So for 5 years since my graduation from college, I worked at the same company as a counselor/therapeutic staff support for children with ranging mental disabilities. For a while it was great, I met some interesting people, gained valuable knowledge, and made a few friends for life. I thought I would be working at this facility well into my retirement.

Year 4 of my tenure at this facility found the company changing it's hiring policies due to lack of staffing. They were also losing potential clients to larger facilities, and losing money in the process(they are not a state funded facility). This company hired a person that had a known past of being overly-aggressive with residents. (He was "child lined" and questioned for repeated physical abuse at his former job).

*Childline is a service to contact that deals with any issues causing distress or concern with a child, mostly reports of physical and/or sexual abuse. This persons' "childline" came back unfounded like most cases of physical abuse do, otherwise this person would not be able to work with children anymore.

The kids we are required to give care to stay in this residential treatment facility 24/7. Sometimes the kids we were required to help also came with a "conduct disorder" label, or an "intermittent explosive disorder" label, which tend to be the hardest to physically deal with on top of the other diagnoses they have. This is one of the reasons why a facility would hire someone with a suspect past that pretty much everyone in the mental health field knows about.

Fast forward to year 5, our company has hired this person to run this facility that I worked at. I probably should also have mentioned this person was very good friends with the owner of the company, and has been for several years. (At the time I woked with him, I did not know that...but looking back I could see no other reason for giving this person so much slack when other employees were fired for less).

I was a witness to several incidents where this employee used scare tactics, intimidation and physical abuse to get a child to be compliant. It may have been his lack of knowledge, or his old-school way of working with children at correctional institutes that led him to believe that this method was correct. His method was correct in that it got him what he wanted, which was compliance...but this only teaches children to not do something because of fear.

In this business often we find ourselves using restraints with clients who are in immediate danger of harming themselves or others, but many staff members could just tell with this person it was not about the client but about HIS need for compliance.

Interns from the local university that would train under me as well as co-workers would suggest I talk with this person about his approach before someone else reported him. Up until now, everything he did was borderline reportable...nothing so outstanding that it required no other decision. The higher ups at our company hated the paperwork for something they felt didn't need reported because it fell under "non-reportable" guidelines, but for 4 years we never experienced a staff member that pushed it like this.

After the most recent explosion involving this staff member flipping an entire table over to intimidate a child to clean his mess, I had to report him to our management. My immediate feeling was to report him to CYS (children and youth services) as well as notify all parents, but our way of handling this was to discuss with management first on the assumption they would do the above mentioned. Upon hearing he was to have a sit-down with myself and management, this person decides to call me about this and make physical threats to me upon disclosure of this. Looking back, I should have contacted the police or at least got a lawyer prior to sitting down with management, but I was more concerned with the threat plus I had no clue how to go about this situation. I contacted my work immediately and demanded they fire him or at the least reloacte him and contact the parents. Upon arriving at this sit down, I find him in the back room discussing with the owner of the company how I was not doing my job and really pouring it on to make it seem like I had a vendetta agains him. Everyone in this company knew this person was borderline abusive, I just think management didn't want to believe how bad it really was. Upon sitting down, he never denied once that he threatened me. Upper management wanted to move me to another facility. When I declined and insisted he be the one relocated at the minimum they suggested I work with him on his approach as well as find a way to work with him since I have experience holding trainings and exercises on effective behavior modification techniques. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, they were not even entertaining the idea to reprimand this person who just threatened to physically harm me and now they want me to work with him?

I don't know if I will ever be in a situation to ever blow up on upper management in my life, but for some reason I panicked. I felt alone with no support in that room, and I became teary eyed...it was insane what I was hearing, and it was like no one else was hearing how ridiculous this was...all these suggested moves for what? So we can go about business as usual?

*At the time, our company was not JCAHO accredited or with any accreditation, otherwise this person would have been immediately fired.

So after getting into an arguing match with management about this decision, I told them I don't have an answer for them and that I needed to think and I went to work. 3 days later I got a sitdown and a writeup about my "insubordination" from that meeting. I left that meeting, only to come back a minute later and tell them that i'm putting in my 2 weeks notice.

After leaving my former company with no fallback, all I had was a check-in-waiting. Looking back I should have had a fallback plan, but I wasn't thinking about it. All of my emotions consumed me in that meeting, and I did not breathe and I did not think...I made a horrible life decision for the time without thinking it over. I had two roomates that depended on me to pay my share, college loans that needed payed. I was not a bad person I kept on thinking...these things happen to people who deserve it, right? So I hit the grind hard when I got home from work my last day committed to spending an equal amount of hours analyzing hand histories and watching pokerxfactor vids as I did playing...and something just clicked.

I have played for as long as I worked with that company...I never played in college, not once. I never really put much volume in and played mostly as a hobby. I have had some decent scores along the way, but most of them I got very lucky and really had no end-game strategy...the final table was my "1st place" and I was content with blinding away to 6th place if it meant an extra $400 bucks fearing everyone had me pegged as exploitable. I was horrible with bankroll mamagement, and would play stakes outside of my typcial bankroll when I scored big. I credit PokerXFactor.com and my talks with Jerry "sandler1860" Payne as a real turning point in my approach to poker, up until then I treated it like a crap shoot and although we rarely talked much strategy, it was always the little things he said that stuck PLUS he was always there to answer a question if I asked, especially the big ones about backing that led me to parttimepoker.com (inside joke: I sold all those monitors)

I committed myself to going on interviews afterwords but also arranging my time around this to put in an adequate amount of poker volume, and since leaving that place I have found another job in the same field working with autistic/mentally challenged children and I love it. I have also become a bankroll nit and joined part-time poker. I had a $350 stake that I played occasionally when I wasn't working, and had some huge downswings that put my account under $100 at one point last week (this was after getting so close so many times to a big score, several FT bubbles). This week my clients were on vacation, which left me on vacation as well. I put in some nice volume, and built my stake from $82 up to $966 10-12 tabling $4.40's at peak hours and putting in 14 hour days. He suggested I try to get sattying to the sunday mil as well as the regular $11 daily 30k and $3 rebuy...i've gone deep in the $3 rebuy so many times before, and had a 13th place finish this month when I got coolered JJ<AA then lost QJ<AA all in on a J high flop 3 hands later to the same guy. Well last night I took down the $3 rebuy outright for $11k which is my biggest tournament score to date, and I couldn't think of anything more than to share this story with all of you. This past year has been my hardest as an independent adult, and for a while grinding poker was all I had. I sold off a bunch of useless things that I kept but didn't need and in the process I realized that I really needed to change. I was not saving up for a situation like this, all I was doing was just spending when I had it. Quitting my job was a blessing in disguise because I really did not like working there...I liked working with the kids, but the other things that frustrated me with my former employer barely made it a break-even trade and that just wasn't enough to stay. No one should have to work where they are not happy, but fortunate for me this situation occurred at a time in my life where I did not have a wife and children that depended on me financially...otherwise my love for them would have outweighed all of that and I would have gladly tolerated what they threw at me.

Poker was a safety net I didn't know I had, and sometimes bad things happen to good people...especially in this economy. I learned that I really did not like what I was doing at my former position, but I was just waiting around for something better to come around instead of going out and getting it. Nowadays I take more precautions to my life, I have letters of recommendation and jobs lined up and saved in a folder for future references. I'm paying off debts in a time where no one can really afford to, and i'm saving up in case this shit happens ever again...oh yeah, and poker has helped with my patience, I would not have made such an impulsive decision today. I probably would have had a plan first. Always have a plan in everything you do.

"My apologies" for making this so long, I did some drinking and still couldn't sleep...only slept for 4 hours last night and this was fresh on the mind. Thanks to all the p5'ers for rail love and the constant poker discussion, I love all of you...even the ones who think it's funny slowrolling me, you're right it is...just not at the moment. See ya on the e-felt

-Nick

ps-I will also be sending this in support for legalizing poker, sans "my apologies"...well...i'm actually considering the "my apologies part".

Great story! You obviously have a nice life balance between poker and work, and sounds like you really love what you do for a living.

I hope that monster from your former job got what he deserves - you say you have friends you made there - any word on what may have happened to him?

i actually read every word which is strange for me because i HATE reading! very good read! congrats on the score, the new gig, and the new outlook on life! i hope the best for you now and in the future

G.L.

i read all that. and it sounds like you handled the situation at work better than i would have. i most likely wouldve blown up in managements face, so im glad you remained generally silent. you could have built up a more solid case against the childliner, both with concrete video tape and possibly with some co worker testimonials. but hindsight is always 20/20.. gl at the tables, and like poker, just keep making the right decisions in life.. cheers.

Is this the dude you worked for?

Good story.

Congrats on the win. What was the final hand? How pumped were you after winning? Were you running around yelling and screaming? Infinite fist pumps? Please tell.

 

Originally Posted by wahoo710

Is this the dude you worked for?

This.

Also, great story sir, glad everything is working out for you man.

hey man just make a brag post about your 11k win (nice score btw) and leave it at that.
I doubt even ur family/friends want to hear the boring ass story about your job, not to mention strangers on a POKER forum.

Now give me back the last 10 minutes of my life u fuckin retard!!!

great story. nice win. wish when i won the $3R the winner took over 11k. that woulda been amazing. congrats again

"Nicholas"

I have been reading p5's for months. I made my first post because i was angry with myself for reading through all that crap u wrote and also because i recognized ur screenname and how u accused me of slowrolling u in a 3r on fulltilt and were a complete little bitch at my table
i'm guessin ur the one on the right in ur profile picture. In which case u look like as big a knob-jockey as u sound ahahahahahahaha

 

Originally Posted by Acesup1121

"Nicholas"

I have been reading p5's for months. I made my first post because i was angry with myself for reading through all that crap u wrote and also because i recognized ur screenname and how u accused me of slowrolling u in a 3r on fulltilt and were a complete little bitch at my table
i'm guessin ur the one on the right in ur profile picture. In which case u look like as big a knob-jockey as u sound ahahahahahahaha

lol gtfo and go back to being a full time lurker you douche. Nobody here wants your negativity.

Great story OP! Let's not get distracted by a sour apple. This was very inspiring and also a great anecdote in support of online poker.

Wow, thanks for taking the time to write this. I'm very glad it was posted. Considering how tough times are right now, this was a fresh breath of air. Thanks Nick

impulsive decisions arent always bad... sometimes (most times) your gut instinct is right (subconscious). good story, keep on grinding