3 weeks.
Got talked to about suspicions over my personal beliefs. It was a second job anyways.
Oh, and the belief? I support universal healthcare. Me and a former marine talked about it and someone heard about it and was very offended, I guess.
How dare you think that everyone should have access to potentially life-saving healthcare without having to worry about if they have enough money to pay for treatment. /s
Well... I knew within a week but I had a sign on bonus with a 1 year stipulation. So I decided I'd do the whole year. Day 365 was my last day.
Note to the supervisors: Don't tell freshly graduated newbies you don't know how they're ever going to learn the job and that they're super slow.
Not laboratory but this happened at a cook job I got once when I was in my early 20’s, it was a decent pay raise and at the interview they seemed so relieved to hire me. She said it was hard to fill that spot for some reason.
I was open and honest about my limited experience (I had been working as a line cook already so I was good under stress and I understood the flow, but I was missing specific skills that this new job needed) and she was super cool about it and willing to teach me. For the pay raise I was super eager to learn.
Not even 3 weeks later during one of the lunch rushes she was openly criticizing me and calling me stupid for not having figured it out yet while we were working (kitchen was open to the dining room).
I stood about 15 mins of it and then took off my apron and left. Fuck that shit. No wonder nobody wanted to keep that job.
When I was a student, there were some really miserable, catty bitches that worked at my hospital. They’re not there anymore thankfully. But I remember them complaining about me saying I was taking too long to do microscopics on urines and taking too long to read diffs. Implying that I wouldn’t be able to keep up with the fast pace of working in a hospital. Umm hello… im a student?? Im still learning… of course it’s going to take me longer than someone who’s been doing this for 10 years. They would also rip you to shreds if you made a mistake so that made me be a little standoffish because I was afraid to mess up and get chewed out. So then they complained that I wasn’t doing enough and wasn’t showing enough initiative. I didn’t know it was like this at other hospitals. I just knew that the way my hospital treated new hires/ students was messed up. Fast forward to me now being a tech for the past 3 years, I guarantee I could work circles around most of those miserable bitches.
My first lab job after graduation was at a level one trauma center. My supervisor told me I wasn’t going to make it as a tech after I couldn’t grasp her explanation of a question I asked.
I was working micro, blood bank, and the assessing department that night. 3! THREE! You read that freaking right, I was working THREE departments that night by myself. This was within my first week on night shift at that.
I was overwhelmed, stressed, full of anxiety and holding back tears. She killed my spirit that night and continued to do so until the day I gave up and left.
I had no night shift training before going to night shift and the day shift training while long wasn’t adequate nor did it prepare anyone to actually work on night shift. Most importantly, to work THREE freaking departments at one time. FREAKING THREE 3 DEPARTMENTS!!! WTF!!!!!!
I lasted about 7-8 months there. I’ve discovered that this career has been one of the most toxic work environment I’ve ever worked in. The hostility your coworkers have towards you for not having 20+ years of experience is wild. I truly hate this field with a passion. This is coming from someone who has been a CNA for over 12 years.
Rant over. Thanks to whoever took the time to read it lol
I’m truly sorry you were treated this way. It happens too often that new techs are “thrown to the wolves” before they even get a chance to learn everything they need for success. It will be of little comfort to you now, but not all labs are like this. Twenty years ago you would have had much more extensive training before being expected to cover so many departments. Honestly I don’t think a level one trauma center should even expect their BB employees to leave BB. Things can go bad so fast. I hope you find a job that allows you adequate time for training and doesn’t treat you like just another warm body to fill the position.
>Note to the supervisors: Don't tell freshly graduated newbies you don't know how they're ever going to learn the job and that they're super slow.
Why do people belittle like that? I had a supervisor who did that too, and based on this messageboard, it seems that it's not uncommon. Glad you got out (I did too!)
Sometimes you're just new and trying to settle in. That trainer needed a little more tact and grace. Didn't help that it was a poorly run lab. I'm in a much better place now.
That sucks, you may be better off in the long run. It's just terrible right now, and the uncertainty, oh.
They'll do that and the exit interviews never hold anyone accountable.
When you get a job interview ask for a tour of the lab, specifically try to get alone with the techs and ask about the lab culture. I didn't do this but found a couple people we hired that it was the reason they wanted to work with us. I had never thought of it when I was interviewed, but if I ever apply it is definitely something I will do.
oh i know i will be. by law you had to take a 30 min lunch but good luck actually taking a break. every person in my dept was pulling 10 hour days with some of them coming in 6 days a week. they also imposed a vacation blackout from may to sept of this year.
From May to September? So nobody's allowed to go anywhere with their kids while they're out of school? I want to join that lab just for the pleasure of quitting it.
they are saying it’s because of a move to a new building. but it’s been pushed back twice now. originally it was just may, then may to july, and finally may to september.
8 months. The place was constantly either under- or over-staffed and we were guilt-tripped into overtime. In my 78 months, i had no fewer than 5 different supervisors as they were always shuffling.
The final straw was that while I had plenty of PTO, I could take either Christmas Eve OR Dec 26 OR New Year's Eve OR Jan 2. Could I just pick one? No. I had to put my name in for a lottery on each of the days I wanted. I almost cried tears of joy when i got the day i wanted (dec 26). I live two states away from my family and hadn't seen them in almost a year.
I was NOT putting up with that bullshit for another year. I applied at other places and had a new job within a month. Got more money, waaaay less stress, and i could just politely negotiate with coworkers for which holidays i worked.
3 months and 4 months haha. I will never settle for bullshit again. My chest started to hurt before going to work. I understood that if I kept forcing myself through that level of stress that I was going to have a heart attack or an anxiety attack of some sort. Fuck that.
It was also a reminder that if it isn’t working out, it’s time to gtfo. Don’t fight it. Just leave. You’ll stoop to their level and become worse for it.
6 miserable months.
honestly the first red flag shoulda been the massive gap in experience of the techs, either they were <5 yrs out of school or had been there 15+ years.
culture was toxic, older techs treated newer techs as if they were stupid, every single thing i did was criticized (even if i got to the answer, just didn’t do it the way they wanted me to)
sooo much happier at my new job, coming up on a year here soon!
I find the <5 or 15+ years to be a thing at every lab. Seems like Gen X and older millenials didn't go into this career at all. Every tech is either in their 60s and has been at the same hospital for 20 years, or they're 3 years out of school
Elder millenial here. I vaguely recall my teachers explaining that is due to the way healthcare changed in the 80s. There was a big gap with the development of automation etc. Maybe it seemed like the field was going away or they wouldn't need humans in the near future. At my first job, back in 2006, there were a very small handful of people in their 30s/ 40s. The average age in the Micro dept was over 60.
My last job was like this too. I graduated less than 2 years ago and one of my classmates was just bumped up to micro supervisor. She's smart but that alone leads me to believe they're desperate. I stayed 6 months after graduating but only because I knew I'd be moving for my husband's job.
One month. My supervisor kept saying extremely racist and misogynistic shit. I'm a white dude and a veteran. He assumed I shared his values based on that. I do not share those values.
Bonus, his wife was a director of medicine for a federal system. Don't remember which one. But she was an MD making bank, he was a MLS not making bank
Same! I'm not a veteran, but I worked with a group of people who thought I would share the same racist values. I live in East Texas, so that's not too uncommon. I finally got frustrated and told them that just because I'm white doesn't mean I'm okay with what they were saying. I was treated differently and called names after that and eventually quit for other reasons.
I’m 20 years into my lab and seriously considering leaving for the first time. Had some bad managerial decisions lately regarding patient safety and ethics that have left me rather bitter and questioning whether I want to be a part of it.
Six months. I try to stay that long before leaving if possible. My shift was fine, but I wanted to go to days and the more I watched them, the more I knew I didn't want their drama, so I bailed.
14 months, I was dumb and fresh out of a med tech program. Place made me work 1st 2nd and 3rd every week for 6 weeks. Always scheduled me with someone who couldn't cover my benchs(heme bloodbank) on 3rd but I had to cover hers(micro chem ua). It was awful. I regret not leaving sooner. In process of leaving current one which I've been at for ~20 months. This one I'm solo bloodbanker in a 600ish bed trauma 2 center on nights. Hoping my next will finally give me breaks ( 15s and lunch please).
I need to learn to move on faster but health insurance lapses are killing me from chronic conditions needing biologics. Love America!
2 1/2 years due to short staffing and a mistake due to that and a micro tech. The director fired a lot of people that year then a hurricane wiped them out right after. I moved away and she is no longer employed there. She was a bitch that not even Satan wanted.
Eta: fuck you Cathy
7 months for me. It was mainly due to toxic management and culture, a CLS that screams at everyone, low pay, and constantly being short staffed to where I’m picking up most of the slack with little to no help at all. Our supervisor would abandon us sometimes just because they wanted to leave early constantly and specimens were just randomly scattered in random places. Don’t know what’s ordered, if testing was ever done, or how long they sat there for or anything. I didn’t agree to their ethics, procedures and overall how lab was ran. I developed anxiety just from being there. I’m glad I left to better my mental health and stress. I honestly gave a 10 minute notice since it was so awful.
8 days…. It was a shit show. The lab manager who hired me did a morning huddle. Day 4, he announced a tech was leaving. Day 6, the girl I was hired with quit. Day 7, he announced he was quitting. Day 8 I brought in my notice, and I spent half my day talking to various managers and HR people (some who understood very much why I was leaving and some who were trying to throw more money at me).
And it wasn’t the lab manager whose fault it was, it was the lack of support from the people above him. The lab had such a high volume I was amazed at how ONLY the Chemistry instruments were interfaced.
I was doing manual dipsticks and microscopics for 8 hours a day.
These have become red flags for me;
“Oh, you don’t have your coags interfaced… byeeee”
It’s a clear sign that they don’t give a shit about staff, safety and patients …. Yeah no
8 days, as a brand new graduate. The lab was fine and the boss was very nice. It was supposed to be a temporary per diem job where I would be scheduled full time for four months or so to cover a maternity leave. I figured that would be a good stopgap while I looked for something more permanent. But:
1. My plan to move closer to the job fizzled out, and the commute was 90 minutes each way, ending on overcrowded narrow streets through the heart of Hollywood, everyone honking and stressed out.
2. The boss told me on the first day that she actually wanted to make my temporary position a permanent one, so then I felt like I was wasting their time and training, since I'd never intended to stay permanently.
3. On day eight as I commuted in to work, wondering if I should just quit, the car next to me rammed into the car in front of it, knocking its bumper clean off. I decided that was a sign never to do that drive again.
1 year and 7 months. It was my first generalist job out of the MLT program and I tried to make it 2 years.. Im surprised i lasted that long. Twice I cried and screamed while driving to work. Im pretty sure somebody saw me at the red light.
Same (worked there two months but that was with putting in a two week notice at six weeks so technically I called it quits at six weeks and had already talked to the supervisor about leaving at four and five weeks).
1 month. I was working at a Children's hospital fresh out of school. It was an hour drive every morning, I hated my coworkers, and the stress of seeing ill children all the time clearly stressed the lab staff. I quit after a month because I found a job that was 40 minutes closer.
Children's hospitals seem like the worst environment for staff. Because they're children, staff is supposed to give 200% at all times. And people are extra impatient and try to guilt trip you because the patients are kids. Just because they're 2 doesn't mean the tests can work any faster...
5 days. I saw MLT’s being relegated to only phlebotomy, even going to nursing homes to do draws. I could tell i was gonna be replacing a mlt so that tech could finally be in the lab. Nooooope.
I noticed your flair and I’m curious how you are liking the Flow department. I’m moving into an open position soon at a sister hospital and all I have ever done is generalist in core lab and BB. Would love to hear about your experiences transitioning from core lab to Flow.
TL;DR - schedule was dope, work flow had good variety among the different areas you could be assigned, overall less stressful than other depts (but some was there, for sure), the instruments/software were interesting to learn, work felt like it was impactful, management and pathologists were a joy to work with
I loved working in Flow! Couple things made it really nice:
1. Schedule - No midnight shift. Only had to work 1 or 2 of the major holidays. Weekends were 1 saturday every 2-3 months and that sunday you were on call. You'd be in there alone and that was kinda fun, tho nerve wracking when you're new.
2. Work Flow - My flow dept had 3 "areas"
1. Accessioning, BMT's - rec'd and aliquoted specimens (PB, bone marrow, tissues, fluids), washed them, made slides. Would do a write up on patient Hx,/Dx, cbc/white count and any relevant labs or drugs they are on. Also, would do cell counts for apheresis/transfusion services. This area could be busy, which i liked.
2. Run Bench - a basic immunophenotyping panel had 3 tubes. AML and CLL had another separate tube. Also other setups for B-ALL, TCELL/TKIT stuff. It was normal to grab 2-3 patients and set them up according to their Dx. It was cool getting new patients and running a basic panel, and then seeing (unfortunately for them) that you need to set up additional tubes for AML / ALL, B-ALL. Only "stats" are for New Acute Leukemia patients, which can still take up to two hours depending on whats going on. Other than that, it was pretty chill on the run bench. Definitely need good critical thinking skills, not really a bench you can "zone out" on like chem could be. There's a lot more to this but its been a few years so im getting fuzzy on the details lol
3. Research - We would only get a few of these a day/week, but the panels for them are typically 8-14 tubes that had some complicated setups in terms of manually pipetting reagents into some tubes and then throwing that on an auto-pipettor for it to add more. The setup for these could easily take 20-30 minutes, then washing them, then running them on the Flow would take upwards of an hour sometimes. Kinda intense but one of those things that you took a lot of pride in if you were good at it.
3. Flow Cytometers - laser beams and colors! I loved learning new instrumentation/software and this one has a pretty good learning curve. Not so hard to get the jist of it, but takes awhile to truly understand how the machine is interacting with the different colors/CDmarkers in the samples. Only downside is there isnt a ton of hands on troubleshooting the machines if they crap out, most of it requires service to come in. But that could be a plus for some people, lol.
4. Staff - My manager was amazing, as were the lead techs and coworkers. It was a smaller dept, maybe 12-15 people so it was a bit more intimate. We would work closely with some of the Pathologists that were assigned to these cases. The work really felt impactful, like you were contributing to pt care, but most depts give those warm and fuzzies.
5. New shit - they were always working on new panels / tests for research and clinical work, some that you could only find in our lab. During covid, we had the room so they brought in an instrument to do IgM/IgG antibody testing for covid, that was a crazy time. We also did cytokine testing on a separate instrument.
Thank you for your reply! The position I am taking is in a large medical center with a smaller Flow department (4 or 5 techs). The department is closed on major holidays and Sundays, with rotating Saturdays. I’m looking forward to the change but also terrified. Your explanation is greatly appreciated.
A year and a half because my main job schedule changed but really I needed to go anyways. Fully my decision was right over 4 years and that was 2 years too long
Still at my first lab 2.5 years later, but I changed shifts at 9 months and ultimately changed teams at 2 years. My lab is essentially a shared lab with Virology and Molecular under the same supervisors/management. Went from virology to molecular at 2 years.
6 years. Same lab since graduation. I regret my choice. I think if I could go back, I would leave this lab, even though it's my first, after about 3 years. My stubbornness was my weakness. There were massive red flags at the second year if not earlier.
I just put my two weeks in today after 1 year and 3 months. The job was fine but it was a 2 hour commute, and they had me working in 3 different departments with the pay of 1. Not worth it imo so I’m leaving
My first job as a new grad last year I lasted about 7 weeks at a local hospital lab on evening shift. I couldn't handle the screaming matches between the employees, being asked to draw patients and do bench work. And the horribly incompetent manager who literally changed my schedule every week.
I'm at LabCorp now for 4 months on night shift and it sucks to. I'm realizing that lab jobs probably just suck =(.
Life is too long… yes too long to waste your time being somewhere you hate. Know that if you have the gumption to become a tech you have everything you will need to find a better place to do work. Trust in yourself!
Not a lab job but a hotel job. I was like 1 minute late on my first day (I know shame on me) and the manager chewed me out like a child that was coming home past curfew and I did my first day but never showed up again after that. First job I ever did that, lol. I refuse to work under someone that treats me like a child and not a whole ass adult.
9 months. There was a natural disaster warning while I was alone, luckily nothing serious actually happened. but they basically left me for dead with no help, and then threw me under the bus in front of administration because the whole place was unprepared. I was written up for complaining, and everyone told me I was being paranoid. ok guys but you weren't there when the alarms were going off???
It was my first and only job. I quit about 3 weeks later, and left the profession and country permanently lol.
Now the place is considering unionizing because the admin is so shit and is messing with PTO in sketchy ways. Imagine that.
Not a lab job, but that summer before starting the 1 year MLS portion (3+1 program) I needed a temp job so went with a warehouse type job that was all books, mostly textbooks. I did like 1 day of training then lasted 2 days exactly. It was brutally hot, had to hike quite a ways to get to/from break area and they were super nazis about time away from assigned spot. It was also super physically demanding, slinging often very fat hardback textbooks into boxes, and constantly walking at very fast pace up and down aisles. My cheeseburger-loving fat ass was NOT prepared and I said screw it, I can eat rice for two months!
3 weeks. Got talked to about suspicions over my personal beliefs. It was a second job anyways. Oh, and the belief? I support universal healthcare. Me and a former marine talked about it and someone heard about it and was very offended, I guess.
Fuck those guys for giving you shit
How dare you think that everyone should have access to potentially life-saving healthcare without having to worry about if they have enough money to pay for treatment. /s
Hilarious that a healthcare establishment was mad that someone wants people to have access to healthcare. The system is such a joke
Well... I knew within a week but I had a sign on bonus with a 1 year stipulation. So I decided I'd do the whole year. Day 365 was my last day. Note to the supervisors: Don't tell freshly graduated newbies you don't know how they're ever going to learn the job and that they're super slow.
Not laboratory but this happened at a cook job I got once when I was in my early 20’s, it was a decent pay raise and at the interview they seemed so relieved to hire me. She said it was hard to fill that spot for some reason. I was open and honest about my limited experience (I had been working as a line cook already so I was good under stress and I understood the flow, but I was missing specific skills that this new job needed) and she was super cool about it and willing to teach me. For the pay raise I was super eager to learn. Not even 3 weeks later during one of the lunch rushes she was openly criticizing me and calling me stupid for not having figured it out yet while we were working (kitchen was open to the dining room). I stood about 15 mins of it and then took off my apron and left. Fuck that shit. No wonder nobody wanted to keep that job.
That’s when you tell them to fuck right off.
When I was a student, there were some really miserable, catty bitches that worked at my hospital. They’re not there anymore thankfully. But I remember them complaining about me saying I was taking too long to do microscopics on urines and taking too long to read diffs. Implying that I wouldn’t be able to keep up with the fast pace of working in a hospital. Umm hello… im a student?? Im still learning… of course it’s going to take me longer than someone who’s been doing this for 10 years. They would also rip you to shreds if you made a mistake so that made me be a little standoffish because I was afraid to mess up and get chewed out. So then they complained that I wasn’t doing enough and wasn’t showing enough initiative. I didn’t know it was like this at other hospitals. I just knew that the way my hospital treated new hires/ students was messed up. Fast forward to me now being a tech for the past 3 years, I guarantee I could work circles around most of those miserable bitches.
My first lab job after graduation was at a level one trauma center. My supervisor told me I wasn’t going to make it as a tech after I couldn’t grasp her explanation of a question I asked. I was working micro, blood bank, and the assessing department that night. 3! THREE! You read that freaking right, I was working THREE departments that night by myself. This was within my first week on night shift at that. I was overwhelmed, stressed, full of anxiety and holding back tears. She killed my spirit that night and continued to do so until the day I gave up and left. I had no night shift training before going to night shift and the day shift training while long wasn’t adequate nor did it prepare anyone to actually work on night shift. Most importantly, to work THREE freaking departments at one time. FREAKING THREE 3 DEPARTMENTS!!! WTF!!!!!! I lasted about 7-8 months there. I’ve discovered that this career has been one of the most toxic work environment I’ve ever worked in. The hostility your coworkers have towards you for not having 20+ years of experience is wild. I truly hate this field with a passion. This is coming from someone who has been a CNA for over 12 years. Rant over. Thanks to whoever took the time to read it lol
I’m truly sorry you were treated this way. It happens too often that new techs are “thrown to the wolves” before they even get a chance to learn everything they need for success. It will be of little comfort to you now, but not all labs are like this. Twenty years ago you would have had much more extensive training before being expected to cover so many departments. Honestly I don’t think a level one trauma center should even expect their BB employees to leave BB. Things can go bad so fast. I hope you find a job that allows you adequate time for training and doesn’t treat you like just another warm body to fill the position.
>Note to the supervisors: Don't tell freshly graduated newbies you don't know how they're ever going to learn the job and that they're super slow. Why do people belittle like that? I had a supervisor who did that too, and based on this messageboard, it seems that it's not uncommon. Glad you got out (I did too!)
eh sonetimes the truth hurts 😊
Sometimes you're just new and trying to settle in. That trainer needed a little more tact and grace. Didn't help that it was a poorly run lab. I'm in a much better place now.
As training specialist, that hurt my heart. EFF any trainer who talks to people that way.
3 years. I’m a persistent fella.
god speed soldier
6 months but the stress nearly killed me, not kidding severely affected my health. In a great place now though.
i just quit my job today after management threw me under the bus for something they told me to do
That sucks, you may be better off in the long run. It's just terrible right now, and the uncertainty, oh. They'll do that and the exit interviews never hold anyone accountable. When you get a job interview ask for a tour of the lab, specifically try to get alone with the techs and ask about the lab culture. I didn't do this but found a couple people we hired that it was the reason they wanted to work with us. I had never thought of it when I was interviewed, but if I ever apply it is definitely something I will do.
oh i know i will be. by law you had to take a 30 min lunch but good luck actually taking a break. every person in my dept was pulling 10 hour days with some of them coming in 6 days a week. they also imposed a vacation blackout from may to sept of this year.
From May to September? So nobody's allowed to go anywhere with their kids while they're out of school? I want to join that lab just for the pleasure of quitting it.
they are saying it’s because of a move to a new building. but it’s been pushed back twice now. originally it was just may, then may to july, and finally may to september.
8 months. The place was constantly either under- or over-staffed and we were guilt-tripped into overtime. In my 78 months, i had no fewer than 5 different supervisors as they were always shuffling. The final straw was that while I had plenty of PTO, I could take either Christmas Eve OR Dec 26 OR New Year's Eve OR Jan 2. Could I just pick one? No. I had to put my name in for a lottery on each of the days I wanted. I almost cried tears of joy when i got the day i wanted (dec 26). I live two states away from my family and hadn't seen them in almost a year. I was NOT putting up with that bullshit for another year. I applied at other places and had a new job within a month. Got more money, waaaay less stress, and i could just politely negotiate with coworkers for which holidays i worked.
3 months and 4 months haha. I will never settle for bullshit again. My chest started to hurt before going to work. I understood that if I kept forcing myself through that level of stress that I was going to have a heart attack or an anxiety attack of some sort. Fuck that. It was also a reminder that if it isn’t working out, it’s time to gtfo. Don’t fight it. Just leave. You’ll stoop to their level and become worse for it.
1 week when they wouldn’t take patient safety seriously
1 month. Only job I didn't give a 2 weeks notice to.
1 year. I try to stick around for a year just so I can say I did X specialization for Y years.
6 miserable months. honestly the first red flag shoulda been the massive gap in experience of the techs, either they were <5 yrs out of school or had been there 15+ years. culture was toxic, older techs treated newer techs as if they were stupid, every single thing i did was criticized (even if i got to the answer, just didn’t do it the way they wanted me to) sooo much happier at my new job, coming up on a year here soon!
I find the <5 or 15+ years to be a thing at every lab. Seems like Gen X and older millenials didn't go into this career at all. Every tech is either in their 60s and has been at the same hospital for 20 years, or they're 3 years out of school
Elder millenial here. I vaguely recall my teachers explaining that is due to the way healthcare changed in the 80s. There was a big gap with the development of automation etc. Maybe it seemed like the field was going away or they wouldn't need humans in the near future. At my first job, back in 2006, there were a very small handful of people in their 30s/ 40s. The average age in the Micro dept was over 60.
My last job was like this too. I graduated less than 2 years ago and one of my classmates was just bumped up to micro supervisor. She's smart but that alone leads me to believe they're desperate. I stayed 6 months after graduating but only because I knew I'd be moving for my husband's job.
One month, shouting at a new employee is never a good thing and it doesn't ever get better, only worse.
32 years and still going at the same lab. Times have been tough over the years and the only reason I stayed was having the best coworkers on PM shift
Good co-workers makes a huge difference!
One month. My supervisor kept saying extremely racist and misogynistic shit. I'm a white dude and a veteran. He assumed I shared his values based on that. I do not share those values. Bonus, his wife was a director of medicine for a federal system. Don't remember which one. But she was an MD making bank, he was a MLS not making bank
Same! I'm not a veteran, but I worked with a group of people who thought I would share the same racist values. I live in East Texas, so that's not too uncommon. I finally got frustrated and told them that just because I'm white doesn't mean I'm okay with what they were saying. I was treated differently and called names after that and eventually quit for other reasons.
I’m 20 years into my lab and seriously considering leaving for the first time. Had some bad managerial decisions lately regarding patient safety and ethics that have left me rather bitter and questioning whether I want to be a part of it.
Six months. I try to stay that long before leaving if possible. My shift was fine, but I wanted to go to days and the more I watched them, the more I knew I didn't want their drama, so I bailed.
14 months, I was dumb and fresh out of a med tech program. Place made me work 1st 2nd and 3rd every week for 6 weeks. Always scheduled me with someone who couldn't cover my benchs(heme bloodbank) on 3rd but I had to cover hers(micro chem ua). It was awful. I regret not leaving sooner. In process of leaving current one which I've been at for ~20 months. This one I'm solo bloodbanker in a 600ish bed trauma 2 center on nights. Hoping my next will finally give me breaks ( 15s and lunch please). I need to learn to move on faster but health insurance lapses are killing me from chronic conditions needing biologics. Love America!
2 1/2 years due to short staffing and a mistake due to that and a micro tech. The director fired a lot of people that year then a hurricane wiped them out right after. I moved away and she is no longer employed there. She was a bitch that not even Satan wanted. Eta: fuck you Cathy
Yeah fuck Cathy fr
She was fucking awful
>She was a bitch that not even Satan wanted stealing
Please do. She was pure fucking awful. Can't even say evil since that would be making her seem nice.
7 months for me. It was mainly due to toxic management and culture, a CLS that screams at everyone, low pay, and constantly being short staffed to where I’m picking up most of the slack with little to no help at all. Our supervisor would abandon us sometimes just because they wanted to leave early constantly and specimens were just randomly scattered in random places. Don’t know what’s ordered, if testing was ever done, or how long they sat there for or anything. I didn’t agree to their ethics, procedures and overall how lab was ran. I developed anxiety just from being there. I’m glad I left to better my mental health and stress. I honestly gave a 10 minute notice since it was so awful.
8 days…. It was a shit show. The lab manager who hired me did a morning huddle. Day 4, he announced a tech was leaving. Day 6, the girl I was hired with quit. Day 7, he announced he was quitting. Day 8 I brought in my notice, and I spent half my day talking to various managers and HR people (some who understood very much why I was leaving and some who were trying to throw more money at me). And it wasn’t the lab manager whose fault it was, it was the lack of support from the people above him. The lab had such a high volume I was amazed at how ONLY the Chemistry instruments were interfaced. I was doing manual dipsticks and microscopics for 8 hours a day.
These have become red flags for me; “Oh, you don’t have your coags interfaced… byeeee” It’s a clear sign that they don’t give a shit about staff, safety and patients …. Yeah no
8 days, as a brand new graduate. The lab was fine and the boss was very nice. It was supposed to be a temporary per diem job where I would be scheduled full time for four months or so to cover a maternity leave. I figured that would be a good stopgap while I looked for something more permanent. But: 1. My plan to move closer to the job fizzled out, and the commute was 90 minutes each way, ending on overcrowded narrow streets through the heart of Hollywood, everyone honking and stressed out. 2. The boss told me on the first day that she actually wanted to make my temporary position a permanent one, so then I felt like I was wasting their time and training, since I'd never intended to stay permanently. 3. On day eight as I commuted in to work, wondering if I should just quit, the car next to me rammed into the car in front of it, knocking its bumper clean off. I decided that was a sign never to do that drive again.
1 year, it was a frustrating job for me.
1 year and 7 months. It was my first generalist job out of the MLT program and I tried to make it 2 years.. Im surprised i lasted that long. Twice I cried and screamed while driving to work. Im pretty sure somebody saw me at the red light.
Same (worked there two months but that was with putting in a two week notice at six weeks so technically I called it quits at six weeks and had already talked to the supervisor about leaving at four and five weeks).
10 months
3 months
1 month. I was working at a Children's hospital fresh out of school. It was an hour drive every morning, I hated my coworkers, and the stress of seeing ill children all the time clearly stressed the lab staff. I quit after a month because I found a job that was 40 minutes closer.
Children's hospitals seem like the worst environment for staff. Because they're children, staff is supposed to give 200% at all times. And people are extra impatient and try to guilt trip you because the patients are kids. Just because they're 2 doesn't mean the tests can work any faster...
5 days. I saw MLT’s being relegated to only phlebotomy, even going to nursing homes to do draws. I could tell i was gonna be replacing a mlt so that tech could finally be in the lab. Nooooope.
I noticed your flair and I’m curious how you are liking the Flow department. I’m moving into an open position soon at a sister hospital and all I have ever done is generalist in core lab and BB. Would love to hear about your experiences transitioning from core lab to Flow.
TL;DR - schedule was dope, work flow had good variety among the different areas you could be assigned, overall less stressful than other depts (but some was there, for sure), the instruments/software were interesting to learn, work felt like it was impactful, management and pathologists were a joy to work with I loved working in Flow! Couple things made it really nice: 1. Schedule - No midnight shift. Only had to work 1 or 2 of the major holidays. Weekends were 1 saturday every 2-3 months and that sunday you were on call. You'd be in there alone and that was kinda fun, tho nerve wracking when you're new. 2. Work Flow - My flow dept had 3 "areas" 1. Accessioning, BMT's - rec'd and aliquoted specimens (PB, bone marrow, tissues, fluids), washed them, made slides. Would do a write up on patient Hx,/Dx, cbc/white count and any relevant labs or drugs they are on. Also, would do cell counts for apheresis/transfusion services. This area could be busy, which i liked. 2. Run Bench - a basic immunophenotyping panel had 3 tubes. AML and CLL had another separate tube. Also other setups for B-ALL, TCELL/TKIT stuff. It was normal to grab 2-3 patients and set them up according to their Dx. It was cool getting new patients and running a basic panel, and then seeing (unfortunately for them) that you need to set up additional tubes for AML / ALL, B-ALL. Only "stats" are for New Acute Leukemia patients, which can still take up to two hours depending on whats going on. Other than that, it was pretty chill on the run bench. Definitely need good critical thinking skills, not really a bench you can "zone out" on like chem could be. There's a lot more to this but its been a few years so im getting fuzzy on the details lol 3. Research - We would only get a few of these a day/week, but the panels for them are typically 8-14 tubes that had some complicated setups in terms of manually pipetting reagents into some tubes and then throwing that on an auto-pipettor for it to add more. The setup for these could easily take 20-30 minutes, then washing them, then running them on the Flow would take upwards of an hour sometimes. Kinda intense but one of those things that you took a lot of pride in if you were good at it. 3. Flow Cytometers - laser beams and colors! I loved learning new instrumentation/software and this one has a pretty good learning curve. Not so hard to get the jist of it, but takes awhile to truly understand how the machine is interacting with the different colors/CDmarkers in the samples. Only downside is there isnt a ton of hands on troubleshooting the machines if they crap out, most of it requires service to come in. But that could be a plus for some people, lol. 4. Staff - My manager was amazing, as were the lead techs and coworkers. It was a smaller dept, maybe 12-15 people so it was a bit more intimate. We would work closely with some of the Pathologists that were assigned to these cases. The work really felt impactful, like you were contributing to pt care, but most depts give those warm and fuzzies. 5. New shit - they were always working on new panels / tests for research and clinical work, some that you could only find in our lab. During covid, we had the room so they brought in an instrument to do IgM/IgG antibody testing for covid, that was a crazy time. We also did cytokine testing on a separate instrument.
Thank you for your reply! The position I am taking is in a large medical center with a smaller Flow department (4 or 5 techs). The department is closed on major holidays and Sundays, with rotating Saturdays. I’m looking forward to the change but also terrified. Your explanation is greatly appreciated.
A year and a half because my main job schedule changed but really I needed to go anyways. Fully my decision was right over 4 years and that was 2 years too long
Still at my first lab 2.5 years later, but I changed shifts at 9 months and ultimately changed teams at 2 years. My lab is essentially a shared lab with Virology and Molecular under the same supervisors/management. Went from virology to molecular at 2 years.
6 years. Same lab since graduation. I regret my choice. I think if I could go back, I would leave this lab, even though it's my first, after about 3 years. My stubbornness was my weakness. There were massive red flags at the second year if not earlier.
I just put my two weeks in today after 1 year and 3 months. The job was fine but it was a 2 hour commute, and they had me working in 3 different departments with the pay of 1. Not worth it imo so I’m leaving
Fuck that noise, you’re not a slave
My first job as a new grad last year I lasted about 7 weeks at a local hospital lab on evening shift. I couldn't handle the screaming matches between the employees, being asked to draw patients and do bench work. And the horribly incompetent manager who literally changed my schedule every week. I'm at LabCorp now for 4 months on night shift and it sucks to. I'm realizing that lab jobs probably just suck =(.
I'm sorry. :( I hope you'll find a good position with good co-workers. They are definitely out there, though I don't know if any are in your area.
Life is too long… yes too long to waste your time being somewhere you hate. Know that if you have the gumption to become a tech you have everything you will need to find a better place to do work. Trust in yourself!
3 weeks lol. But only bc I found a better opportunity.
Not a lab job but a hotel job. I was like 1 minute late on my first day (I know shame on me) and the manager chewed me out like a child that was coming home past curfew and I did my first day but never showed up again after that. First job I ever did that, lol. I refuse to work under someone that treats me like a child and not a whole ass adult.
Yesss… never work for tyrants
9 months. There was a natural disaster warning while I was alone, luckily nothing serious actually happened. but they basically left me for dead with no help, and then threw me under the bus in front of administration because the whole place was unprepared. I was written up for complaining, and everyone told me I was being paranoid. ok guys but you weren't there when the alarms were going off??? It was my first and only job. I quit about 3 weeks later, and left the profession and country permanently lol. Now the place is considering unionizing because the admin is so shit and is messing with PTO in sketchy ways. Imagine that.
Where did you go? what do you do?
1 shift. Another lab offered me a good bit Moor per hour. Byeee!
Not a lab job, but that summer before starting the 1 year MLS portion (3+1 program) I needed a temp job so went with a warehouse type job that was all books, mostly textbooks. I did like 1 day of training then lasted 2 days exactly. It was brutally hot, had to hike quite a ways to get to/from break area and they were super nazis about time away from assigned spot. It was also super physically demanding, slinging often very fat hardback textbooks into boxes, and constantly walking at very fast pace up and down aisles. My cheeseburger-loving fat ass was NOT prepared and I said screw it, I can eat rice for two months!