October 2012 Weddings
brainybrunette
member
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
What's going on (long)...
Finally, I have some time to tell you guys what's been going on. I've missed you!
Let's start with the broken foot:
Good news is that it's healing....bad news is that it's healing slowly. I'm now 2 months post injury and I've pretty much stopped the pain meds (yay!). At my last ortho appointment, there was some bone growth (also yay!). The ankle is still super messed up and will need therapy once the foot is more healed (boo). He wants me to transition from the huge boot to this very attractive velcro sandal and ankle brace over the next month. That transition is happening slowly, but surely. I can now walk up the stairs, but going down is a whole different story. I can't go down more than like 3 steps. I tried going down one of the flights of stairs at our townhouse yesterday and, aside from the traumatic memories of the fall, it killed my ankle. So, I'm not there yet, but I'm getting there.
The job:
I QUIT! This place was NUTS! It was a totally toxic work environment and everyone is out to get other's in trouble for their own personal gain. In the beginning, everyone was nice to me...but things quickly changed after the first month. They were getting annoyed that my foot wasn't healing fast enough for them, even though I was still doing my job and was still going to meetings that were off site. I felt like every time I asked a coworker a question, they went back to my boss and told him how incompetent I was. I was planning on staying there until I found another job, but the sh*t hit the fan when they expected me to plagiarize. Apparently, the thing we're taught throughout our education to NEVER, EVER do is completely acceptable and encouraged there. I would have been expelled from graduate school for the things this company wanted me to do. Last week, I got called into my boss's office for him to tell me that I'm texting on my cell phone too much and that's why it takes so long for me to get my work done. That was ridiculous! I may text H quick questions sometimes (like, are you going to the gym? Can you pick up something on your way home?), but my "texting" is not the issue. I was trying to do things the right way, which takes more time than just hitting copy and paste from published literature, that's why things took me longer to do. Also, the training was non-existant, so I never knew what I was doing. The next day, I put in my 2 week notice and my last day is this Wed. I'm scared to be unemployed again, but I just couldn't work for that place. If someone outside of the company caught me plagiarizing, I'd never work in science again, and I wasn't willing to commit career suicide for that terrible company.
MIL:
So, over the past month, H's mom was diagnosed with bladder cancer. They aren't sure what stage it is yet, the full biopsy results won't be back until this week. The urologist thinks it's a highly aggressive form though : / Hopefully, the biopsy will show that it hasn't invaded the muscle of the bladder, but that it's just confined to the superficial cells. H went home for the surgery that she had this week and will be back tonight. Since life has been so sh*tty lately, we had to laugh that he was leaving his disabled wife to go home to his mom who has cancer. Sometimes life just throw's everything at you at once...sigh.
Bottom line:
The past few months, starting before my grandfather passed away, have been ridiculous. I keep saying, what else could go wrong. But every time I say that, more sh*t hits the fan. I think what the universe is trying to tell me is that I need to take a step back and put some good into the world to have the light be returned to me. I've decided to really focus on applying for jobs at non-profits and to get involved in volunteering (now that I can at least walk short distances, I should be able to do simple volunteer work)
Cookies and a Prozac for anyone who made it through that. Sorry I don't have better news to share. My mom told me this morning that she dreads seeing my number come up on her phone because I never have good news lately (at least we laughed about it!)
Re: What's going on (long)...
As for your job, they are ridiculous! I have never heard of a professional organization plagiarizing. How could they expect anyone to do that? You are very right to leave, you don't want your name even being associated with a place like that. I can't believe that was such a toxic work environment. Be prepared for answering questions about why you left so quickly when you go on future interviews. You won't want to badmouth the place.
I really hope things turn around for you. I will pray for you!
I actually decided to totally leave that place off my resume. I don't want to be associated with them at all! As for explaining the gap between grad school and work, I plan on using my diploma date (mid October) instead of my thesis defense date (may) in interviews. I can say that I worked in getting a paper published (it was published in Jan) and then broke my foot. I think that's a totally understandable and respectable way to explain the gap on my resume.
I am glad to hear that you got out of that place. It sounds awful on so many levels.
I hope that you get some better news with regard to your MIL.
T&Ps and hugs all around.
Sucks that the job turned out to be so crappy, but hopefully a new and better opportunity will come up soon.
And I hope your foot keeps healing, even if it's taken longer than expected.
Sending t&ps for your mil.