Pros
I was able to advance throughout my career. Small town, short drive.
Cons
We got a new boss, same age as me but with a giant inferiority complex and the perfect mix of a right to work state (ND). It started when I was told I was not to be looking up HR/employee policies, that I just need to accept what the managers said is policy, and DON"T question it. The manager was lying and contradicting HR written policy and would get angry when caught in a lie. After that meeting I knew I was not going to last very long. Shortly afterward came the attempts at isolation from the work pod. The boss would get in little digs when she could, publicly pointing out how she hated my laugh, etc. The straw that broke her back though was when I caught her trying to remove information from a patient's electronic medical record so the patient would then qualify for a research study (ignoring the risk of drug interactions). She then quickly acted on my termination which happened about 1 week later. The worst though was the one office sheep, who I considered a good friend (several times we went to movies, golfed, dinners, etc). The boss specifically told my friend of her plan to fire me and my friend was directed to write down every possible thing I did 'wrong', like leaving for break from a door not located next to the bosses office (Really HR...really?). The "friend" complied and 90% of what she wrote was complete lies that never even happened and the rest was colorfully embellished or ridiculously mundane, like the above "door insubordination". HR did nothing to investigate if any of it was true; HR's only role is to protect the manager and protect the business. I had double digit years of stellar reviews from 5 different departments, including my last review which was approx 60 days before I was fired. I found out this plan because the "friend" is unable to keep a secret to save her life. A different office mate transferred out a few months after I, who then felt safe filling me in on the details on how the "friend" told the office mate that there was a plan in place to "document" events to ensure a few of us were fired, and that my "friend" was specifically asked to be instrumental in providing the boss with this false documentation. All apparently with HR's blessing (because if someone wrote it down it was then considered true and not hearsay). Here is a tip, if you file with the EEOC, after your case is closed you can request a full copy of your personnel file. I knew my case would get nowhere in a right to work state, but I did get a copy of my entire work & EEOC file and I was able to read word for word the lies my "friend" wrote. All in all, getting fired was the best thing that ever happened to me. I relocated, was hired at a 20% pay increase compared to the salary I was making when fired and the retirement fund I was forced to cash in to live on has nearly doubled at my new employer. All annual reviews are same as my previous employer - stellar. Shortly after relocating my personal life also changed for the better as well. I can't say the same for the boss. Her life played out publicly in the news with some horrible karma - which I did not really believe in until I read what happened to her and the likes of which I would never wish on anyone! Years later, the only one thing that still stings a little - the gal who I thought was a friend turned out to be such an evil person. I do miss the friend I thought she was, but I do not miss the person she truly is.
