I Quit!

Gareth started his first day at infant care on 18 Feb 2007 (Mon) and I am supposed to return to work on next Monday as I have finished my 3 months of maternity leave. How time flies. Gareth was enrolled into Greg's previous infant care at TTSH. Unfortunately, most of Greg's infant teachers have left and I saw some things I wasn't too happy with at the current infant care centre. Worst is that the babies there were either down with chesty cough or have thick yellow mucus running down from their nose to their mouth. There's another baby who's three weeks older than Gareth, and oh my gosh, he's already on ventolin and some other medicine. I didn't want Gareth to land up so sick so soon, and because of the abovementioned reasons, I went to look for my boss to discuss about the possibility of taking no pay leave for the time being.

Well, my boss has not been very happy with me taking emergency leave over the past couple of years when Greg or my mum was sick, and she said she couldn't understand why I could not leave my kids with my maid when they are sick. She felt that I would always have "this problem of taking emergency leave" and she has to cover my work (which is to block my clinics). She didn't think granting me no pay leave will lead me to anywhere, and well, after a couple of discussions, I felt cornered to resign. So sad. I love my job so much but I guess I didn't have a choice. I even thought of working part-time and getting my maid look after Gareth under my father-in-law's supervision. However, on that Monday night, I brought Greg down to clinic for his 3 year old assessment when KengYong and maid looked after Gareth at home. Greg and I were not even down for an hour, we saw KengYong and maid come down with Gareth as they couldn't manage him. Apparently Gareth cried till his voice was hoarse and the two adults couldn't soothe him. Well, I guess if KengYong couldn't manage, I doubt my father-in-law would fare any better.

Anyway, I decided to throw in my letter of resignation. It was only after I have submitted my resignation letter, I saw many ugly sides of my boss. Quite upset about it. I should have quit earlier, when Mum was sick. Even on the day Mum died, I had to finish up all my cases before I left to be with Mum at SGH. Very distressed when I think back. I have slogged so hard for more than 8 years at TTSH, but I didn't seem to get anything much in return. Perhaps it's really time I should leave. I guess my next employer has to be pro-family and pro-kids. I tendered my resignation with immediate effect. Quite a big decision and it's something I have never thought I would do at TTSH. Well, time to move on for me..