This Woman's Boss Sent A "Thank You" Note To HER HUSBAND After Making Her Work Overtime, And I'm Seething
As the cost of living continues to rise, more and more people are reporting a general displeasure with their work lives. Earlier this year, CNBC reported that about 62 percent of US workers say they're living paycheck to paycheck and, coupled with receiving low pay, feeling disrespected by management was among the top reasons why many left their jobs.
Among nurses — one of the most turbulent positions to hold during the pandemic — a little over one-third say they'll be leaving their positions by the end of 2022. And, after this "Thank you" card started making the rounds online, it's not hard to imagine why.
Recently, after a trend of completing mandatory overtime at work, a nurse came home to find that her husband received the following letter from her boss, which reads: "Thank you for sharing your wife, as she has been mandated to work several times over the past few months. We certainly recognize that this took her away from her family."
Though that's quite enough to elicit feelings beyond frustration, the letter continues, "Please know we appreciate her and thank you for sharing when we desperately needed her."
Bravo / Via giphy.com
As you can imagine, the letter was met by cringes, and very good questions wondering why the husband was getting a "thank you" instead of the nurse, who actually did the work:
"'Thank you for sharing your wife' is one of the most cringy things I have ever read in my life. On top of everything, as a woman, it really reads like they are thanking the husband for sharing his property. I know they don't mean it like that but if I am a professional, I don't need anyone sending a thank you card to my husband. You can thank me directly, thank you very much."
Other medical professionals chimed in to say they were disappointed, but not surprised by the actions of the hospital:
"This is some of the cringy crap hospitals are doing to try to keep staff. They refuse to increase wages no matter what. They will throw pizza parties at us, essential oils, cheap gift cards, and pass out cheap corporate swag, painting rocks because we rock, and other useless crap. Anything but pay money and hiring more staff."
And others who could relate to something similar happening in their separate fields shared their own stories:
"I once did an absolute bucket load of overtime along with several team members to hit a crazy target our boss had set to show off to his manager. We're talking about staying in the office until 10 p.m. most nights for a few weeks.
We each got a ￡30 voucher to an Italian restaurant. I'd rather have received nothing. "
"I got one of those a few years ago. I had been working 16–18 hour days for about two years straight with absolutely zero time off, all due to horrible decisions by upper management.
After one particularly horrible six-month period, the executive team called a meeting with eight of us. They gave us about $50 worth of gift cards and a typed card thanking us (and our families) for all of the hard work."
—Anonymous
After the thread went viral, the nurse, who goes by u/SolitudeWeeks on Reddit, shared, "The Chief Nursing Officer got wind of [the viral post] and stopped the practice," so it looks like they're done with sending out "thank you" cards. But the damage has already been done. "It was more of a slap in the face than the $10 gift cards they gave out but quickly ran out of," she concluded.
ABC / Via giphy.com