i just ended my job at a tennis club. during the interview process, i had expressed concerns about my precious workplace (one that the boss here had previously worked at as well). each of these concerns like improper training, lack of compensation, lack of organization especially for scheduling, were all met with a high promise to make sure i could be hired to leave that tennis center and join his club. i was promised training, value for my time and effort, what i thought was good compensation, and an overall more organized and exciting experience centered around the kids that came to the tennis camp my boss raved about.
i started in November where i felt like i was jumping into the deep end because i hadn’t gotten training, but he insisted to see what i was like on court. i was shy because i was so far out of my comfort zone especially without training. i expressed that concern and i got a “i can see that” and some encouragement to share my experience of tennis training. great effort, but not the same preparation as proper training. i got a free pass to an in person workshop for becoming a certified coach, however, that was only a 2 day session. normally with places like Ecco Shoes and Mendocino farms, i am used to some days of training outside of my scheduled hours on top of hands-on help while working on the clock.
come winter, i found out im not working for a month because we had no camp session. i was not informed of this. in fact, i struggled to be paid for my first few weeks of pay because no one had prompted me to fill out the time card system. though it’s on me that i didn’t make better effort to ensure my pay, i find it troubling as that would have been part of the training experience.
when spring semester started, i started playing for my school’s team. practice Monday and Wednesday and matches on Tuesday and Thursday. I was convinced to work Friday thru Monday, promised to be training with their program so I could still be practicing while working. that didn’t happen. instead i worked around 15-20 hours with very little time to myself because of school. i was drowning but i was doing what i wanted just now how i wanted. i almost left, but i decided to keep trying to train myself by learning what i could from other coaches there. i picked up a lot and started to settle in.
during the summer time, i started working a lot more. i connected with my coworkers much more and began to trust the people i was working with which made it easier to do my best and trust my instincts, especially since there was very little to no training to trust instead. i talked to my boss’s right hand man about the training and he admitted that he thinks i didn’t get any training because AND I QUOTE “he doesn’t want you guys getting any better so you don’t leave and take clients with you.” i worked as a part of the littlest kids’ camp where 4-9 year olds had art projects on top of some academic projects and some tennis. this part of the camp was run by the boss’s girlfriend who was rarely ever there. she had the camp counselors come in 1 hour early for “set up” but they never really set anything up besides the art projects. those projects were given to high school seniors, who only one of which had any artistic ability. that counselor normally had about 15 minutes to learn the project before camp begins so that she could teach the classes. she had no experience of doing this beforehand and did not agree to this, nor was she compensated for it. in fact, the boss’s girlfriend made sure the counselors didn’t get paid for the extra time they came in to set up or clean up. as a result, nothing was set up or cleaned up. similarly, i started working overtime. whenever this was brought up the boss, he always excused it because he was dating the one who set up the schedule and program. i also later found out that she spent her daughters college money on breast implants, so that shows the kind of people i’m talking about.
the hours were usually something like 9am-3pm or if i was asked to stay later it would be 9am-5:30pm. lunch times were never specified, so we were always working while eating (illegal) 9-5:30 is over 8 hours, especially if we didn’t technically get lunch breaks, but i ended up working over 10 shifts where i went over 8 hours—one of which was 12 hours. each time, i was told to put my overtime hours onto a different day so they didn’t have to pay me overtime. the front desk has similar issues, all of the staff does. when i asked the guy who has worked there the longest about confronting the boss about overtime, he told me he doesn’t think it’ll make a difference.
yesterday i got sent home sick, and put in my two weeks while waiting at the doctors office. i feels great to leave, but i’m worried about the staff that i care about and the kids that i have to leave. but i’m done.
also, the boss let the front desk have his old iPhone for work purposes. he’s about 50-60 years old. the password was 696969.