Dirty LAWndry reader, “Ronald”, regrets not being able to express himself completely to his boss on the day he quit:

“I just quit my job of four long, long years. I am not an attorney yet, but I worked as a legal intern. At least, that’s what it says on paper. I’m attending law school this fall. I didn’t plan on quitting, but working for my boss was just becoming unbearable. There were nights I couldn’t sleep because of how miserable I was working at this firm. It’s a small personal injury firm with four associates and two partners. My boss is one of the partners, but he’s also the owner of the firm. The other partner, as I just found out, was really just there for tax evading purposes.

Throughout the years, I’ve had to “take care of” my boss’ side gigs. He’s also a slumlord in Camden, NJ and has several rental properties there. I would have to type up leases, field calls from tenants, and anything else that came up with regards to these properties. My boss’ attitude was that he didn’t want to deal with “these people”, he just wants the rent. I’m still expected to carry out my duties as a legal intern. I don’t have time to field the numerous calls coming in from complaining tenants. So, one day, I asked the receptionist to put the calls straight to my voicemail. I guess that was a problem for my boss because he wanted the tenants to have someone to voice their complaints to, even though he had no intention of solving their problems. So, he had the audacity to give my HOME phone number to his tenants as an emergency hotline number. This is just one example of how inconsiderate he can be.

On top of that, I had to keep his wife happy by buying her gifts for her birthdays and holidays as if they were from him. I also had to buy presents for his kids and his mom. I had to make sure that his wife never came to the office and if she did, I was expected to “handle it” and make sure she couldn’t meet with him. This was due to the fact that he was having an affair with his secretary and didn’t want to feel guilty about it. So, I was expected to run errands for his wife everyday. These were things that she could and should be doing, like picking up the kids from school, grocery shopping, driving her places, etc. It was just ridiculous.

Looking back, I should have quit earlier. But, my boss knew that I wanted to become an attorney. When he hired me, he said he would be my mentor. I was the youngest employee at the firm. I dropped out of high school, but I did get my GED and went on to college. I completed my BA in two years, even though I was working. When I graduated, I delayed my admission to law school because I didn’t want to have a lot of debt. Plus, both of my parents are deceased and I had no one else that could co-sign the loan and financial aid applications. I think my boss took advantage of this knowledge because he offered to pay a portion of my educational expenses in exchange for me doing more work. At the time, I assumed that I would have to work longer hours and weekends, which I didn’t mind. I figured it would give me more exposure to legal research and procedure. My main responsibility before this was client intake, where I would meet with a prospective client and have them fill out paperwork regarding their accident. I didn’t know that it would lead to being his personal slave. I never received an advance or an increase in my paycheck, but I still did everything he asked me to because I really wanted to be an attorney. I figured that after law school I would still have a job there. Well, it turns out that my boss had no intention of ever assisting me with my education. Apparently, he made promises like that to others in the office and never kept them. It was his way of getting us to do his dirty work.

What prompted me to finally quit was when he asked me and a few other employees to take paycuts. Of course, everyone was alarmed that maybe our firm wasn’t doing too well and that we’d be laid off soon. But, the employee that was in charge of the firms’ bills and receipts assured us that the books were okay and that she had no clue why our boss wanted us to receive less compensation. She volunteered to speak with him on our behalf. I guess she got too nosy, because she was fired shortly after. My boss never found a replacement for her and he started handling the bills and receipts himself. I couldn’t survive on what I was making, so I decided to quit after I found another job. On that day I was so prepared to go into the office and give my boss a piece of my mind. When I got to work, there were men and women carrying boxes and computers out of the office. When I asked what was going on, I was told that my boss was being audited and that he was also facing a federal probe for his part in some kind of fraud. So, I never got the chance to have my last stand.”

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