Nightmare at HSS- Gang hive mind mentality, harassment and Stalking. The works...

Starting and transferring to Brooklyn: Beginning of the end.

I used to work at the Hospital for Special Surgery in one of their NYC branches as a full-time Patient access specialist (tier 2). Another tier 2 position opened up in Brooklyn, so I applied because I lived in the same borough and the newly opened position was only a 20-minute walk from where I lived. After passing an interview sometime in June 2023, I started working in the Brooklyn location effective July 2023.

At first, The manager seemed accommodating and attentive but she was anything but that. They had me exclusively pick up phone calls for the first 4 days (literally just picking up telephone calls and asking the client on the other end to stay on hold.). I was not provided with any particular instructions or script to work with; I was told to exclusively respond to calls within 2 phone rings at the most and if the inquiry is straightforward such as location or number, then I am to answer. Otherwise, I was instructed to place them on hold. I found that odd since I already knew most of the responsibilities behind the tier 2 level of the job and my average productivity from my previous location was over 200%. I asked her if I could do some work queues during my downtime to make the day pass quicker (something all patient access specialists are encouraged to do during their downtime), but she instructed me not to do any. Regardless of the latter, I chose to keep quiet and not give any impression that I was rebellious and/or seeking to cause any form of trouble /stir.

The following week, My manager started training me for tier 3 tasks (even though I was hired under the tier 2 title). Note, the position was never for a tier 3 to begin with and it does make all the difference in terms of job responsibilities and a notable raise in compensation. Without any proper explanation or briefing, they started training me on tier 3 material. I never complained or questioned them because I assumed they might be in need of a tier 3 employee later on and if I passed the training then I might be considered. All information was taught extremely quickly and they seemed to be in a hurry to have me sign a list asserting that I was taught those things (indeed, for 2 weeks..); They crammed all the learning material that staff have been regularly doing for years into 4 or 5 days' worth of training at most. To their surprise, I picked up everything pretty quickly and effectively engaged in tier 3 tasks the following week.

EDIT: Something I recalled a little later that I thought was worth adding. Both my peers in the Brooklyn location were team leads; That is, 2 levels above my job title at the time. I thought it was odd since team lead is usually a position given to employees who actually engage in the job responsibilities of the title and lead a team of patient access specialist employees; I never knew it was possible to offer it to employees based on their seniority or amount of work they are given.

Within a month and a half, my manager and her superior called me into a meeting and told me they were pleased with my performance. The manager said it was going to be a short meeting and that they didn't have the time needed to discuss their observations in detail; She said, she would send me an email and asked me to go over it if I wanted at a later time. They asked me to go back and carry on my daily tasks. I thought nothing of it as I knew my performance was close to top-notch (I’ve only made one minor mistake and I alerted management to it before she even took notice herself). Toward the end of my shift that day, I decided to review my emails just for the benefit of the doubt; I was disgusted and shocked at what she wrote to say the least:

• She stated that I took too many days off or leave. I had only taken 1 day at that point and it was pre-approved by her; I worked 6 day weeks for two back-to-back weeks. Each of my two co-workers took over 5 days off during the same period. She took 2 days off all during a sensetive period when they should have all been available to properly monitor, train, and assist me.

• She stated that I took a day off without consent. Explanation: I asked if I could take one day off, and she responded by saying that I have to request the day off a week ahead of time. I told her it was fine, and that I would request for the following week instead if that was the company policy. An hour later, she came back and told me that she approved the vacation, but I had to keep note of the week's policy for future requests; I thanked her afterward and said I did not need it and it was okay to postpone it as it was not urgent. But, she assured me it was fine for that time. Yet in the review, she used it against me.

• She stated that I have made at least 9 mistakes yet she failed to provide any documented evidence. I was only aware of one mistake I made and I was fully aware of what I did wrong. In fact, I was the one who pointed it out to the manager in the first place and even apologized for it after correcting it.

• As mentioned previously, I was tasked only with picking up phone calls during the first 4 days. One of the remarks in the month-and-a-half review (Even though the probationary period is 3 months). It was this manager's own twisted rule to have me pick up phone calls within 2 rings at most (talk about micro..no, Nanomanagement ). In fact, she pointed out in her "report" that on days x y z at x y z times, I failed to pick up the phone call within 2 rings so that is a delay. When I talked to her about this later the next day, I told her that I noticed more than 10 times when my co-workers not only failed to respond in 2 rings, but calls were going into the answering machine. Her response was: "We were testing you"..

• I recall that she also wrote something along the lines of "max stated that he dislikes his job and made it apparent to his peers". I asked her the next day how she reached that conclusion. She stated that she heard me say "omg this phone call is taking forever". Which is something I did whisper under my breath while being put on hold for over an hour with the insurance company. I whispered it under my breath and I did not say it audibly enough for anyone to really hear; heck I was not targeting anyone. From that she came up to the conclusion that I dislike my job and am far from a role model LMAO. Needless to say, there were many instances where I heard some co-workers audibly speak out curse words or vent personal frustration with work or life for everyone including patients to clearly hear. Yet, I am the bad one for being human.

I started asking my co-workers if this was considered acceptable and if I should approach HR to see what the options were BIG MISTAKE. Not only was I called into a meeting room about a week later. It was not 2 months into the probationary period and they already made their final decision. I was in the meeting room with my manager, her superior, and an HR representative on the computer screen. They said that my performance was subpar despite the fact that less than 2 weeks ago, the managers mentioned to me that they were pleased with my performance. I tried to dispute my case and even asked if some other manager in the same position as that of the Brooklyn manager could evaluate me, but the HR representative uttered that it was pointless at this stage and there were too many negative observations associated with me to consider that. When I argued that the mistakes did not even have proofs tied to them, he pulled up a note on the screen different from the one I was offered about a week earlier and this time there were Medical Record numbers conveniently written next to each mistake. It was at that point that I felt that I had been set up and started to think about the gravity of the situation I was in. They offered me two choices, either to:

1- Start a second probationary training period with them (even though the first probationary period is still a month away from completion). According to them, if I fail to pass the second time, then I will be terminated on the spot as a result without further explanation.

2- Work in a location in Manhattan.

Knowing that it was pointless to go with one, I opted for the second option. The HR manager kept asking me if I was certain because according to him the location was very challenging. I just consented and said that I was confident I could handle it. Within less than a week, I was asked to start in the new location. My Brooklyn shift was (11 am- 7 pm) and my Manhattan shift was (7a-330p). I had barely any time to adapt to the new drastic changes in schedule. HSS was one of the worst employment experiences of my life by far and I didn't even know that the worst was yet to come.

Starting in Manhattan; Gang mentality, Emotional Torture, and Cross-departmental Harassment:

I started in Manhattan. No one was there to give me any form of orientation or tell me what they expected me to do. I am aware that I am already an employee, but that location was entirely new to me and it’s only courtesy and company obligation to provide their employees with the bare minimum; For example showing us the location of emergency exits, meeting room, break times, lunch room, introducing us to staff...etc. I arrived at 7 am and there was a temp staff who showed me the basics and told me where to punch in. Provided that the responsibilities were identical to what I’d been doing previously, I was able to get myself accustomed to the peculiarities of that floor within a day or two.

The temporary staff member quit by the end of the 3rd week and I was alone 95% of the time on one of the busiest and “most challenging floors” (according to HR); some empty floors had 2 staff at least. Yet, I never complained and still single-handedly made various workflow improvements on the floor benefiting both me, the nursing staff, and from what I could see, the patients seemed happier overall too. There is documented proof of my consistent 300% productivity. Staff and patients kept telling me how impressed they were and how they had never seen that floor so empty before. I was well aware of my abilities and performed my best in an effort to prove that my transfer was not justified and someone was trying to royally mess up my career and terminate me probably because my performance was a threat to them somehow.??

I did the job for 5 to 6 months in that location in Manhattan before a higher team lead position opened up in the same location. I immediately expressed interest. Instead of hearing back, I experienced hell for the following 3 months or more. I will just leave bullet points for the next segment as I cannot focus on typing without shaking and getting very upset at myself and the situation:

- As I was obtaining 300% average productivity (the highest productivity was 600+%), they were letting go of staff from my floor back to back (I couldn't say if they quit or got fired). They were not just clerical staff either. One of the staff (manager) who once audibly muttered the word “Nazi” in the room (when it was only me and her) got let go. There were at least 8 or 9 altogether who left as I was working there. A super friendly PA who was one of the nicest people I have met on the floor also quit or got terminated. She approached me with a sad/ concerned look and just told me she will not be appearing for work.

-I’ve updated tons of patient records on what the company called work queues. I started engaging in doing them as soon as I found any downtime; Boy was there a lot of downtime (90% to be specific for me). I have managed to discover a balance between checking in patients and utilizing the Epic system to my advantage. Since, phones, magazines, and the internet weren't permitted even during downtime, I opted to be productive and started finishing Work queues. I was well aware of my above-average abilities and of people’s annoyance with me, but I just wasn’t sure 100% why they were so upset with me. I called for meetings more than 3 times with my manager and asked if I was doing too many and if people are disliking me due to those very work queues. He assured me all 3 times that there was no limit and he could not see a reason as to why people would be upset over that. He also said, I could do as many as I could as long as it was not draining and inconvenient for me and I assured him all those times that I was comfortable with doing them as I knew the Epic System.

-I experienced some of the worst treatment in any job I worked (including my jobs under the harsh climate of Saudi Arabia). The staff, generally speaking, were downright nasty, animalistic, and rude for no apparent reason. Of course, this does not apply to my whole experience in HSS as I have met some of the most wonderful people through HSS. They were unfriendly from the start before I even stood out; Half the time, I would greet the wall as they would not respond. Towards the end of it, I just stopped greeting altogether to avoid the awkwardness. I would say good morning and they would ignore me, only to say it 10 times as loud as soon as they enter the next room.

They were visibly upset at me and I never understood why. They give me mean looks, say things sarcastically, frown, or slam the door behind them. Their job responsibilities were separate from mine. Staff from my same department were neutral or friendly, yet those (who I don't even know what their job responsibilities consisted of) were being entire Jerks.

-There is a meeting room on the floor I worked on. It was rarely used by floor staff let alone anyone else. Yet big surprise, in the last 2-3 months of my employment there, It suddenly became the most popular room in the building. HR staff, IT staff, Finance staff, and more would arrive in groups rushing in/ coming out and I would get nasty glares from at least 5 or more (depending on group size) of them each time whether it's before they entered or once they are done with the meeting.??

-Staff from an entirely separate department called Service Excellence started approaching me one after the other. Most of whom I knew (I worked in that department previously and left because they never offered full-time), appear with completely different demeanors and they exhibited this angry or concerned look written all over their face. They acted completely different from the people that I knew them for and they just started some odd random topics (instead of the usual hey its been a while how ya been) or talked very minimally. At first, I thought, I might have been too harsh and sensitive in my outlook, but it was more than just one instance. I personally observed 7 separate individuals working for that one department all acting oddly to put it nicely; as mentioned earlier, It was not just their body language either. Keep that department in mind as I will elaborate a little more in a few.

- Security staff who were always friendly to me now all start acting strange. They are either very stern with me or completely ignore me when I greet them Mind you, I haven’t done anything different, dressed in any different way, or did anything different for that matter throughout my employment in that building.

- I came into my office one day only to discover that the trash bin underneath my desk had been placed on top of my work desk with garbage scattered all over. Snacks from my drawer have been taken out and thrown on top of my desk next to all the other garbage. I waited and thought a maintenance personnel might have gone somewhere and was coming back but no one came back. I could not recall the date and time of this particular incident, but all this should have been done in plain view of the security camera assuming it was recording at that moment. I wanted to report the incident so badly, but due to my complaining recently about how odd patients and staff have been behaving, I thought it would be in vain. It will only make me look like a sensitive incompetent person who complains about everything.

- I am very confident in my job abilities achieving efficiency and professionalism while providing accuracy. I, like all humans, am prone to making mistakes, but mine were further in between. What I am trying to get to is that I witnessed 3 occasions where false patient records were observed clearly. I have followed company policy and reported each incident according to the standards used by the company as this is considered a very serious case. Throughout my 3 years and change of working in this position, that was a first. It was rather bizarre and I am bombarded by 3 false accounts within 2 months. All data matched with the exception to certain secondary personal information and an id of a separate person altogether. I reported the incident to management, but it occurred twice after yet again.

Personal Reasoning

Now all the following is just personal speculation, but I have every reason to believe that it is true. I tried to connect the dots between my time in Brooklyn and my new location at Manhattan myself. I found out that the Brooklyn location was opened most recently with plenty of pictures from service excellence staff present at the Grand Opening. I used to work under them for the first year and in spite of proving my professional capabilities and worth they always kept dismissing me (telling me there were no open full-time positions available due to budget) only to employ two entirely new full-time employees not long after without mentioning anything about it afterward.

During my time working in the Manhattan location, it was Service Excellence staff and staff from every other department that they directly had command or some kind of influence over that showed up and ‘Harassed’ me. It ranged from minor things like distractions, and inconveniences, to just straight-up in-your-face rude treatment. Interpreter Staff from their so-called ‘Excellence’ team would come into the waiting area talking their lungs out even though there were clear signs urging visitors to remain quiet in respect of others; the same person also left trash (leftover food) right before leaving and everything was in view of the security camera. I thought it was ironic coming from a team with ’excellence’ in their title.

They have sent groups of security personnel my way only to stand in front of my desk engaging in a meeting (talking in an audible whispering voice) literally 3-4 feet away from me without explaining themselves or if it is a matter I should be concerned about. Much like how they start, they leave silently. At times, when I get lucky, one of them would say hi (not more not less).

There was a lady from HR who constantly walked in asking me where the meeting room was even though she had been to that room at least 4 times at that point and I was the very person who pointed it out to her all these times. I found it strange, but I never thought much of it and always directed her. It would be funny if she turned out to be the very person to sign my transfer or played a role in that transfer and even my email exit interview afterward LMAO.

EDIT: After reading my article multiple times, I felt I might have missed the point here. Therefore, I am adding this via an edit.

I was striving to prove the unjust transfer/ rejection from Brooklyn by working extra hard (but within my comfort zone) in Manhattan. By standing out due to my performance, I most likely put the Brooklyn Manager in a bad light. Especially since not long ago, I reported her (Brooklyn incident) to my direct manager as soon as my probationary period of 6 months from the transfer was up.

As a result of the latter, I most likely made the head of service excellence in Manhattan look equally bad if not worse. There is no other logical reason I can come up with. My last job required minimal contact/ interaction with their department if at all. I am not quite sure if my job responsibilities were affecting the service excellence staff in any way shape or form. But what I do know is that none of them have directly approached me and professionally talked to me about it. Instead they resorted to all their primitive bullying tactics.

Harassment & Stalking/Mobbing

I contemplated whether to write this segment or not as this cannot be easily proven and I am not the type to point my phone and film every occurrence. I thought to myself that any person reading this article might dismiss me simply as delusional. But in the end, I chose to note it down anyway as I couldn't care less what complete strangers think of me. During the last couple of months of working in Manhattan, I started noticing a very observable pattern. First off, 95% of all patients coming in within a day are from one very particular borough or upstate location (not going to name them for legal reasons); All of them had either a clear East European or Italian accent and were 95% Caucasians. Most important of all, they were all hell-bent on ruining my day, and for no reason at all other than they were probably friends of the big boss and they want me out because the big boss is in a vulnerable state I am assuming. So how did they do it:

- Ask tons of redundant questions. Doing it with a nasty/ intimidating look on their face and a completely hostile attitude. Whenever I am spotted doing something on my computer, so-called ‘patients’ would get up to distract me. For example, they would ask me to re-confirm all their insurance information, make sure that the correct address is entered (even though I confirmed it earlier the same day), and more. If it was a one-time affair or if it occurred regularly during the first 6 months there or first years of employment in the position, then it's very understandable, but for it to happen multiple times the same day with no fail and because the interactions were too many to call random, I stand by my theory.

EDIT: I also recall more than a handful of observed instances where patients arrived on the floor by 'mistake'. I wanted to emphasize this because this did not happen even once throughout my employment in that building until the last 2 months or so. Patients would either say something along the lines of 'oh Dr. X is not on this floor, I could have sworn he is, can you tell me the location?" or " I knew Dr. X is on Y floor, why would security tell me he is on your floor?".

-As mentioned I was most of the time solo on one of the if not the most busy floors in that building. They easily had the means to send assistance; on many occasions, co-workers told me that they were free and could have come early and never understood why they were never told. It is the norm for them to send one person for approximately 1-2 hours (3-4 rarely) during the least busy times of the day and the rest was on me. Couple that with all the negative attitudes and the fact that the majority of patients scheduled throughout the day arrive in groups as early as I enter the office (up to 70% arrive 2-3 hours before their appt between the hours of 6:30am and 8am and treatment, it was not a worthwhile job even for 50 dollars and I was getting 31 and change. It was modern-day slavery.

- I thought long and hard about whether I should include this, but because of similar experiences shared by other employees in various countries, I am not ashamed; I feel that I could have very well been a victim of the same and it's not me stressing out or imagining things. Again, it was during the last month of being in Manhattan. I swear on life, people between my work location and the subway station are paying extra close attention and staring at me. I normally look around when walking on subway trains and this was very very noticeably different. People who don’t look familiar to me (100% of them Caucasians) give me the most malicious look I have witnessed in New York. It felt like stalking to me. It wasn't just one or two people and just one day either, but let's say way more to the degree that I felt my sanity and safety were at stake. I talked to family and friends, but like in all horror movies, they never take your side and blame it on stress or some other daily life inconvenience. Why is it so hard to believe? I didn't say I saw a ghost or I came back from the dead...

?

Event skit or video:

Early when I first started in Manhattan, I was invited to join Service Excellence’s team by performing in a play skit. I was pleased, humbled but more than anything surprised because the last time they formally invited me was at least 5 years ago when I was on their team. Never heard from them until now. I know that they used that as evidence to show how our ties are fine. In reality, I continued with the video because I did not like breaking promises and I had no plans of leaving the company at that point. If I could turn back time, I probably wouldn't have done it knowing what I believe is their true motive and intentions.

In August 2024, I thought for a minute while at work, after a certain incident, I had a panic attack and had to call out for the next few days. I thought long and hard and quit my job voluntarily after the weekend. I felt that no money in the world is worth that deplorable working environment and so-called “people”.??

HSS was the biggest mistake in my life and it's such a disappointment and shame to know that such unmonitored disgusting behaviors are allowed to unfold in such large name corporations. It's an insult for staff to have to go through all the training modules on harassment, bullying, and injustice sometimes up to 2 times a year, yet here is the head of ‘service excellence’ not only making all the mistakes themselves, but downright engaging in and enabling illegal actions and no one is saying anything about it, but rather joining her in turning a blind eye/ dead ear if anything.

Conclusion:

The day before my last working day with the company, my coworker told me towards the end of the shift that the director of the building (one of the people I submitted my grievances to) and his superior were both simultaneously let go. That caught me by surprise and I was shocked more than anything.

On the day I quit (the next day), a lot of the staff that were constantly ignoring me or exhibiting negative body language in my presence, came out of the elevator. All of a sudden a bunch of them decided to act happy and giddy saying hi to me in the most sarcastic tone I heard. Although the word hi came out of their mouths, the signals they communicated seemed more like ( you're next loser). It was at that point that panic and dread set in and I decided to call out the rest of the day. I went to see a doctor and got an excuse until Monday the following week. Throughout the weekend, I thought long and hard and reached the decision to just cut my ties, work on my well-being, and move forward to places that value talent and diversity.

I Really never knew that people could stoop so low and be so pitiful. I didn’t know that I single-handedly could be deemed such a threat to so many that they would waste so much precious resources and effort from random people to harass me. Instead, they could have invested all that in bettering their processes and operations.

Most importantly, I learned that large private companies like HSS can be equally as unfair and harsh as a start-up small company with bad management; it is all according to who is pulling the strings at the top. It just disappoints me to know that all these illegal activities can be carried out this severely in HSS and no doubt similar large organizations in the US under the noses of all those who should be watching.

On the bright side, if I can call it that, it was a learning experience. Although it was a very hard pill to swallow initially, thanks to the help of family and friends, I am slowly but surely recovering from my nightmare and am working towards better goals. For those in similar situations, Best of luck and I hope you make a wise decision. In the end, no money or commodity is worth your well-being and health. The sky is the limit and I pray to God that justice will be served somehow somewhere and sometime.

If you managed to read up to this point, thank you. I would like to know if you’ve been in a similar situation. I aim to do a video journal of the event in hopes of reaching out to those in a similar boat. God bless you all.

Post unemployment discovery ( added Nov 5th 2024)

A little discovery I made by coincidence. As stated above I hit breaking point and it was mainly after finding out that two leads got 'let go' by a coworker. The following day the bullying coupled with the new discovery about the leads (let's call them Adam and jane) made me realize how hopeless everything was going to be. I hit a new low in confidence and ambition as panic set in so I decided to leave and quit officially the first day of the following week or Aug 12, 2024.

I recently tried to reach out to Said leads, Adam and Jane in hopes of connecting and to discuss the possibility of using them as reference. I couldn't recall Jane's last name so I couldn't search for her. However, I would be lying if I said it wasn't a big deal. To my shock, Adam is still an active employee at hss as of the time of this update.

Whether my co-worker was misinformed or was told something different is something I will personally never know. However this just further proves how communication at that site of HSS really needs some work. Very discouraging and disappointing.