hey guys, i know this isn’t an advice sub, but i don’t really know what to do. i figured someone in here would maybe know more than i do about this stuff.
backstory on the former employer: last year i worked at a cannabis dispensary for about 8 months. it was honestly my favorite job i’ve ever worked, but there were major management issues. my coworkers were the best coworkers i’ve ever had, and we went through some scary shit with crazy and violent customers, but we made it out together.
about 6 months in, the owner started opening other dispensaries in the same city. instead of hiring new management and staff for those stores, he poached our employees. we went from having 6 sales leads, 2 AM’s and 1 GM when i got hired, to having 2 sales leads and 1 GM when i left. they refused to hire new staff, and refused to promote sales associates to leads. so us sales associates on the floor were being expected to perform managerial tasks as well as inventory tasks (because everyone on the inventory team quit due to poor management), without the title or pay.
it got to the point where i was basically acting as a manager (i had previous experience so i was able to pick up things pretty quick). when i applied for a lead position i was shot down because i “hadn’t worked there long enough yet, and they needed to see more or me.” at this point i was running the front end, training new staff and making 5k sales daily… (only one other sales associate was selling this much).
there’s so much more to talk about here, like how the walls were bullet proof and the only exit we had if we were trapped inside with an armed gunman was a locked bullet proof door to the inventory room. this door had a special code that only managers were allowed to know. when we asked for an emergency code in case we needed to evacuate a dangerous situation, they told us we’d be fine and it was too risky for us to have the code, because we might steal the product… this place had cameras out the wazoo, and there was product on the floor already, we were NOT considering stealing.
at one point, all our armed guards quit because they hadn’t been paid for a month and a half. they literally walked out on shift, leaving us with no security. in CA, dispensaries must legally have 2 armed guards on the premises 24/7 (even overnight). we still had to work that day, with no emergency exit and no guards, locked in a bullet proof room with thousands in cash and thousands in product. not to mention that at the time this happened, the owner decided the front would no longer check customers bags for weapons before they entered, because it “made customers feel the place they were entering was unsafe.” like what???
——TL;DR—— i could go on FOREVER. but anyways, january came around this year and i was worried about getting my W-2. it didn’t come by the 31st which is the legal deadline. so i called the dispensary, and front desk wouldn’t let me speak to management because they were all new and didn’t know me (we used to get a LOT of calls from brand reps trying to sneak their way into a call with the manager to pitch their product). i then texted my manager and she said they were being sent that day. this was the first week of februay. the third week i texted and called again because i still hadn’t gotten it. my manager never even replied. i also tried to contact a sales lead whose number i have – no response.
what should i do? i really need to do my taxes and i’m getting worried. i bounced around a lot last year and i have 4 W-2s besides this one that hasn’t come yet, so my taxes are going to be complicated, which is why i want to knock them out soon.
i’m sorry this was so long, i just wanted to give the back story so you know how much of a shit show it was.