from a combination of several different beverages & someone's half-hearted attempt of soaking the dishes last night. It was gross. Wood is porous, so I was sure it had all kinds of nasty germs & evil spores on & in it. I thought of throwing the wooden spoon away, but I really like the wooden spoons & I don't like to waste. And THAT'S the moment it hit me! My eyes got wide... my eyebrows rose up ... and I said to myself: "Barb, you're brilliant!"
I walk myself with my slimy wooden spoon over to the microwave, set it for two minutes, (just like the sponges) and walk back to the sink.
Not EVEN a minute later I think to myself ... "what's that smell?" ..... 20 seconds after that, the ENTIRE kitchen & living room are filled with smoke. I turn around & see smoke coming out of every crevace of the microwave. I ran to the microwave & whipped open the door -- no flames, but a PILE of thick, disgusting smoke comes pouring out, into the already choking air. I decide I do not need the extinguisher, I just need air so I run around & open the windows & doors & stand there trying to breathe some fresh air for a minute, thinking to myself ... "man! I'm a dumbass". The air clears enough for me to get the (completely charred) wooden spoon out of the microwave. (At this point, I'm pretty sure it no longer contains ANY germs or evil spores.) I pick it up with our potholder & it immediately falls apart in my hand. Wow.
So, if you ever thought to yourself: "Gee, I wonder how long it would take for a wet, slimy wooden spoon to catch on fire if I put it in the microwave?" The answer is... exactly 1 minute, 15 seconds.
And THAT my friends, is The DUMBEST thing I've done ALL YEAR. (And it's only February.)
Thursday, February 1, 2007
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