When Even the Administrator Lets You Down

Ignored, dismissed, and set up to fail by the very people who should have led with integrity.

I haven't even shared this one yet. Maybe because it still stings. Debbie Rougeux, Administrator at Venture Forthe, wasn't just another manager in the chain. She was someone I was supposed to be able to rely on - especially when my direct supervisor was already the subject of serious complaints. But time and time again, Debbie added fuel to the fire instead of extinguishing it.

I'll never forget how she kept me on the call schedule for a Saturday shift while I was on approved FMLA leave, and didn't even bother to notify anyone until well after 3 PM-for a shift that started at 8 AM. That wasn't an oversight. That was intentional. A trap.

Or how during that online Google meeting designed to undermine me, she barely acknowledged my presence. She sat there the whole time, chewing food, saying almost nothing, barely looking at or acknowledging me, and turning a blind eye while Elizabeth tried to assassinate my character. That wasn't leadership. That was complicity.

And it didn't end there. Whenever I was sent to cover shifts hours away from home, Debbie would withhold my hotel information until the last minute, or not at all - even though she knew I was literally driving to a town, or waiting in a town I didn't know, often arriving with no address and no confirmation that a room had even been paid for. 

I would message her two or three times throughout the day asking for the hotel info, and she would simply ignore me. I frequently had to call Elizabeth in a panic for help-because Debbie just... didn't bother. 

More than once I had to pay for the hotel myself and submit it for reimbursement.  And this wasn't a one-time issue. It happened at least half a dozen times. The stress and disorganization weren't just frustrating-they were exhausting. And entirely avoidable.

Debbie is just one more level of leadership who failed me. 

If I can't trust:

- My direct supervisor (Elizabeth Schmidt),

- The Administrator (Debbie Rougeux),

- The Director of HR (Shannon Solazzo),

- The HR Operations Manager (Dawn Askew),

- Or even the President of the Company (James Tretter),

...then how could I not constructively discharge?

There was no trust left. No accountability. And nowhere else to turn. Leaving wasn't abandonment-it was survival.

-- K

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