The slap, kick and punch to my self-esteem

Here's the story that you guys have been waiting for. For all intent and purposes, names of co-workers and place of employment have changed. Though I did not leave there with the best of feelings, I do not want to totally black ball them (especially since their listed with google search).



Here's some history: November of 2007, I left "my previous life" and came to work for Hunter Law. I had met with the head attorney, Mr. Sweet, and he was an amazing man. In December of last year, I had my year review. Within my year of employment I ran the office by myself for 2 months (with "help" from the Mr. Sweet's wife). I worked closely with the (then) litigation paralegal to develop ways for the office to be more effective. I was responsible for the pre-litigation work flow and training new employees. I worked close with the assistant/litigation attorney in developing spreadsheets in Access and Excel to help manage our case flow better. I formatted templates for our most frequently used documents (instead of having to find one that you remember using 3+ months ago), formed protocols for office flow and created an employee "how-to" guide for new employees. I was positive. I was happy. I was enjoying work. I was ready to work. Imagine my shock when I met with Mr. Sweet and he said: "Everything that you've told me is true, but I'm sorry, we just don't have any money. But if you feel you could make that money else where then go ahead. I'll write letters of recommendation for you." Not only was I not getting a raise, nor was he willing to negotiate more vacation time he was pretty much telling me to leave (though you may be reading it and it doesn't sound that way, trust me. It did). I continued working. . .not happily. . . but I continued.


The decision to quit was NOT an easy one. We knew back in July that I should leave. We knew that I should quit my job and be home. Getting our home ready for a child. But anyone that knows me, knows that I am a planner and quitting and doing nothing did NOT make sense to me . We had prayed about it but I wasn't ready to make that kind of jump. Through some experiences in my life, I knew that this was the leap of faith the Lord needed me to take. So, I made the decision to quit.


I gave my notice, and few days later all HELL broke lose and came to surface. Back in April(ish), the receptionist, Mustang Sally, was promoted to Litigation assistant. She deserved it. Most would think a raise would come with a promotion but it did not. Around the same time I gave my notice Mustang Sally received an offer she couldn't refuse. She shared with the Litigation attorney and he went and talked to Mr. Sweet. Mr. Sweet told him that they were already paying Mustang Sally "x" amount of dollars. Litigation attorney went to Mustang Sally, and she told him that simply wasn't true. Litigation attorney goes back to Mr. Sweet. Mr. Sweet goes to his wife (who makes all the financial decisions of the practice) and comes back to Litigation attorney and tells him, "I'm sorry. I was wrong. Georgia is actually making that much." Georgia is another paralegal in the office who has been here a year less than me. The litigation attorney was able to find out that within the last year Georgia has been here she has received THREE raises. One before I asked for mine. Another AFTER I asked for my raise and a third right before what would have (again) been my yearly review. She is making a very (VERY) significant amount more than me a year. If you know how much our adoption fee is, then you know how much.

Needless to say I was a little upset. I'm not mad at Georgia. She is a fine paralegal, but do her abilities supersede mine? Not at all. We're pretty fairly matched, though my being technologically savvy saved the firm money. They didn't have to hire an outside cameraman to interview Dr's for a big case. I was able to do that. When a family friend, of a big case, dropped by a video of them before the accident I was able to extract and reformat the video clip. We didn't have to send it out (and pay more money). When the firm needed photos for the web-site, they didn't need to hire a photographer, I did it.


I did A LOT of things for Hunter Law, but apparently they didn't think they were important enough. After I gave my notice Mr. Sweet's wife didn't talk to me at all. She didn't even ask me what my plans were for Thanksgiving-she asked everyone else. Now, I'm not asking her to be my best friend, but at least show a little professional courtesy. *Sigh* All is well. Over and done with and I am a free woman.

However, there are a few things that I would like to tell Mr. Sweet's wife. They are as follows:
1) Medicaid and Medicare are to completely different insurers. Their policies are procedures are COMPLETELY different. I've explained this to you many times. I'm glad I don't have to explain it to you again.

2) When you save a scanned document, you're not saving it to Word Perfect. You're saving it to the computer. It's not even in Word Perfect format.

3)You know that twitch that your lip starts doing when you get upset? It drives me crazy. There have been times that I've wanted to hit you to make it stop.

4) When you stick your nose in files when you have ABSOLUTELY no idea what is going on and go complain to Mr. Sweet, you cause unnecessary drama.

5) If "nothing has been done" on a file, it's because nothing can be done.

6) Though you hail yourself to be a good "Christian" you're greedy actions and behavior say otherwise.

7) I do not wish harm on people, but I think I'd be okay if a house landed on you.

I am free woman people!