Merciless

Last week my email switched to a new provider. It gave me the motivation to clean out my files…of almost 10,000 unread emails. I knew it would be time consuming. I didn’t know it would take me on an unwanted trip down Memory Lane.

As I traveled back through the years, I again experienced the emotional roller coaster I’d ridden after the loss of my long time job as a medical transcriptionist. There was the rapid deterioration of my savings as I withdrew the funds to stay afloat, the impersonal emails from a company that off loaded employees via a website, the multiple rejection letters from my search for a new position, and the evidence of my desperate attempts to hold onto the financial lifestyle I’d become accustomed to.

It also brought back the anger over how the other transcriptionists and I had been treated after years of hard work and loyalty. They supposedly found us new jobs with a pay per line transcription agency, but there was never any work. The agency paid us our salary for a month and left us to sit it out with no work, hoping we would quit.

The transcription agency, of course, really didn’t have a reason to treat us with any regard. Unfortunately, our employer didn’t show any compassion for us, either. Months before they dumped us, they left us without work and told us we had to clock out, undoubtedly hoping the financial strain would cause us to resign. They refused to help us transition to the new system, leading one older woman to desperately call all of us begging for help. They lied to us about the transition process….and actually told the local newspaper they had found us other jobs within the company. And, finally, they refused to speak to us about any of it.

I still feel bitter about this for two reasons. First, we were all long time employees in good standing. Second, this was a Catholic organization, which they consistently emphasized. So how does a company that was under the supervision of the Catholuc Church , which emphasizes Christ’s mercy to all, justify acting so unmercifully?