Can I quit because my boss brings his pets to the workplace?

by Tammy

(Florida, USA)

I work in a chiropractic office for a doctor and his wife(office manager). Almost every day they bring their golden retriever and another unidentifiable dog that their son rescued. I am constantly stepping/falling over them on a daily basis. To make matters worse, we have to keep the door locked because one of the dogs will run out into the plaza if we don’t. Every time a patient arrives, I have to stop what I am doing to open the door. Every day we are expected to feed the dogs wet dog food which the smell of makes me physically ill. Very often I am asked to walk the dogs as they pull me through the parking lot or should I say drag!! Sometimes the dogs will “make” in the patients rooms. I refuse to clean it up. The dogs jump on the patients constantly and I am expected to stop them. Every day around 4:10 a big yellow bus arrives to drop off their disabled child(she is a beautiful child). When the bus comes the rescued dog starts to bark ferociously until the bus leaves. The doctor’s wife will tell me to stop the dog from barking. I once did and got nipped by the dog. (no blood but enough to make a mark). Now I just let her bark but it is scary. I have been asked to take the daughter off the bus, which I did on a couple of occasions, but now I refuse because I am afraid to drop her. Instead I have to stand by the door while the doctor retrieves her, keeping the door locked so the dog can’t run out and then open it for the doctor and his daughter, all the while the dog is running around me barking and growling. Then I am told to run and make her a sandwich, which I don’t really mind because she is an innocent child. The child is 19. I was asked to change her pullup once by the doctor but I refused that. I have asked them not to bring the dogs to the office but every day they keep showing up. They smell horrible and are constantly scratching themselves. The doctor’s wife is very rude to me and the other assistant, calling us names on a daily basis. Sometimes she is nice, sometimes she terrorizes us. I was told the job would be 40 hours a week and I am struggling to make 30. They are constantly prying into my personal life. The doctor has even made references to my sex life. One day he told me that he did not respect my choice to be unmarried. I never told him that I chose that as a lifestyle. I was very insulted. I am a divorced mother of two children. This was not his business. I could go on and on for hours about the unprofessionalism of this office. I know she will never fire me because she has said she would not pay unemployment when referring to another employee. I beg for her to fire me but…. Please tell me if this is enough to collect unemployment so that I have time to look for other employment.

Hi Tammy,

How long have you worked there?
How long have these conditions existed?
How many times have you asked your employer not to bring the dogs?
What kind of names?
Is it legal to have animals in a chiropractic office?
Did they cut the hours back? Or did they dwindle because patients refused to come back???