I wanted to update folks on the delightful turn of events this stupid place has taken. Also, I was accused by the owner of making this post, even though it was one of my coworker's legendary socialist boyfriends. I just find that more funny shit icing on the cake.
For some background, this is a nursery and garden center in a busy city. It's a very old and profitable company. The owner lives in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in a beach area in one of the most expensive cities in the US.
I got hired last May on the condition that I get accommodation for my disability(I'm autistic but my list of accommodations is pretty short. I just need things like direct, clear feedback, and visual aids). I was good at my job, and they noticed I was also good at house plants, so they offered me a position in the indoor department. It was a pay increase and I enjoy mentoring younger folks, so I took it. I should have seen the writing on the wall when the person who was in that job before quit on the spot.
Well, my technical start date for the new position was in July. I ended up working maybe 4 days total of my new position. Most of July was spent covering shifts in my old job because they couldn't find a replacement for me.
They called me into a meeting and told me I wasn't doing well in my new role and tried to demote me. No shit, I have been allowed to work there maybe a week. I called their bluff and said this was on them, and I couldn't be expected to do well in a job I hadn't even worked yet.
Highlights included the owner making fun of me for caring too much about bugs on plants and not wanting to lie to customers because I actually like my work and taking care of people, one of the youngest employees throwing me under the bus after standing up for her over overtime pay owed and subsequently sharing all our texts and any dirt she possible could on me with the owner. I started to notice any time I discussed wages with my coworkers, it would somehow make it back to the owner. She really liked me before I stood up to her. That's what they do.+
At that point, I was still pretty bullet proof and so good at my job that Season 1 Sansa Stark(you know, the “I'll get my sister's puppy killed so that I can be the princess” Sansa) couldn't really do anything about it, but she kept trying. Then a couple other people quit, and she got promoted. I did not agree with the promotion after seeing her throw multiple other employees under buses and generally act exactly the way I expect most 19 year old girls to act, but I digress. Sansa decided it was her life's work to get me fired, just like she had tried to do with anyone else above her before.
In November, I was promoted to a bigger management position..because someone else in the same job that multiple people had quit, once again quit. I was manager in everything but on paper, can't be paying actual manager wages in a place like this. They wouldn't give me a raise and told me to wait until review. Fine.
After awhile, I took notice of Sansa donating their staff's tips to charity. I thought this was maaaybe not really legal, and I called up my old boss (I am former restaurant worker) to confirm it. It definitely was not legal, and I offered in a meeting to help train the staff on how to divide tips since I was the only one with much former experience in cafes(they were in a little over their head as plant shops don't often have full service coffee bars). Anyway, a bunch of other really obnoxious hostile work environment fuckery happened between then and Christmas, which is the garden industry's busiest season other than Mother's Day. For both of my new positions, I got essentially zero training, and was disciplined for things that could have been easily avoided if I had been given literally more than a few hours of it. The thing about loving your work is that people will try very hard to exploit you for it by paying “the passion tax”
Fuck that. I was very loud and documented everything I could after the tips came up. I routinely told my workers what I was making. I told them what our profits were, cause it was publicly available info on our POS analytics.
In my last review, almost everything that came up might as well have been dictated by Sansa (best friends with HR, so, you know, super appropriate work relationship, def not biased at all)
Almost none of it was actual professional feedback. I shit you not, I even got reprimanded IN WRITING for bringing food to the sign up company potluck. We had a full kitchen for employees to prepare food, but I guess I was the only one not allowed to use it.
Other bonus negative review points: Knowing a lot about plants and acting like I knew a lot about plants at the same time, “you act like you work harder than everyone”(because I did, because that's what managers are supposed to do, manage).
One of my staff finally got fed up with not being paid enough and reported them to the office of labor standards for wage theft.
But, since I'm the loud, salty bull over 30, of course, I was canned three days later. They literally refused to tell me why, just saying “we're going a different direction.” They offered to let me work the rest of my shift(how generous!) I obviously said no and left immediately.
I immediately followed up with a report of my own to the labor office(I put my name on it instead of leaving anonymous, I want them to know it was me after the fact), and the investigation has been ongoing since with multiple witnesses backing me up.
Today, we are in the find out stages of fuck around.
Labor are looking at what specific damages and back pay is owed to employees, including me(plants and garden stuff is a pretty specialized field after all, and I haven't been able to find another job because it's pretty hard to be like “hey, yeah, I don't work there because I was fired”), and there will be a formal interview with the owner as well as her one HR person. The agent asked me how much money I have lost since becoming unemployed (they fired me before I qualified for state benefits)
My guess is that it's going to be pretty hard to find representation that won't be billed by the hour since I'm sure it doesn't look super great to be already under investigation by a government agency for the most common kind of theft in the US. She just bought the company a few years ago. From what I'm hearing, fees can be pretty high, and can start at 20,000 for some of the more serious stuff.
My favorite thing on the phone call was the agent asking me if I saw their updated employee handbook(I'm still friends with some workers, turns out). Updated literally the day I got fired, detailing their new “tip policy” to quote the agent directly, “that's pretty yikes”.
Bonuses were given late this year, and weren't as much as last year. I'm guessing they spent them.
This is a “Small Business” but in reality, they pull in 3 million in profits a year. Boutique industries like garden centers can make very good money in busy urban centers. The trick is just not to be a shitty boss and treat everyone like calculations. It's retail, not game of thrones.
Anyway, TL;DR, I should have quit the minute this sign was posted, but,
here's to burning shitty bosses to the ground.