Two months ago I quit my lucrative job to go manage the office at the vet clinic I use to work for.
Although going back to the clinic feels like going home, filling out the exit interview picked the scab off the old hurts and injustices. I'm having a hard time shaking the monkey from my back. So like Rumplestiltskin, I am hoping by speaking the name will set me free.
Thankfully answering the exit interview questions helped me realize some of the pain of my sister's passing was exaggerated by the guilt she wasn't dying quick enough to make work happy. I was having a hard time coping because I was feeling guilty.
A former employee told me my answers are bringing about positive changes at our store. I am glad things will be better for my team I left behind, but it still does not unbreak my heart. I'm angry & I'm p*ssed, but most of all I just want to silence the demons in my brain.
If you are interested in reading this you might want to go to the bathroom, then get a drink & a snack because I just copy-pasted question one so it's kind of long. I'm a girl, what do you expect?
This questionnaire will provide us more insight into your time here, and your honest feedback is much appreciated. The information provided will not make you ineligible for employment in the future. (Lol, I bet it does. )
Although going back to the clinic feels like going home, filling out the exit interview picked the scab off the old hurts and injustices. I'm having a hard time shaking the monkey from my back. So like Rumplestiltskin, I am hoping by speaking the name will set me free.
Thankfully answering the exit interview questions helped me realize some of the pain of my sister's passing was exaggerated by the guilt she wasn't dying quick enough to make work happy. I was having a hard time coping because I was feeling guilty.
A former employee told me my answers are bringing about positive changes at our store. I am glad things will be better for my team I left behind, but it still does not unbreak my heart. I'm angry & I'm p*ssed, but most of all I just want to silence the demons in my brain.
If you are interested in reading this you might want to go to the bathroom, then get a drink & a snack because I just copy-pasted question one so it's kind of long. I'm a girl, what do you expect?
This questionnaire will provide us more insight into your time here, and your honest feedback is much appreciated. The information provided will not make you ineligible for employment in the future. (Lol, I bet it does. )
- What is/are your reason for leaving?
- Shall I count the reasons why? The real question should be, why did it take me so long to finally leave? I’m guessing it was probably the trauma bonding and low self-esteem caused by the intense bullying from the first few Hell years. Perhaps it was the PTSD that EmployeeA1 swears I have, that working for DevilD gave me.
- The place is TOXIC, the bullying and BS is demeaning and wrong. Hell Richmond is a hostile workplace!!! The negativity was numbing. We couldn’t ever be happy and rejoice in our achievements. Nothing was ever good enough for DevilD. Someone always had to be the enemy.
- DevilD would often target my employees. If he didn’t get enough of a reaction from them he would then make me listen to all his endless BS reasons why the particular employee sucked. Even worse he would often insist I carry out some petty discipline against the employee.
- Almost every morning when I walked in the door I had to listen to his BS complaints about whichever employee hadn’t jumped high enough to gain his satisfaction. Working at Hell was like being mind f*cked all day long when DevilD was there.
- It was as if DevilD was too often bored so he frequently stirred the pot for his amusement. He would make mountains out of petty things just so he could complain or attack employees.
- He would also obsess about employees. Like EmployeeC regarding her note from her doctor regarding her medical condition. At the time she had not missed one full day let alone three full days of work. Yet he harassed her for a doctor’s note and engaged me to do so too. I had no legal right to insist on a note. I felt due to HIPPA laws he was crossing the line and trying to make me do the same. He was fixated on her. It was creepy.
- Sometimes when DevilD was tormenting employees they would stand up for themselves and it would make DevilD mad. He would then often start an immediate smear campaign against the employee to tarnish their reputation and damage their credibility. Much like he has done against ManagerB and I.
- It was bad enough DevilD was obsessing over employees, but he would often encourage me to jump on his hate wagon of malice.
- I had a hard time keeping employees in HELLNORTH because of the harassment. He would hire smokers or people with kids then harass them or complain about them smoking or needing occasional schedule adjustments to go to appointments or special occasions with their children.
- DevilD frequently missed work or left work early due to his laziness or exaggerated or feigned illnesses. He seldom worked a 40 hour week. Nor did he do much more than play online and talk on his cell phone when he was there. At least when he was gone we didn’t have his vindictive and spiteful interruptions.
- DevilD is the butt of many jokes for his laziness locally and in upper management. Since DevilD was taking advantage of the system he assumed everyone else was too. Even if HELLNORTH employees used PTO days for sudden illnesses they often had to provide a doctor’s excuse to return to work even if they only missed a day.
- One of the times DevilD was mad at EmployeeA2, at the height of the Covid scare, EmployeeA2 had called in because his son’s school had called him to pick him up from school because he was sick. I let DevilD know. He told me to I had to write EmployeeA2 up if he didn’t come in. I texted him and let him know. EmployeeA2 ended up leaving his sick child with his elderly father- in- law who had a compromised immune system just so he wouldn’t get written up.
- The whole thing was BS, DevilD was just being a controlling jerk. It’s one thing if he wants to be a ****** person but it is wrong to make me be a ****** person just so he can get his jollies.
- EmployeeA2 had not abused the system. Things come up when you have kids. He was using PTO days. DevilD complained about his attendance but DevilD was exaggerating because of a couple family emergencies.
- Just for the record, EmployeeA2 is a pretty decent employee. Bet no one knows that since he is a frequent negative target of DevilD’s wrath. It’s because he tried to stick up for himself & DevilD resents him for it.
- His numbers often suffered because of the harassment and because EmployeeA2 was trying to help the department out when he picked up the slack for absent employees. EmployeeA2 is a team player and DevilD takes advantage of EmployeeA2’s kindness and reluctance to say no.
- DevilD would have EmployeeA2 do menial things he should have been doing but was too lazy to do. It’s no wonder EmployeeA2’s numbers were suffering so much.
- Because of the mind games DevilD has played with EmployeeA2, almost every time I would come back from an extended time in DevilD’s office EmployeeA2 would ask if he was in trouble or fired. He was genuinely worried for his job.
- It’s no wonder EmployeeA2 suffers from anxiety and depression. EmployeeC does too. Both are on meds for it. I used SamE & St John’s Wort during the rougher Hell times.
- It might be interesting to know if they were on meds before working for DevilD or as a result of it. For me it was because of DevilD.
- When I first started DevilD called me bubbles because of my natural bubbly personality. Sometimes I wonder if his need to take my bubbliness away was why the first three years were so brutal.
- DevilD liked to pit employees against each other. There could be no peace at Hell Richmond. He did not want us to be friendly with each other. He would tell employees outright lies & innuendos about other employees and supposed things they had said about them so no one trusted anyone. Myself, included. DevilD wanted to be the only one we trusted.
- EmployeeC told me on day one, midway through the day what a joke DevilD was. She saw through him almost immediately. He never forgave her for telling on him for cussing her out. I heard the same story from multiple witnesses. DevilD was out of line. He brought it up several times afterward always claiming it wasn’t his fault and she overreacted.
- He was abusive to all of us, he knew if we joined forces we could defeat him like Muncie did. This is probably why he insisted on constant inter-office strife.
- I wasn’t a manager at Hell, I was an indentured servant. I was micro managed to the point of having no authority over my department when he was there. Unless of course he wanted me to do his evil bidding by disciplining whichever employee he was targeting.
- I had no control over my schedule either. I couldn’t make any plans on work days. I never knew in advance if I would get a lunch or when exactly I would be going home. A lot of it depended on how helpful DevilD felt like being if we got busy.
- There were multiple times that DevilD left several hours early when we had a lobby full of people. Too many times I was forced to work over for free while he was getting paid to entertain his lady friend.
- He would leave early then brag the next day about their evening. This happened too many times. I had no time or energy for outings with loved ones and yet he got to enjoy them while being on the clock. That’s BS. I didn’t get paid to work over but he got paid to play.
- I had no work life balance. While DevilD often enjoyed frequent early evenings and frequent Saturday’s off, I worked almost every night till close or later and almost every Saturday the entire 5 ½ years I was there.
- I was hired for 40 hours with an occasional late night. In 2019 I was already working over 40 hours when they stole my Thursday mornings and added those 3 hours to my schedule. They increased my work hours but did not increase my compensation. I was told I had to work 50 hours a week while DevilD continued to work less than 40 hours a week. That’s not right or equitable.
- DevilD abused, bullied, and manipulated the Richmond employees. We had no one to protect us. We seldom saw EnablerC until the last year or two. DevilD liked it like that.
- It didn’t matter even if we did see EnablerC we weren’t allowed to talk to him or anyone else outside the building without permission. DevilD would get all crazy and paranoid when EmployeeA1 would talk to EnablerC.
- Since EnablerC was seldom in Richmond his knowledge about our store and employees was influenced and jaded by DevilD’s self-serving, negative propaganda and lies. EnablerC was too stuck in the good ol’boy management style to even take much of an interest in us. Or maybe he was afraid of DevilD too.
- My mother died unexpectedly in December 2018. In January 2019 I found out my sister’s cancer was no longer treatable and she might have 6 months to live.
- I was trying to take care of my mom’s house and pets while also trying to spend as much time as I could with my sister.
- The end of January 2019 EnablerC and Bean were visiting. During the day my niece called to tell me the doctor said her mother was dying and they didn’t think she had much time left. I was crushed. I was heartbroken. I just lost my mom and now I was losing my favorite sister.
- I was trying to maintain my composure. I was trying to be strong and not to cry. I held it together for the most part until after Bean left. Then DevilD told me I had to start working 50 hours a week. I told him my sister was dying and how overwhelmed I was. He told me it didn’t matter. He told me I had to do it.
- I asked him how he could expect me to work 50 hours when he didn’t even work 40 hours a week. He got angry at me and told me it was none of my business.
- He called EnablerC in the room. EnablerC chastised me for crying. He told me a manager is not supposed to let their employees see their emotions. I told EnablerC my sister was dying and how overwhelmed I was. I tried to tell him how much I needed those three hours on Thursdays. EnablerC told me two or more times that he would accept my resignation if I couldn’t handle it.
- No compassion at all from either one of them. I just had to do it or else. I cannot even begin to describe the pain their behavior has caused me. Here it is three years later and I still can’t talk about it without tearing up or crying.
- EnablerC of course claimed DevilD worked when he should because he supposedly called him on the company line and DevilD answered. Pure luck. He claimed this happened on a regular basis. I know from personal experience DevilD was seldom there past 5:00 pm. On Friday’s he liked to cut out 3 to 5 hours early. I also know EnablerC wasn’t calling the store of an evening or it would have shown up on the caller ID.
- Even after being alerted, EnablerC never checked up on DevilD. He just took his crooked word.
- In the 5 ½ years I was there, with the exception of his post review behavior, DevilD did not work until close more than a handful of times. He was Teflon DevilD, he had EnablerC snowed so he could do what he wanted.
- Seriously, I am not the first ex- employee to tell you this, nor is this the first time I have broached the subject. Upper management has known for a long time that DevilD does not work the posted hours or pull his weight. It was always do as I say, not as I do with DevilD.
- The torment unfortunately didn’t end there for me. When my sister started actively dying in March 2019 we were told she could pass at any time since she had deteriorated so much. I spent my nights at my sister’s house taking care of my sister, then getting up early to go home, do chores & shower before heading to Hell for another grueling day, just so I could do it all over again.
- During this time DevilD was sick yet again. I worked most of the 19 days it took my sister to die. The nurse kept saying she was dying but my sister refused to let go. On the days they thought she was close to death I would rush there. She’d make it through another night. I’d go to work and worry she might pass before I got back.
- I was made to feel like I should be at Hell, kind of like it was no big deal my sister was dying. My sister was cognizant. Knowing I was losing her I wanted to spend those last days with her but I couldn’t.
- Good old not dependable DevilD was sick again and EnablerC was sick or busy so I had to go to work on most of those days. When I would rush to my sister I would be pressured to be at Hell. They made me feel like she needed to die quicker because my absence was inconvenient. Once again I was traumatized by Hell management.
- I’ve had pretty good attendance, I didn’t deserve their harassment. How can Hell claim to be family oriented and yet be so cold and uncaring? It’s funny how I was only considered salary when it was convenient to steal from me.
- My sister died late on a Friday night. I was at work at Hell on Saturday morning. Even though DevilD was there I came to work. Even though DevilD had missed more of that time period than I had, he was harassing me for when I was with my sister.
- Just for the record, EnablerC didn’t track either of our time off. I worked a lot of partial days and missed very few whole days. DevilD was gone whole days and lots of them but he wasn’t getting harassed.
- In hindsight he made me feel guilty for being gone so he could steal some of my bereavement time and try to steal my vacation time.
- On Monday I was supposed to go to the funeral home with my niece but DevilD made an appointment for himself that kept me at the office until after 3 pm so I missed it. So I got a couple hours on Monday and the day of her funeral off.
- Seriously what kind of person is so cold, conniving and heartless that they would intentionally steal from the broken hearted? I wish I could say that that was the end of this horrible story but it isn’t.
- Fast forward to August 2019, my oldest sister’s husband was killed in a random accident in a parking lot in Greenwood. In eight months I lost my mother, my sister and a brother- in-law. It was a sad and devastating year for my family.
- I had three dead relatives and didn’t even get one single sympathy card. All I got was harassed.
- My sister and her husband had a cruise planned for the month after he died. My sister asked me to go with her so we could perhaps both heal from our losses.
- The entire month before and until payday after the cruise, DevilD told me he didn’t know if I would get to go on the cruise or get paid for my vacation time.
- Why couldn’t he just let me go and enjoy the cruise? Hadn’t I already been through enough?
- DevilD enjoys the pain of others. I’ve witnessed and also been the victim of it too many times.
- Hell is by far the worst, most toxic place I have ever worked. I have never been abused like this anywhere, ever. DevilD is sick, twisted and toxic and should never be allowed to have control over other people. He is an abuser and everyone knows it.
- He was demoted for abusing Muncie but when he did the same thing to Richmond we were bullied into silence instead of saved.
- Hell is negligent. You knew he was a monster and you put him in control of us. That’s like letting a hyena babysit your children and screaming at them to shut up when they complain.
Last edited:
