Alright. This is a doozy.
My girlfriend and I worked at a local cookie shop, I guess up until today. We became close with the owners, despite my protests, but it all seemed fine. I’ve had bad experiences blurring the work/friendship line in the past, but the owners constantly told me I had to get over it, and they would never take advantage of us. Whatever. These people also refuse to fire anyone, preferring to slowly make employees lives miserable instead of just canning them, so they have no chance to claim unemployment. Normally, I would just start applying for jobs, and not make a claim, but what I’m about to explain makes me curious if I can.
Now, I’ve been working in food service for a long time. They’ve only been in it since they opened in November. Naturally, they don’t know everything. I know that I’m not exactly an expert, as well, but I know most of the big don’ts. Things such as keeping cleaning supplies next to cooking supplies. You don’t do that. They had our vegetable oil next to a bottle of bleach. I would kindly tell them that stuff like that wasn’t a good idea, we could get into trouble, and preventative action is always a good idea. I guess they hadn’t been taking kindly to this, and have been getting frustrated when I bring these issues up over the last few months of my employment. They never told me, so I never stopped doing it.
On Monday, I went in near closing time to pick my girlfriend up. I was not scheduled that day. I went into the kitchen and they were chatting about some idea they had, and my boss asked me if I was grumpy. I wasn’t, so I told her no. Now the thing about this lady, is that she is VERY sensitive to other people’s moods. If something was bothering us, we couldn’t bring that into work. Leave it at the door. Obviously, this didn’t apply to her, and if she was in a bad mood, we were expected to walk on egg shells around her. Anyways, I go and lock the front a minute after closing, and when I come back around, I see her telling my girlfriend just to leave. She can handle closing. She was upset that I came in with “a bad attitude.” Now let me reiterate. I was not on the clock, nor was I expected to be. Literally just there for the 20 minutes it would take my girlfriend to close up. She loses it on me. Yelling at me for being “rude” to her friends that are chilling in the back room. I hadn’t even talked to them.
The next day I was scheduled at 2 PM to work the front, and didn’t want any anxiety over the events of the last night to be hanging over any of our heads. I sent her a text asking to have a one-on-one meeting to clear the air, and to resolve the communication issues that her and I seemed to be having. She was busy she said. I was like… okay. Well, I would still like toy have the meeting. She says absolutely not. She won’t have a one-on-one meeting with someone who is always telling her what she is doing wrong. Okay. So I send her a long text explaining WHY I would tell her these things out, apologizing for seeming antagonistic, but pointing out that if I were being malicious, I would have told the proper authorities, not her. The worst thing I said to her in this text was telling her that yelling at me, especially when I am not even there to work is inappropriate. I arrive to work, and my girlfriend is crying.
My text apparently infuriated our boss enough to call my girlfriend, who was there at the time, into the back, and yell at her, placing all the blame of my employment onto her. How dare I stand up for myself. About after 20 minutes, we are told to clock out and leave if my gf cannot get a handle on her emotions. Okay. We go.
About an hour later, we both get a text that reads
“I need to know if you are working tomorrow and Friday so I can plan on coverage.”
My girlfriend, who was planning on finishing out the week, and then tendering her resignation, texted her that she had planned on it. I didn’t text back yet, as I wasn’t in the headspace to respond. Around 7:17 pm, I get an email saying the schedule has changed, I was taken off my shift on Thursday, but left on for Friday at 2 PM. Okay. That’s fine. I’ll take the next day off. Still never responded to her. Later that night, gf sends a text that says “I feel obligated to finish out the week, but I no longer feel as though the cookie shop is a safe, nor comfortable working environment.” Our boss tells her that she won’t be required to come in. Cool.
Thursday passes without incident. No communication between us nor our employer. I have not stated I quit. I am still on the schedule for Friday.
So, today rolls around (Friday, July 1st) and we get a group message telling us that our final checks are ready, and to let them know when we would be able to pick those up along with personal belonging. This happens around 10:45 am. I am still on the schedule for 2 pm.
I text them saying that I am going to take this communication as saying I am fired. They tell me that because I didn’t text my boss back on Tuesday, that’s considered a no call/no show, and they’ve considered me having quit. Despite her taking me off of the schedule for the day before. But not the day after. Now, we don’t have any policy in place for this. Nor any employee handbook at all. I live in Missouri, and my understanding is that you have to have two unexcused no call, no shows to be ineligible for unemployment. I didn’t miss a shift. I simply did not confirm whether or not I was going to work, and they chose to use language implying that I was no longer employed there.
I’m going to take today to relax, and then tomorrow I’ll apply for UI benefits, and see where that gets me.
I’m so fucking tired of employers thinking they can treat their employees like shit and not face any repercussions.
Wish me luck!