OT--What do you think?

[Mme. Leota]

OK folks. . . I read a topic similar to this a week or two ago, and want your feelings on this.

A little background: I am in a professional position in a department with 8 staff people and 2 administrative assistants. To say that there is always drama with the assistants is beyond an understatement. IMHO they both should have been fired long ago, but our boss just won't do it for some reason.

To make a really long story short, one of them threw a document at me and hit me in the face with it. Again, not fired, but "warned that if she even utters a cross word to you, she is gone." Whatever. Well, she didn't come to work for over a week, and now that she is back, she says she has ovarian cancer and can't be subjected to stress. She has told some obvious doozies over the years, and I think this is one, too. I think she did have some sort of "procedure" but the most obvious red flag here is that she says she is going to be fine, but she might have to have radiation. From what I read, radiation is rarely used in the treatment of ovarian cancer. I think she may have had a cyst or even a benign tumor or maybe endometriosis, but those are all a far cry from cancer. What do you guys think? I feel bad for thinking this, but I think she is doing it because she thinks nobody will fire the girl with cancer. Am I too suspicious?

 

[of2dbeach]

My mom had cervical cancer and had to do radiation and chemo but not sure about Ovarian cancer. this just goes to show you not to cry wolf all the time. I would feel bad for her also but not sure i would go all out either unless i knew she was telling the truth. I think she does owe you an appology though.

 

[Ning Ning]

I have been an executive secretary/executive assistant for over 30 years now and I have absolutely no tolerance for those who wear the title and act in the manner you described! Physical violence should be grounds for immediate termination - especially if a pattern of disruptive behavior has been established. I wouldn't believe the cancer story - although, just my luck, it would be true and I'd feel really bad

As for everyone feeling they should have been fired a long time ago but no one does it, I feel for you there. I worked with a woman who nobody wanted to keep because she really didn't do a good, but no one had the guts to do anything about it because they felt sorry for her. She ended up getting shuffled from position to position until a newly hired manager finally let her go. My suggestion is that your boss make well documented notes in her personnel file and the next time there's any sort of incident or lack of job performance, that's his free pass to terminate her.

Sorry for getting on my high horse. I am proud of my chosen profession and I really can't stand people who want the position and title and then act like it's beneath them to do all the (sometimes unpleasant and lowly) duties that go with the job! Okay - I'm off the horse now.

 

[Mme. Leota]

I have been an executive secretary/executive assistant for over 30 years now and I have absolutely no tolerance for those who wear the title and act in the manner you described! Physical violence should be grounds for immediate termination - especially if a pattern of disruptive behavior has been established. I wouldn't believe the cancer story - although, just my luck, it would be true and I'd feel really bad

As for everyone feeling they should have been fired a long time ago but no one does it, I feel for you there. I worked with a woman who nobody wanted to keep because she really didn't do a good, but no one had the guts to do anything about it because they felt sorry for her. She ended up getting shuffled from position to position until a newly hired manager finally let her go. My suggestion is that your boss make well documented notes in her personnel file and the next time there's any sort of incident or lack of job performance, that's his free pass to terminate her.

Sorry for getting on my high horse. I am proud of my chosen profession and I really can't stand people who want the position and title and then act like it's beneath them to do all the (sometimes unpleasant and lowly) duties that go with the job! Okay - I'm off the horse now.

Thank you for what you do! That may be the hardest part. When I started here, we had staff like you, but retirements happen, and are well deserved after many years of service to the company. But we were all spoiled by others who truely did work hard to make our jobs easier. A big part of the attitude is always directed at me because I am female and about their age. The rest of the staff is male and most are at least 10 years older. They act like I was given some gift because I have an education, but they both had that choice too, and dropped out.

Anyway, I will feel bad if her story is true, but I am still skeptical.

 

[bzzymom]

This remind me of someone. I worked with a nurse in ICU for many years. She became a disneyholic after I talked about WDW trips as well. Thankfully, I only had to work with her once a week. She was not a "team player" she was in it for herself for glory. She wanted to take care of the families of wealth and she would kiss up and give them extraordinary care, while she wouldn't answer her other call lights, or help us turn our patients or anything. She would put off things she didn't want to do until the next shift. She flirted with every male doctor that came into our unit...and even had an affair with one for sure (he bought her a gold plated stethescope, and came by with ice cream and pizza or subway, it was obvious) and probably a couple others too. She was a complainer about how different things were going on, and would do this in patient areas, or at the nurses station where it could be overheard and it was very unprofessional.


One time, our new VP of nursing had several small meetings to get in touch with us, and we went in small groups. She and I were there from our unit. She talked virtually the whole time about herself and how she goes above and beyond. Then, she made the comment that I am physically very wimpy and couldn't lift people well, but I am the go-to nurse for difficult IV insertions and dealing with difficult families/people/situations. I was in tears over the wimp thing because I work very hard and I feel like I cover for her a lot.

Anyway, she would do this to other people too and if she didn't like you, she would snoop around and find anything she could to report you. She had been warned and reprimaned many, many, many times about this and other things as well, but she threatened to sue the hospital is they fired her so the kept her on. Then, our hospital got bought by a large, for-profit hospital chain, and she wrote a scathing letter to the CEO of the company about all of us, and the management our unit, and hospital. After that, she must have felt that she was going to be fired because she kept having 2-3 week long abscenses for ulcerative colitis, and then she would be back a week or two and then off....during this time she could be seen almost every evening in a local mexican restaurant drinking marguaritas and eating chips and salsa. We have been thinking for a long time that she is a bulemic, because we never saw her eat any healthy food, and she would spend a lot of time in the bathroom and it was not in good shape afterwards

Finally, the corporation sent an admisistrator who interviewed every one in our unit. They did not name names or anything, but they asked about the working conditions of our unit, the morale, our nurse manager, and so on. I am not one to name names, but I did tell them that the nurses I worked with on Sat and Sun were outstanding and we worked very well as a team, but on Monday, it was a different story. Anyway, other co-workers of mine named her specifically and let them know about how she was. They did fire her not long after that.

Sorry this is so long. I just had to tell the story

 

[pha1226]

I actually worked with someone who faked ovarian cancer (and someone who faked epilepsy!). Crazy world!

Does your company have any policy about sick time? If I'm out 3 consecutive days, I am required to bring in a doctor's note. Does your company have any kind of code of conduct? I know any violence (or threat of violence) against another employee would be grounds for immediate dismissal at most companies. Your boss needs to discuss her inappropriate behavior and its consequences her and document the discussion.

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

OK folks. . . I read a topic similar to this a week or two ago, and want your feelings on this.

A little background: I am in a professional position in a department with 8 staff people and 2 administrative assistants. To say that there is always drama with the assistants is beyond an understatement. IMHO they both should have been fired long ago, but our boss just won't do it for some reason.

To make a really long story short, one of them threw a document at me and hit me in the face with it. Again, not fired, but "warned that if she even utters a cross word to you, she is gone." Whatever. Well, she didn't come to work for over a week, and now that she is back, she says she has ovarian cancer and can't be subjected to stress. She has told some obvious doozies over the years, and I think this is one, too. I think she did have some sort of "procedure" but the most obvious red flag here is that she says she is going to be fine, but she might have to have radiation. From what I read, radiation is rarely used in the treatment of ovarian cancer. I think she may have had a cyst or even a benign tumor or maybe endometriosis, but those are all a far cry from cancer. What do you guys think? I feel bad for thinking this, but I think she is doing it because she thinks nobody will fire the girl with cancer. Am I too suspicious?

Dude. Quit.

 

[badblackpug]

Liar! Liar! Pants on fire!

The primary treatment for ovarian cancer is total hysterectomy followed by high dose chemo. Ovarian is a fast spreading cancer and the mortality rate is quite high. No way she is back to work in a week with only a plan for "maybe radiation."

 

[badblackpug]

Liar! Liar! Pants on fire!

The primary treatment for ovarian cancer is total hysterectomy followed by high dose chemo. Ovarian is a fast spreading cancer and the mortality rate is quite high. No way she is back to work in a week with only a plan for "maybe radiation."

Illness can be the ultimate form of manipulation. "I'm sick so you have to pay attention to me and be nice to me, but you can't get mad at me, because, after all, it's not my fault...I'm sick!"

 

[PrincessKsMom]

Well if she's faking she picked a heck of a cancer to fake. Ovarian cancer is, from what I understand, very hard to identify early and once it's spread passed the ovaries, has a very low cure rate.

I used to work with a woman who abused the sick leave, etc. and always had an excuse why she couldn't work, had to leave early, would take time off, etc. One of the final straws that made me quit was that was was having her THIRD hysterectomy. Now, I could see two, maybe a partial and then a full, but THREE?! I finally told my boss what idiots she was making them look like and that they deserved it. She also came to the office one day, while miscarrying her married boyfriend's baby (she was also married), because she needed to pick up her paycheck because her OB/GYN refused to see her until she brought cash! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Did I mention she was wearing a miniskirt, fishnet stockings, a low cut blouse, and had her hair and makeup done? And did I mention that the hysterectomies came BEFORE the miscarriage?

My boss never thought I'd quit, but I'd had enough after her 35 plus days of being absent, not counting early departures, late arrivals, etc. Time to get out if you really can't take it anymore. The only thing that saved her was she was never violent. Had she even once thrown anything at me, hit me, etc. I would have taken her down but quick. (Sorry, my Jersey is showing, isn't it?)

 

[dis75ney]

My friend was diagnosed with ovarian cancer last June. She underwent a total hysterectomy within a week of her diagnosis and then six months of high-dose chemo after her six-week recovery period. She wasn't scheduled to go in for radiation, but her oncologist decided after her final chemo treatment that she should go in for internal radiation treatments to make sure that even the microscopic cancer cells were destroyed.

Simply put, there is NO way that a patient with ovarian cancer would simply have radiation and be done with it. One of the PPs had it right - standard treatment is total hysterectomy followed by chemo, not radiation. In fact, I don't know of many types of cancer that are treated with radiation alone...it's usually done in conjunction with chemo. I may be wrong on that point, though...

 

[Mme. Leota]

Well if she's faking she picked a heck of a cancer to fake. Ovarian cancer is, from what I understand, very hard to identify early and once it's spread passed the ovaries, has a very low cure rate.

I used to work with a woman who abused the sick leave, etc. and always had an excuse why she couldn't work, had to leave early, would take time off, etc. One of the final straws that made me quit was that was was having her THIRD hysterectomy. Now, I could see two, maybe a partial and then a full, but THREE?! I finally told my boss what idiots she was making them look like and that they deserved it. She also came to the office one day, while miscarrying her married boyfriend's baby (she was also married), because she needed to pick up her paycheck because her OB/GYN refused to see her until she brought cash! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Did I mention she was wearing a miniskirt, fishnet stockings, a low cut blouse, and had her hair and makeup done? And did I mention that the hysterectomies came BEFORE the miscarriage?

My boss never thought I'd quit, but I'd had enough after her 35 plus days of being absent, not counting early departures, late arrivals, etc. Time to get out if you really can't take it anymore. The only thing that saved her was she was never violent. Had she even once thrown anything at me, hit me, etc. I would have taken her down but quick. (Sorry, my Jersey is showing, isn't it?)

That is so funny! One of my best friends is from Brooklyn, NY and she said something like "I would have grabbed her by the hair and thrown her down, etc. . . ." Just not me though, I was just standing there with my mouth open while she got away. She does outweigh me by 50-75 lbs, also, so I probably wouldn't win that one.

Thanks everyone for your responses, I can't believe there are so many people out there who fake serious illness. I won't even call in sick if I'm not. . . I don't want to tempt God, fate, karma. . . .my life and good health are too precious to even make up a cold. As for quitting. . .I love what I do and there aren't many places to do it. Also, I was here before she got here, and I will be here when she is long gone. I know I shouldn't be treated this way, but I'll be d----- if I let her run me off.

 

[Mme. Leota]

My friend was diagnosed with ovarian cancer last June. She underwent a total hysterectomy within a week of her diagnosis and then six months of high-dose chemo after her six-week recovery period. She wasn't scheduled to go in for radiation, but her oncologist decided after her final chemo treatment that she should go in for internal radiation treatments to make sure that even the microscopic cancer cells were destroyed.

Simply put, there is NO way that a patient with ovarian cancer would simply have radiation and be done with it. One of the PPs had it right - standard treatment is total hysterectomy followed by chemo, not radiation. In fact, I don't know of many types of cancer that are treated with radiation alone...it's usually done in conjunction with chemo. I may be wrong on that point, though...

Warm thoughts and prayers for your friend. Is she doing ok now?

 

[dis75ney]

Warm thoughts and prayers for your friend. Is she doing ok now?

Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. Yes, she is much better...she finished radiation at the end of February and is doing great. She'll be doing the Light the Night walk in a few weeks and is really excited about it.

 

[Disneychix]

I feel like you are living my life! Or maybe you just came across the same person. I would recommend finding a new job also. If the bosses keep putting up with this then why would you want to work there anyway?

I worked with mostly males in a company. One very young girl in our team would come to work late/leave early/not show up/sleep at work. She got in trouble for this numerous times. She was also spending nights with many of the upper management. She then came up with this new schedule for herself that included every other day off and she could no longer work full shifts. I flipped. She then told management so had cancer and needed the days off to go get "treatment" at a far away city. Well we live in a city with over 5 hospitals one of them a very prominent cancer hospital. But she's going 60 miles away for treatment?
Since we worked with all males no one wanted to push it and ask her for a Drs note. They were all afraid she'd sue or something.
She kept up this game for 1 month and eventually got fired for something that was found on her computer. I left the company 6 months later. I realized this was not the environment for me.

 

[badblackpug]

Mme. Leota,

It's a shame it has to get to this, but if she ever does anything to you in a physical manner again, call the police, press charges and get a restraining order. That will force your company's hand to terminate her.


Good luck!