I found an online MSW program that’s pretty cheap so I’m going to apply in November. I’ll work part time and take classes part time. Might suck for 4 years (how long part time will take for the masters) but it’ll be better than going back to lab tech hell.
I used to work as a lab tech for big evil pharma companies. Those jobs were absolute hell.
It was a really nice vacation, I go back to work tomorrow. You should take some time off too. We can’t be good workers if we’re burnt out!
How do you tell a coworker/supervisee that they (literally) stink and need to improve their hygiene because no one wants to be near them ever?
i’ve had to do this a couple times. i think if you have to, you can fall back on that. “Hey, I hate to bring this up but I’ve had a couple folks bring this up…” Sucks but you can fall back on procedure. If it is personal, I’ve never been in that situation. I’d probably do the shit sandwich and mention the hygiene issue in between a couple positives. i tried writing out an example, but i don’t know the specifics of the smell issue. but i’d get granular about smell. “hey it smells like this and i can’t handle it for x reason”.
There was an Ask a Manager on this topic, in case it’s at all helpful: https://www.askamanager.org/2025/03/talking-to-an-employee-about-body-odor-not-having-work-friends-when-youre-the-boss-and-more.html
“hey, you smell like literal shit and I can’t handle it because I’m a human being.”
you gotta finesse it. you walk em over and put your hand on their shoulder, “hey man i like you but i need you to do something for me. i’m smelling you after the bathroom. idk if it is a bathing issue or a bathroom issue, but it does genuinely bother me and felt i had to bring it up (if youre their manager and other people have complained, i would state that here without using those folks’ names). i want to again tell you that i like you, but i would appreciate if you’d work on this.”
this is roughly the statements i’ve made. the only additional conversation was with a guy who didnt have regular access at home to a shower and i worked out a place for him to shower at work.
Yeah. The added layer of fun is he’s a terrible employee and generally bad person. He’s getting written up for attendance issues and I have to meet about that today.
I’ve had experiences with this as a counselor to client relationship and often poor hygiene is a symptom of depression/other mental health issues.
If you’re up for a bigger discussion there could be things going on in their life that is causing a decrease in ADLs.
But the way I handle someone who is odiferous is to bring up doing laundry and showering regularly to smell as good and fresh as you can. They’ll feel better about themselves if they look and smell good.
The mental health issues (if there are any) might be handled better by HR but they don’t always do a great job at that. For context I’m a substance use counselor and my agency has a very compassionate and empathetic way of going about these issues.
So way back in June, I did accept my job’s counter offer. I shouldn’t have! The job never delivered on the promises of the counter offer, and work has just gotten worse and worse as I stayed with them. Presently, they are mishandling my FMLA time, and I decided that is the last straw. I have an interview at another place tomorrow and a few other irons in the fire. My interview tomorrow is offering slightly less than I make now (which I would frankly accept because of my extremely negative feelings towards my current place). However, the other like 3 places I have talked to are offering more money. I was thinking of saying something along those lines. “I am looking for new opportunities. I only applied places I would want to work. Some of those opportunities are offering more than here. If you offered something more in line with those other opportunities, I could accept your offer with confidence knowing I am not missing out on what those other places are offering.” Let me know if you’ve ever successfully thread that needle before.
I start a new job in about a week. Same company, same pay but easier job with the added benefit of being half remote, half office job. I’m excited about it and a little nervous. Right now I will report to the VP of the company which is very intimidating but that doesn’t mean I’ll be an executive or anything. I even had to negotiate for my same salary so in other words it’s not a huge promotion.
Either way it will be less stress, less driving, less one on one patient time, and very few sketchy situations where there could be a safety risk, patient overdose, or otherwise rough situations.
It’s a supported housing position so I’ll manage and organize affordable living vouchers where most of my interactions are with landlords and different housing authorities. Wish me luck!
I’m probably the wrong person to take advice from because I’ve left jobs for lower paying jobs that I thought at the time would be less stress but ended up backfiring.
my update is i ended up getting a job that pays slightly more, is probably about the same as far as stress level, but the opportunity to start fresh has made a big difference in my impact. Plus all the knowledge I have now is helping everything go smoother.
that being said, I am starting a part-time job today to pay some bills! thank you for destroying the economy Mr. Trump! I love late stage capitalism!
Was saying at the job #1 from this thread with the assistant financially feasible for you? Did you try asking for a raise before quitting it?