Unemployed again

After one week of work I find myself unemployed again. I have worked in social work and non-profits for the last few years. And I have never encountered anything like what happened to me this week.

On Monday I asked a staff member to help in cleaning the office because we had a big event on the previous day and the place needed a little tiding. The gentleman, who was under my direct supervision, essentially lost it and threatened to kick my ass. This went on for about 45 minutes, he got on the computer and started blasting Tupac and MnM songs at full volume, and then he finally left. I was out the door shortly after, as I was the only one there and the office is quite isolated with no one around for a couple of miles.

The next day I was off because I’d worked on Sunday. The end of a swell was still out there and I went for a surf. Later on Tuesday I got a call from the executive director saying that they needed to meet with me the next morning. Apparently the guy called my co-worker and told her that he was going to get even with me in a violent way, although he didn’t exactly use those words.

To make a long story not so long, I was forced to resign today. The agency used the excuse that they are a small non-profit agency and that they were not prepared to deal with this type of harassment. They still have not filed a police report after repeated threats and now four days have passed. They offered me no compensation and then had the balls to force me to make a decision about my employment without having dealt with the harassment issue first.

I went in today to give my resignation. I wanted to tell them how I felt, to tell them that I thought they had been unprofessional. I wrote a simple letter of resignation, which I will post below:

Dear Director,

After careful consideration I wish to regretfully offer my official resignation as Program Coordinator of the ________ program in East __________. I feel that the threat to my security and the response to these issues have led to a precarious work environment.

I would like to thank you for the opportunity to have been a part of your agency. I can see that my recent experience is only circumstantial and that it does not reflect the agency’s other initiatives. Perhaps a new person not involved with the previous incident will be able to continue in this position in a safer environment.

I wish you all the best of luck in your future endeavors.


Sincerely,

ras

I don’t feel vindicated at all. Perhaps I just need to chalk it up as a lesson learned, although I’ve yet to figure out exactly what the lesson was. So now I’m back on the job hunt all over again, although now I feel less enthusiastic than I did before this experience.

I hope I don’t see the guy around town either. He’s about 6 foot and 250 pounds. And he’s out of a job too.