If her community is large enough where the United Way has a First Call For Help center, she can probably call their hotline at 211 (if not, look in the phone book under United Way) and find out what resources are available in her community for low-cost or sliding fee scale dental services and any other community resources that she might need. The typical rule at 211 is they will give out 3 contacts per call, but you can ask for more, or call back. They may be able to point Allison in the direction of some career services as well.

If Allison lives in a state that doesn’t offer many services, she will see teeth missing in many people in poor areas. Poverty in a state without much help is immensely visible. I lived in Milwaukee several years ago, and smelled decaying teeth of the people I worked with who were getting government assistance. There were not a lot of places that offered sliding fee scale dentistry there at that time, even when I called 211. One place charged $50 if your income was low, whether they did any drilling or not. When you don’t have money $50 is a lot of cash to have someone look inside your mouth.

Allison will need to check with her state to see what medical/dental services she might be eligible for. However it takes a long time to find out if you qualify and by that time Allison could have a new job. It’s still worth a try.

If nothing else, perhaps she could barter services with a dentist.

I disagree with Penina’s suggestion that Allison tell a potential employer that she was fired. I have always been taught that she’d be shooting herself in the foot for saying she was fired for any reason. If she wants to get that foot in the door, don’t shoot it off!

@Anastasia I don’t know if they were managing her out — but I think your second sentence is the best way to handle this.

Go file for umemployment, get Medicaid, get your grill fixed and then get a better job with better management.

Hopefully, you have already filed your unemployment claim and should start receiving payments in the next few weeks. In Ohio, where I reside, you file on-line and submit your weekly notifications on line. It might be similar in your state.

Your former employer does not sound like a great place to work. This may be a blessing in disguise. As you work on your job search, don’t settle if the environment of a future employer does not look good. You will be able to assess this from the time they first contact you — how to do they handle applicants. If not treated well, if they are unorganized, not friendly, this will tell you a lot. Trust your instincts.

You will also need to be prepared to talk about why you left your last job. Don’t badmouth your former employer. I always suggest to my coaching clients to write the response down and practice it so that it comes out natural and not rehearsed.

You might want to say something like the following: My former employer did not have a sick time benefit and did not offer any flexibility to deal with urgent situations. In a very short time, I had some dental issues which required time off to repair. After two years of dedicated service and not taking any time off, they decided to release me due to the time I needed to take care of my dental situation.