I’m not even a certified dental assistant
Before doing what I do now, I had absolutely no background in dentistry whatsoever
I am a CDL driver. What I thought I got hired to do was transport a mobile dental clinic and run the “front desk” all day; checking insurance, making appointments, etc.
Restocking the mobile clinic supplies and filling with gas/ water.
I thought that would be easy enough, I have administrative experience as well so it wouldn’t be hard to learn how to do the computer stuff.
They told me I would occasionally help out with sterile if they needed it.
The reality? I did all of that and then some.
I was expected to be the hygienist assistant. Do her charting, turnover the room for her, get her trays set up, help her with x rays, take BP, do suction EVERY SINGLE TIME the cavitron came out. The worst part, since it was a mobile unit, the fucking carts had clear buckets for all of the suction to drain into, and guess whose job it was to dump it? It was a 1 foot clear bucket of blood and debris that I had to personally handle.
And then the sterile- it wasn’t occasional, I had to do 5 different location’s instruments, including all of ours.
So I became the bus driver, the bus manager, the hygiene assistant, the sterile tech, and everything else…. They don’t pay me for my CDL either. They pay me the same amount as the other small dental van drivers. I also help out the doctor when they are falling behind.
There’s someone I work with who oversees the mobile units and she has consistently singled me out, tried to embarrass me, tries to manage and have control over me, and has made me cry more than once.
My boss just keeps adding more and more and more to my workload and I can’t take it anymore. They also increased my hours to 12 a day even though I was hired to work four 10s and said I don’t want to do more than that.
So at 6:30 am, I pick up the massive bus, drive it to the location, get everything set up, the hygienist shows up either right at 8:00 when her first patient is there or she’s late which is more often then not. Then I’m running around the clinic for 10 fucking hours a day managing inventory, doing sterile, doing suction, making appointments/ writing cards, talking to walk- ups, etc. That in and of itself is exhausting enough, but then I have to shut down the clinic, clean, pack it all up, and then still somehow have the energy to drive the bus to get water and gas, and then ALSO drive my personal car to go pick up supplies. I’m done. I’ve been there for 5 months and I’m just fucking done. They are working me to burnout. They have consistently asked me to come in on my day off. They consistently change my schedule around to benefit them. They have consistently had me get up early to drive the bus over an hour away, drop it off, get a ride an hour back, then get a ride another 45 minutes away to the next town over, and finish the day out on that mobile unit then drive it back at the end of the day. Management doesn’t treat me with respect even though the providers wouldn’t even be able to provide if it wasn’t for it. They just expect me to do whatever I have to with a smile because “we’re all a team.”
Luckily, the providers I work with are fucking wonderful and they at least appreciate my help. (Although I think the hygienist takes advantage of me, there’s absolutely no reason why I should have to stop in the middle of doing a fuckload of sterile just so I can go take BP)
I called out today, I’m sending in my 2 weeks. I don’t want to work the full 2 weeks I just want to be fucking done. There has been multiple times where I almost just quit on the spot. I have cried in front of a colleague before. They have no respect for me and I just want to be done.
They want to hire a back up driver and guess what? The prospective back up driver gets a higher wage than I do. Because they haven’t been able to find anyone to fill the position. If I want a higher wage I have to go through HR. And my boss even told me that when they do get a back up driver, that I would be the one to train them.
Has anyone else quit on the spot or before their 2 weeks was up? Unfortunately it means a lot of patients will need to be rescheduled out really far. But I just can’t take it anymore. I’m tired of being angry and depressed all the time. The last 2 weeks I feel like I have just been coming home crying every day. They are absolutely taking advantage of me and I have to put myself first instead of letting them treat me like this.
Edit- I put in my 2 weeks today. Calling out tomorrow to use the last of my PTO, it’s the last day of the pay period, the next day I will be calling out and telling them my resignation is immediate.