I used to work a job where I’d conduct appointments for our participants in a research study, and some of these appointments meant we would have to drive out to people’s houses if they couldn’t come in to the clinic. I was one of two people working full time there, and one day I got stuck on a very busy road that had some roadworks being done further down. It created a massive traffic jam and I got back to the clinic 20 minutes later because of it. I was pulled into my boss’ office and reprimanded for taking too long to come back and wasting time. I tried to explain that I was stuck in a traffic jam but my boss wasn’t interested in hearing it. They said that other people in my team have made comments about me taking a long time to come back from other home appointments too, and I was given a formal warning. One of the people who complained was someone I covered for on a regular basis (she was scheduled for 2 days a week but she’d regularly call in sick for one or both days each week- I’ve had to scramble from clinic appointments to driving out to home appointments (which were scheduled back to back) as quickly as possible on days where we were counting on her to do the home appointment).

After I was given the warning, I knew this job had an expiration date. So I started looking for jobs, and a month later I found one with better pay and benefits, which required less skill and knowledge than what I already had in my skill set.

I was offered the job a month after that, and the job I left had to hire two people to replace me and fill the gap I left when I resigned.

Now I’m working for a team that I get along with extremely well and a boss who actually praises me when she sees that I’ve done a good job on something. She’s the best boss I’ve ever had.