Forced Resignation

[scooterscamp123]

Hello all,

As some of you may know I work in inpatient oncology and a few weeks ago I put in three weeks notice for my job. Although I had been seeking opportunities elsewhere I'm sad that things turned out this way. Here's what happened: Back in October all of the nurses signed up for their vacation weeks for 2018. I knew I would be in a wedding in Thailand in March and my boyfriend and I had been talking about doing a trip together for the last year so I scheduled myself to have three consecutive weeks off. When I looked on the time keeping system I had ample paid time to cover this time off (120+hours). Fast forward to December and HR tells me that I have too much accrued time in my bank and I need to either cash it out or lose it completely. I spoke with other nurses on the floor about my unexpected lack of paid time but how I'd already bought $2000 tickets and made promises to my boyfriend and my friend. They said to not approach my manager and just play dumb when she sees I have unpaid time on my timecard. I didn't think this was a good idea so I decided to be honest and approach her about the situation and explain everything. She said she would not let me go because if she did it for me she'd have to allow it for everyone - so the decision was, keep a job I didn't feel fulfilled with and lose my boyfriend and a friend I've had since childhood plus $2500+ of travel investment, or resign and find a new job. Keep in mind this would not be a staffing issue and other nurses (including management) have taken unpaid time off in the past. Call me irresponsible but a close friend's one and only special day is something I can't miss unless something super serious (death of a family member, serious illness,etc) comes up! Here's what I would like to know: I don't think my manager likes me or thinks I am a good nurse. She is quick to point out mistakes and uses team huddle to criticize night shift nurses and PCTs. I do however think I could get star reviews from night and day shift nurses and PCTs on my work performance. Am I totally screwed with finding another job because my manager won't give me a good review? I don't have any written warnings or anything on my license. Thanks for reading!

[cleback]

I know this doesn't help now but if I had been you and were inclined to quit, I would've job searched and kept working.... then a month before the trip, hopefully I would've had another job lined up, I would have put in my notice and started new job after coming back.

In a perfect world...

I just worry that a new employer will not want to accomodate 3 weeks off now.

And just as an aside, if your boyfriend would have dumped you for not going on the trip, he's not a keeper. Also, it's nice that you are making an effort to go to your friends wedding but it's in Thailand. I'm sure a lot of her loved ones cannot make the trip and she would've understood too. People don't do destination weddings thinking that everyone they care about will be able to make it. Unless you come from an extremely well to do crowd, destination weddings are one step away from eloping.

Anyway, it seems like you're at peace with your decision. And they do have crappy cash out policies. Best of luck to you.