As the cost of living continues to rise, more and more people are reporting a general displeasure with their work lives. Earlier this year, CNBC reported that about 62 percent of US workers say they're living paycheck to paycheck and, coupled with receiving low pay, feeling disrespected by management was among the top reasons why many left their jobs.
Among nurses — one of the most turbulent positions to hold during the pandemic — a little over one-third say they'll be leaving their positions by the end of 2022. And, after this "Thank you" card started making the rounds online, it's not hard to imagine why.
Though that's quite enough to elicit feelings beyond frustration, the letter continues, "Please know we appreciate her and thank you for sharing when we desperately needed her."
As you can imagine, the letter was met by cringes, and very good questions wondering why the husband was getting a "thank you" instead of the nurse, who actually did the work:
"'Thank you for sharing your wife' is one of the most cringy things I have ever read in my life. On top of everything, as a woman, it really reads like they are thanking the husband for sharing his property. I know they don't mean it like that but if I am a professional, I don't need anyone sending a thank you card to my husband. You can thank me directly, thank you very much."
Other medical professionals chimed in to say they were disappointed, but not surprised by the actions of the hospital:
"This is some of the cringy crap hospitals are doing to try to keep staff. They refuse to increase wages no matter what. They will throw pizza parties at us, essential oils, cheap gift cards, and pass out cheap corporate swag, painting rocks because we rock, and other useless crap. Anything but pay money and hiring more staff."
And others who could relate to something similar happening in their separate fields shared their own stories:
"I once did an absolute bucket load of overtime along with several team members to hit a crazy target our boss had set to show off to his manager. We're talking about staying in the office until 10 p.m. most nights for a few weeks.
We each got a £30 voucher to an Italian restaurant. I'd rather have received nothing. "
"I got one of those a few years ago. I had been working 16–18 hour days for about two years straight with absolutely zero time off, all due to horrible decisions by upper management.
After one particularly horrible six-month period, the executive team called a meeting with eight of us. They gave us about $50 worth of gift cards and a typed card thanking us (and our families) for all of the hard work."
—Anonymous