I left WMX, and I'm glad... - txript

So... I worked for WMX for 3 years (after MQ for 7), then I left to work for the local school system for a year and a half. I got laid off due to state budget cuts. My former manager from WMX took me back but said I had to work third shift -- maybe not permanently -- no promises. I worked my *#% off for 6 months, almost to the day. It wrecked my sleep patterns, my personal life, everything... but I needed the money and benefits, so I did it. Finally, my account went through the ISR conversion WMX had been talking about for what was now close to 5 years. I learned it. My production dropped. Work availability dropped. My paycheck, obviously, plummeted. I looked harder and harder for a local day job. I applied for every opening that my skills matched, hit the streets (a medium-size city, pop. 250,000), physically dropped off my resume to 20 private practices -- not just as an MT, as any kind of office help -- and finally, a miracle. A physician called me from one of the places where I'd dropped off a resume. She interviewed me the next day and hired me on the spot as an office assistant. Front desk, $14/hr., with full benefits kicking in immediately. I quit WMX without notice, so  I'm not eligible for rehire. I started the job this past Monday, having been interviewed and hired the Thursday before. By Thursday of this week (day before yesterday), the physician called me into her office and told me I wasn't catching on quickly enough and was making too many mistakes. She terminated me after I had worked a total of 23 hours (I had had a dental appointment on Wednesday, about which she knew ahead of time, that had evolved into a root canal on Wednesday afternoon). I  don't think I was given a fair opportunity to "catch on"... but that's highly subjective... so much of it is highly subjective from either side, but I am confident that I behaved professionally. It could be said that my decision to leave WMX without notice was flawed, because it left a gap in case the new job did not work out, which turned out to be the case. However, I knew that going in, and I accepted the risk. I had no idea that what looked like such a bright opportunity going in could turn sour so quickly, but it did, and that's that. I could argue all day long that it was unfair and that I wasn't given an adequate opportunity to prove that I could do the job -- but that's not going to accomplish anything. I'm out of WMX, and I'm glad. I promised my husband I would not quit one job without another in hand, and I honored that promise and did my best at the new job. It turned out to be a highly unusual, if not freakish, situation -- but that's another story, and it was part of the risk. Now I am registered at two local temp agencies, so that I can get out there and test the waters before accepting a job -- I need to be positive that the employer has already seen me do the job well and wants me there, and I need to be positive that it's the place I want to be and the job I want to do. I acted too quickly, but apparently that was the only way out. The economy is horrible, but I am hopeful that it's improving enough for me to carve out some kind of niche in the local scene -- enough to make a few connections and get to the right place for both the employer and me. I was upset, but now I am convinced it had to happen this way.