I go on social media, and I see so many happy people. Big homes, nice cars, well dressed, and most importantly, good jobs. I can personally say I never had that experience.
At 15, I had my first child. By 17, my second. At 19, I had my third. By the age of 25, I had four children. Now I’m 42 with seven children.
My oldest is 26. She lives with me, and she has a daughter. My two older sons, 24 and 22, live in Maryland with their father’s side of the family.
Let’s fast forward to now.
I’m married. I have five of my children and one grandchild residing with me. I work as a Certified Medical Assistant for pulmonary and critical care. Every day, I work under doctors who barely know my name. I try my best to provide the best care to my patients each and every day.
My husband stays home and cares for our baby, who is 19 months old, while I work my butt off trying to pay the bills.
In May 2026, my car was totaled while it was parked, and no one left an insurance card or anything. My insurance paid $8,700, which left me with a balance of $12,000 on a car I did not have GAP insurance to cover.
It’s now September, and my struggles have gotten so hard that sometimes I can barely put food on the table. I have been renting cars just to get back and forth to work, costing me my rent money.
No matter what, I go into work with a positive attitude each and every day. I pray all the time, and I feel like God has been answering my prayers.
Just last month, I tried to pay my rent late, and the management company not only took me to court for August, they made me pay September and an extra $781 that I did not have. With working paycheck to paycheck, I take from myself to provide for my family.
Most people take for granted going on family trips and going out to eat, but me? Our family has not had that in over a year.
Me, I be wishing that one day I can get my nails done nice, or get my feet and hair done, and just relax. I do so much for everyone that I never, I mean NEVER, do for myself.
I want to live stress-free without the daily emails from my property management company saying I’m late, which costs me an extra $200. I want to have my own car so I don’t have to pay $2,000 per month in rental cars just to go to a job that only notices me when something is wrong.
For six weeks, I have been going to work an hour early so I can get all of my work done because they fired my coworker. I’ve been leaving an hour late while having four doctors and doing everything for them, all while drinking Red Bulls just to have the energy.
My supervisor walked in, as she does once every week to pick up something, and she called me into her office to say:
“Niesha, last week you went downstairs to get cookies from the vending machine, and one of the doctors was looking for you. I need you to tell your teammates when you leave.”
Then she goes on to say, “And why are you always sitting up front? You never sit in the back. Now, I know before you were not sitting in the back because your coworker tried to fight you, but she is not here anymore.”
Then she had the nerve to ask me, “What do you have to say?”
Well, I’m a very honest person, so I slowly responded, “No reason. I just like to sit up front.”
Then she asked again and asked me to be honest.
I then responded, “Well, since Betty left, I have been trying to do everything the providers ask of me. Even when there are other employees assigned to them, they walk up to me and just hand me work, and I do it. So I go to the front so I can complete all their orders, scan them into the patient charts, and document everything in the tracker.”
And yes, I went to get a pack of cookies, but my doctor and I did not have another patient for 30 minutes. It took me three minutes to come back.
So my question to you is, who was the doctor, and who was in the back? Because they could have just assisted him.
Then there she sat looking crazy.
Her words that came out, I couldn’t tell you all of them. All I know is, I was thinking to myself, “If only she knew.”
I did not eat the day before, and all I could afford was that pack of cookies.
And I don’t sit in the back because the women are drama, and all the doctors do is run me. How could all this work get done if I cater to them? Mind you, I’m working all the orders while I’m in between patients. SMH.
My day was messed up.
I called my husband and asked him to pick me up by himself so I could cry, and that’s what he did.
After my cry, I got back into the car and sent my supervisor a message letting her know that after our conversation in the office, I felt like she never said anything to me about all the work I had completed—coming in early, leaving late, and completing everything by myself.
She called me into the office to pick at me.
I told her it was not up for debate, and I was not asking for an apology. I needed the next day off to reset my mind, come to work with a positive attitude, and remain professional.
I thought to myself, “God, if only I could tell her the truth.”
I had an eviction, and the management company took most of my $5,700 and said they did not get the last $400 from a church, so the eviction still stood.
Where do I go from here?
With hours left, who can I call?
No one will accept me and my family to stay with them…
To be continued.
