Start the New Year

Well... I did it.

I quit my internship.

I manned up today and had my meeting with my mentor. Tried to get a pay date, did not get one. Instead, got a rude remark from my mentor, they said that it's not the board members' priority to pay a new grad right away. That they would not pay some new grad right away. WTF? Seriously? It doesn't matter if I'm a new grad or not. I am employed by your organization, I still need to get paid. I have bills and necessities to pay.

After that I brushed it off and did my work as my mentor left the office.

But then I was looking through my work e-mail, and noticed a 'read' email....

It was a response to my previous e-mail from my personal e-mail. Why did my mentor not send it to my personal e-mail? Did they deliberately leave it out? I read the message, and one line in it was so ridiculous, I wanted to cry and quit right there. I'll paraphrase it, "On Monday you will give me a list of employers that have a twenty-something dictate employment terms, administration and funding agency. You can also call any ___ shops and do a poll of how many employees dictate their individual hours" I had to censor the kind of shops for anonymity.

After I read that line, that was the last straw. I could not work with this mentor, AT ALL. First, they would not give me a pay date because the board member who had to sign off on the cheque was out of town. I still need to get paid. My mentor said he could give me a loan, but no, I don't want a loan. That's not ethical at all. I want to be properly paid and on time.

Then after I read that message, and after that new grad comment, I realized I could not work there anymore. The environment is so toxic. I was not learning anything. I was not receiving any training and it had been more than three weeks.

My mentor was scheduled to come back to the office later in the afternoon. But I could not stand the bad management and honestly, I did not want to resign in person, because I probably would have broke out in tears. So, I wrote my resignation letter and I picked up the phone. I called my mentor and resigned. They asked me if I wanted to think about it, and I said no, I had thought about it for the last few days. They didn't expect it, said I was bright, and that they were sorry to hear that I was leaving the position. I then asked about what I should do about the files I've worked on, we took care of that and he said I might as well go home. (Because I said my last day at the job was today.)

I still feel pretty rocky about it, as I am currently jobless. But, I know I can get an interview very soon and I will find a much better, non-toxic environment to work for. I will find a great job!!

I have been applying to a bunch of jobs today. Right after I left, I went into the food court to sit down and apply/job search. I found a few administrative positions, and just applied for them. I don't mind admin, as long as it leads to bigger, better things and that I don't have to do invoices. :)

I will focus on my job search, cleaning my room, volunteering and just take time this week to reflect on my game plan.

I actually had an interview scheduled for tomorrow that I received today, but I turned it down since it was located in a distant location and not the right kind of job for me.

So I am pretty confident I can find a new position very soon. This time, a better one.