New Job

This may come as a shock to some, as we have not talked much about Jeff's recent desire to find a new job with very many people. Now that Jeff has a new job, and gave Preferred Medical his letter of resignation, we feel we can let everyone know what happened and why he chose to leave.

First, it all goes back to the middle of June. Jeff's branch manager Andy, one customer service person, and one driver, were all let go. The reason they were all let go? Preferred was not bringing in the numbers they were expected to by corporate. So basically the Branch Manager was blamed for Preferred not performing the way they should. Then Jeff's clinical supervisor, Dave, left Preferred the same day Andy was let go (Dave had already put in his letter of resignation and was planning on leaving at the end of June). With Andy being let go, the Branch Manager from Cour d' Alene, Scottie, was made the Branch Manager over both the Spokane and Cour d' Alene locations. Soon after Dave leaving Jeff was promised by Scottie that he would be promoted to Lead Therapist, along with this promotion in job title, it would also mean a pay increase.

The last part of June and July passed without any word as to when Jeff would be promoted. August comes, still no word. Then Scottie, Joy (Cour d' Alene's Lead Therapist), and Linda (the Regional Clinical Manager) began having meetings together at Preferred (Spokane location). Jeff was not involved in any of these meetings, was not filled in as to why they were meeting, he was basically left in the dark. With out any explanations Joy began making changes to how Jeff (and the rest of Preferred) handle patient care. She changed how Jeff was to preform CPAP follow ups with patients who were recently set up with a CPAP, she also informed them that the Respiratory Therapist would no longer be setting patients up with oxygen or nebulizers, this responsibility now would fall on the drivers who were already short-handed.

Now, with Jeff under the impression that he was going to be promoted to Lead Therapist (over Spokane) he was, well, really ticked off that he was not involved in any of the decision/implementing process. The day Joy came in and made all these changes, Jeff got really mad at her, he told her he was not going to follow these new changes, said it was a bunch of crap and left to go take care of a few patients at their homes.

The next day, Jeff was called into the Branch Managers office. In the meeting was, Scottie, Joy, and Kathy, the marketing manager. Why Kathy was in the meeting is still beyond me, she had NOTHING to do with Jeff's issues with Joy. In the meeting Kathy did all the talking, she (as Jeff described it) ripped him a new one. Jeff was told that the CPAP follow up process was changing because the Doctors were not receiving the follow up information fast enough and so the Doctors were not giving Preferred any more referrals. So in a nut shell, Jeff was the one now being blamed for Preferred not preforming and bringing in new business the way corporate expects them to.

Jeff was also written up for swearing at Joy and walking out of work. He explained to Scottie that he did not swear at Joy, he said "This is a bunch of crap" and that he did not walk out, he had patients to take care of. Jeff was informed by Kathy, (not HIS Branch Manager), that Joy was Jeff's new boss- meaning that Jeff would not be promoted to Lead Therapist as he was promised.

Jeff came out of the meeting feeling betrayed, lied to, thrown under the bus, pissed, mad, and I'm sure may other feelings. I think it was at that point, in that meeting, Jeff decided he was going to look for a new job, he didn't care how long it would take to find one, he was not going to stop looking until he found one.

Two weeks ago, Jeff called his former clinical supervisor, Dave to basically vent to him. Dave completely understood where Jeff was coming from, validated his feeling, and told Jeff to hang in there, because there were going to be some major changes in the home care world. A few hours after Jeff's conversation with Dave, Dave called back and clued Jeff in on the changes he was talking about. Dave's wife, Deloah (who is also a Respiratory Therapist and was working for another home care company, Stat Medical) was approached by someone who wanted to start up a home care company who would only set up people with CPAP's. This person wanted Deloah to start working with him September 2nd.

This meant that if Deloah did decide to start up this new company, there would be a position for a Respiratory Therapist at Stat Medical. Deloah called Jeff the last week in August to let him know that she was going to take the job starting up another company, and that she was indeed going to start September 2nd. Deloah said she would put in a good recommendation for Jeff at Stat.

This week Jeff was on vacation, so Tuesday (Sept. 2nd) he took his resume into Stat Medical. While Jeff was there he was interviewed by Steve, Stat's Branch Manager, by the end of their meeting Jeff said Steve was making comments as if Jeff already had the job. Wednesday Steve called Jeff to ask if he could come in to fill out an application, background check permission form, and all the other legal junk. Steve told Jeff that the Manager in Seattle had already called him to ask what Jeff would want on his business cards. Funny, since Jeff really wasn't offered the job yet. But hey, I guess they just wanted to be on top of it.

At 8:30 this morning Steve called. He offered Jeff the job, asked if he could start Monday, and let him know what he would be making. Around 11:30 this morning, on our way to do a few errands, Jeff stopped by Preferred and gave Scottie his letter of resignation. Jeff didn't give Scottie two weeks notice, Jeff felt like the Preferred managment didn't deserve that respect, since Jeff was not shown respect from them.

At Stat Jeff will be preforming essentially the same duties, except he will now have the opportunity to do sales as well, with the possibility of making bonuses. He feels that this will be a stress relief and feels it is the best decision for us right now.