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After a few years I'm not anywhere near top at my workplace, but I'm no longer completely at the bottom.

Someone lower on the totem pole is an assistant, who I covered for repeatedly (like saved their butt covered). And they took a week off for a vacation, again, even though it left everyone kind of screwed. They do this often, and I don't understand how they get away with it. I don't get to take days off, cause if I do shit just falls apart and I know I'll somehow get yelled at. Then if I can't somehow save the day, we're screwed. My supervisor knows this and has said it in writing many times. My supervisor wants this guy off our group but there's slim choice as the higher ups (same ones who scream if their insane deadlines are not met) won't hire anyone and we've been in a hiring freeze for years. No alternative choice to replace this guy with.

My supervisor hates this person who actually told me to cover their phone calls and when they came back said, "I hope (name) did not call all of these people back unless it was an emergency."

You cover phones and return calls.... WTF is this person thinking? If someone leaves you a voicemail at work you ... have to call them back or something, right? You can't just be like not caring and blow them off. It is your job. This person is in their 30s. I have repeatedly covered for him/not gotten him slapped and done his job before. I have to clean up after this guy. He halfheartedly says thanks for covering for him, then he just says "Now you know what I go through." WTF? I did the job he says he does but does not....

This guy has absolutely no clue and I can't defend him anymore. I only did cause I generally don't like people getting slapped. Same guy has hung me out to dry now. I showed supervisor this email and he said I should demand this jerk's pay for the week I covered for him.

I just don't get it. Why the hell would someone be that much of a jerk to someone who covered for them so they could take a vacation. This guy does not work hard. I work my ass off. They can't fire this moron and if they did, they will not hire anyone to replace him or anyone new at all. Supervisor said not to cover for him again and tell him to have someone else do it.

Yeah, it's basically incredibly predatory and for some reason it works and is tolerated (e.g. if they wanted to crack down on shady scam businesses they could). I'm more sympathetic to the poor bastards who are just employees of such messes, because if their bosses ran a legit business they would have a halfway decent job instead. However, this is the "opportunity" for the employee to keep food on their table... by exploiting those without food on theirs. Sure it's not ok, but the boss is worse than the employee here. One would hope there was better out there....

Instead, there's food insecurity and those preying on it in a country where there is abundance, but most just don't have it/can't "earn it"/can't get it even though a generation ago they could. Somehow this is how it is and it shouldn't be. There's no solution and the proposed solutions appear to be well dressed long cons/scams. WTF indeed.

Today I learned that some older people in the US are now selecting a Private Medicare Plan because of a "grocery allowance," because they can't afford food.

Original Medicare does not cover this, because it's not healthcare. "Part C" Plans, which I was told by someone I trust are private HMOs can, and it looks like it is actually worse than what you think.
Apparently, private insurance companies are gobbling up Medicare by convincing old people to switch to their private Part C thing so they can corner the market, by bribing them with food to eat....

What does all this mean (or what I was told this means):
First off, this is "bread and circuses."  (never good).
Second, for this to work, there has to be a large bunch of people who can't afford food....
Third, we have such a bad safety net in the U.S.A. that the old people don't have enough food.
Fourth, several of these individuals oppose "welfare," but this is basically privatized (partly subsidized by the government) welfare
Fifth, those private insurance plans prefer insuring healthy people and leaving the really sick ones on the old government Medicare (more profit, and the sickest don't get the food).
Sixth, this trick is working in somehow not getting all the old people mad at someone messing with their Medicare, basically because they have to eat.

Bottom line: What dystopian timeline are we in where there are enough people who just don't have enough food  in the US to make this happen while also screwing Medicare?
Sidenote compared to all the people who can't afford to eat, but I've been paying into Medicare my whole life like anybody else. I sober up and find this is how it is going?

After a follow up appointment with my doctor, because he says it is possible there is soft tissue damage. He wants an MRI.

I went to schedule it and they asked me if I had any metal in my body, a pacemaker, or anything. I was informed that there are strong magnetic fields in an MRI that can erase credit cards, and make metal implants a potential issue. I do not think so but the technician said to be sure beforehand.

I had an inguinal hernia repair with mesh in 2015. Does this or a "plug" used for hernia defect have metal in it or how do I find out? It was not a recurring hernia if that helps. I don't know and this is just "mesh" and a "plug" they put inside me to make sure the hernia was dealt with like 9 years ago or something. Never felt exactly the same but yeah.

I also had a metal rod and screw inserted into my broken arm way back in 1999, that was removed a year later. I physically, externally had the metal rod and screw in like a bag they gave me when they took it out. I don't know where it is now but it is not inside me. How do I make sure they did not leave anything in? I don't think they did but I do not want to find out I am wrong in an MRI. I don't think the surgeon who did the work on my broken arm way back then is still alive. Even if he did, that was like 26 years ago.

Any ideas on how I can find this out to be safe and not end up wrecked when I get the MRI? I don't know. I'm just trying to do what I'm told and being safe. I'm in America if that helps, because different countries have different medical systems and rules.

I get that may be the case doc. I do, but when they want to bill me $400 for that portion of it alone, then I'd like the bone doctor to spend a minute pointing out to me what the x-ray from the urgent care means. I want and need his expert opinion. I understand and agree the doctor is smarter than I am. I need him to tell me what those smarts are telling him, because I am a layperson who has no idea, and was doing what a nurse practitioner told me to do. I was following orders from someone smarter than me, and I don't get what the first doctor expected me to do differently, or why he would not listen to like 30 seconds of relevant medical history. 

Also, it is night and day that the first doctor did not seem to care at all and the second one offered me PT and an MRI.
I am wondering if I should take the MRI and I probably will, but it just is a lot.

I slipped and banged up a knee. Hurt to put weight on it for a bit. It's slowly getting better, but what an ordeal.

Went to urgent care, got back x-ray I was told was "negative but abnormal." No idea what that means but I get told to see an ortho doctor.
That doctor is too cool to do his job and doesn't care or listen to me. He does not bring up the x-ray I was told was abnormal even though I show him a picture of it on the last provider's computer screen on my phone. He just says "I can't go off that," and he won't pull up the x-ray image in his computer system. Forget him. Second opinion time.

I go to a different Ortho for a second opinion like an hour away in a different hospital system. This new guy takes his own independent x-rays. He gives me the option for an MRI and Physical therapy if I can't walk without crutches soon. He looks at the old x-rays, says he thinks it was questionable technique (which the original provider also stated might be the case and to check with doctor...). He explains everything to me, says he can't be sure there is no soft tissue damage off an x-ray and that would be what an MRI would be for if stuff doesn't clear up. He says likely sprain or bone bruise.

This is the US so this whole debacle will likely run me $1000 in x-ray, etc. If I get the MRI it will get about another $500 to $1000. This is with insurance and it would have been even more if my insurance company had not lowered the price based on their contract allowed rates. I might pay somewhat less on the MRI once my deductible is met. Still will easily cost me $1,500. That is before any potential PT and or (hopefully unlikely microsurgery) if anything is torn (again unlikely to need but possible).

I get a survey from the first hospital system asking me how care was. My first instinct is "bad," because I had to go to an entirely different hospital system. I also don't want to cause issues.   Between "negative but abnormal" (Wtf is that?) and the ortho who didn't care enough to look at the apparently weird x-ray.... I mean, come on doc.... When a provider says to take an x-ray to a physician who does this sort of thing I expect you to look at the x-ray bare minimum, and dare I dream tell me what's wrong with it or what's going on.

Part of me wants to fill out the survey and tell the truth and the smarter part of me just does not want to deal with what I am afraid will be retaliation against me. The job was not done and I had to go an hour away to go to a much better hospital. I'm paying hundreds of dollars for this so far (and you know they'll tack on whatever charges they can) and I just got shuffled around. However, I'm sick of living in a world that hurts you the moment you pop your head up.

Healthcare in the US sucks.

Yeah....

So I talked to him at his place.... Basically he dodged the question, "s" questions. Most if not all of them. He half answered some of them. At one point he calmly but matter of factly pretty much said it was enough talking about that.... Also their childhoods were not happy but ....

He chose me because he trusts me and realizes I actually have some clue what the hell I'm doing, or if I don't I find someone who actually does instead of relying on bullshit, but also I won't screw him over.

He chose her because she's close physically, or so he says. Also, nobody else seems too interested in doing it. Both he and his lawyer have said I'm there to keep her from abusing crap, if she tries.
This makes negative sense to me. If they both figure she's going to abuse crap then why the hell would you put her where she can abuse crap? I gave examples and he accepted them, of crap she did wrong, recently, in the past, and things she could screw up in the future. He at most says he can change his mind at any time, which I guess means writing a new will, and power of attorney documents. He absolutely knows I am worried about her involvement. So far little if any clarifications or solutions on how things should be handled from him.

I specifically gave an example he told me. She would not drive him to the doctor's office when it was not that far away. She had nothing else to do that day as she is retired. She told him she would, but she flaked THAT DAY. He managed to secure a ride from someone else, but yeah..... I pointed out how this is BS, because she is supposed to be "close" physically for healthcare stuff. I don't get how he does not see this right in front of his face, and with me explaining it. He states he has not told her I am the general POA yet either. He knows this is a flaming crapstorm waiting to happen.

The Medicaid stuff: He just does not seem to care. His answer is, "I guess if we get to that point we'll look at it then." ..... WTF? The whole point is to look at it now, because "then" will be too late. I tried to tell him about the 5 year look back thing his lawyer said with the trust stuff, but he said, "I don't remember him talking to me about that." I took one of the only days off work I have taken so I could be in his lawyer's office across the desk and sitting next to my uncle. He said it and he isn't the only one. https://www.medicaidplanningassistance.org/medicaid-look-back-period/#:~:text=The%20Look-Back%20Period%20begins%20the%20date%20of%20one%E2%80%99s,transactions%20between%20these%20dates%20are%20subject%20to%20review.

Worse yet, he showed me stuff his lawyer wrote, and I don't claim to get all of it, but I showed him a section that said if [my name] were unwilling or unable to fulfill the position, then the successor would be [mom's name]. He stated he did not intend to have that in there and seemed very shocked by it, because he was told it was "standard." I can be stupid but someone here once told me there's no such thing as standard with this stuff, and I can read. I told him that he should call his lawyer to have it fixed if it was a mistake. As it currently stands, if I bail, she gets the POA and executor control to abuse as much as she wants. This is an incredibly stupid position and a disadvantage that directly encourages her to harass me so I say the hell with it and leave so she gets to be in charge of all his stuff.

This is crap and setting up a conflict it looks like everyone knows is being set up to fail. I don't want to spend any time with my mom, at all. I don't care. I will never care. She's blown that shot. I just get the impression that somehow he is either intentionally or ... I don't know ... stupidly setting up a powderkeg situation to fail. Anyone, anyone at all but her. Someone who has some idea about anything and doesn't have a drinking and gambling problem or a history of abuse. This is almost not worth it, mostly cause of totally unnecessary the aggravation, you know "mom."

Basically he is acting like these problems either don't exist or are not a big deal. Medicare could wipe out just about all his assets if he ends up in a home without a trust. She could abuse those assets into a  casino or several bottles.

I appreciate the advice you're giving.

I basically have not talked to them since this happened. It's weird to me but .... I don't really see much of an alternative.
I know they're still doing their usual crap. Several of my other family members are benefiting from their BS/shady stuff. Drunk, etc.
Got my 5 year chip. Keeping it up, and basically doing better overall in that department. 

Weird basically having no contact with them (for now, possibly forever, but who knows).
They're awful. I can't deal with their BS. They aren't going to change or even acknowledge their problems.
It isn't fair, but I'm not sure what is.