Excited graduate starts a new job ready to learn and grow, is partnered with a ‘mean girl’ coworker, leaves after only a week: 'I know I would’ve been burnt out'

Author image for Elna McHilderson
Elna McHilderson • Managing Editor
Jan 9, 2026 12:00 PM EST

A woman who recently graduated college was so excited to land a job immediately in her filed. However, her high expectation were put into perspective quickly after being forced to work with a "mean girl" in the office training her. She decided she deserved better and left after a week. 

Not to mention, it didn't even pay well! This college grad was all starry-eyed and rose-colored glasses about her new job. Right after graduation, she was so excited to start working in the field she studied so hard to be in: as a medical office administrator for a dermatologist office. Unfortunately for her, she had to learn the hard way to never ignore the red flags during a job interview. 

Her interview process was barely anything. They didn't ask her many questions, offered her minimum wage, and hired her quickly. The alarms were going off, but not loud enough. She took the job, at least as a starting point for her career, but quickly realized she made a mistake. 

She was trying her hardest. Listening to everything her co-worker was telling her during her training processes. She wrote down notes and tried her best with the patients, but her mean girl co-worker would just roll her eyes. 

After a week, she had enough. It was not a good fit and she walked. 

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  • front desk employee communicating with female patient at reception desk at dermatologist clinci
    via Unsplash+ (and Getty Images)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • The decision to not stay with the position seemed mutual. They both decided it was not a good fit. However, it feels like the only good fit for this job position would be with a Regina George. The co-worker didn't even give her a chance to show up. In her eyes, this new hire couldn't do anything right. However, they weren't even giving her any time to learn anything. 

    If anything, this sounds like this mean girl co-worker doesn't know how to do her job correctly. Because if training your co-worker is part of your job description, then you should know better than the steps she took. 

    People are approaching the job market knowing their worth, and they will take respect over disrespect any day. As they should! 

  • "Dermatologist Office Nightmare"

    I (27F) was so excited to work in a medical office setting. I had just graduated with my diploma in medical office administration.
    via anonymouse1956
  • I had never been in this environment before; I had only worked retail and professional house cleaning.
    via anonymouse1956
  • I got a job at the checkout desk/appointment scheduler of a high volume dermatologist office. It paid $15 an hour, less than a McDonald's worker.
    via anonymouse1956
  • I should've known better when they asked me to come in after my cleaning job to be trained for free.
    via anonymouse1956
  • I should've known better when the hiring manager immediately hired me without asking me any questions about myself.
    via anonymouse1956
  • Every job I've had where they've been desperate to hire has never been a good one.
    via anonymouse1956
  • Hindsight is a bitch; I wish I would've never taken the position. My boyfriend told me to tell them I couldn't train after work; to make the excuse that I worked late everyday.
    via anonymouse1956
  • I agreed, I didn't want to work for free. The first day went okay. I was sat with someone and she didn't allow me to do anything hands on.
    via anonymouse1956
  • I was incredibly nervous because I seen the amount of patients we were expected to handle and the amount of calls we were expected to take.
    via anonymouse1956
  • To put it in perspective, there are two of us at check out. I once seen fifty patients in one hour.
    via anonymouse1956
  • We of course take calls constantly for many different situations/questions, and still, one day we had 96 voicemails.
    via anonymouse1956
  • We're even expected to work on our lunch breaks. I was actively writing all of the information down that I needed to remember, and it was 15 pages long.
    via anonymouse1956
  • administrator taking notes on a piece of paper with professionally done nails
    via Unsplash+ (and Andrej Lišakov)

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • When I told my boyfriend that I was going to study the material, he discouraged it and said that it was too low of a paying job to ask this much of me.
    via anonymouse1956
  • I decided that I would learn while I was on the job being trained. On the third day of my training they threw me to the wolves, and if I didn't know what to do - they would visibly get annoyed with me.
    via anonymouse1956
  • Or treat me like I was stupid. Today was around my fifth day of training; I was somewhat finding my footing and feeling somewhat confident.
    via anonymouse1956
  • They expected me to be able to do it all on my own without any questions.
    via anonymouse1956
  • The girl I was working with got onto me for writing what patients were saying, (not anything that would break HIPPA) claiming that it was "just a waste of paper" and that I should "be able to remember everything." I told her I wanted to be concise and since we had a constant flow of patients and calls that it was the easiest way for me to keep track.
    via anonymouse1956
  • Then she also got onto me about asking patients if they preferred "mornings or afternoons" and that I should say "do you prefer this time of day?".
    via anonymouse1956
  • Or I would do something that the other girl had trained me to do, and she would get upset with me and say that it was incorrect.
    via anonymouse1956
  • Little things like that. It was hard to keep my composure. Grown women would come by, ask my trainer "How's it going?" She would visibly roll her eyes, wouldn't say anything.
    via anonymouse1956
  • They would reply, "Good luck. Hang in there." As if training me was a nuisance. It was heartbreaking for me because I thought that this job would be my chance to make lifelong friends.
    via anonymouse1956
  • At the end of the day they told me it wasn't a good fit and I agreed.
    via anonymouse1956
  • I know I would've been burnt out from working there within a year. Working without being given proper breaks is awful, especially when you have a constant high quantity of patients and callers.
    via anonymouse1956

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