I've been lurking here for a bit but thanks to FB memories, I've been reminded of a job I had last year that was pretty shit. I'm 29F living in Australia and have a fairly extensive work history, and at the time I was looking for work after my internship had finished months prior. I should also mention that I have diagnosed Aspergers syndrome and high functioning Autism which can make me a little awkward socially but doesn't usually impair me besides the occasional anxiety. I have a personal employment case manager, which is someone who keeps in touch with me and can assist communicating with employers on my behalf. She is very hands off and does not get involved with my week to week unless I have a massive issue I'm unable to resolve myself.
In January last year (2021), I saw a part-time job listing at a local post office. The owners, a husband and wife, had not long bought the business and had inherited a senior staff member that stayed on after the previous owners sold the business. This staff member had been with the company for 10+ years so needless to say that she was very good at her job. Even with her and the two owners working, they still needed extra help so were looking for someone to help them out.
So here's where I come in. I applied for the job and that day got a call back, and they seemed to like me based off my resume alone so we had a phone interview.
They seemed impressed enough with me and asked if I would do a trial the following week. I told them that was fine and we made the date. I got a call a few days later from the hospital with an appointment time I had been waiting ages for and it fell on the trial day. I had to take his appointment, and then contacted the job to let them know that we would have to change the trial day as I had an emergency appt I could not miss. We changed the day, and that was it, or so I thought. A few days later, out of nowhere the trial was cancelled via text and I was confused, but didn't think much of it and considered it not meant to be. I went to my appointment, but when I was finished I had the idea to call the job back up and ask why the trial had been cancelled and if there was a chance we could book another. I really did just want to work, so I was a little desperate at this point.
The owner set up a new trial day which was the next day and I went and did my trial. During the trial they asked me more questions that were kind of personal and not relevant to the job, but seeing as it had been a few months since I worked and I needed money, I answered them. Questions like “do you have kids?” “Are you planning on having kids?” Were ones that really stuck a chord with me, but I guess in their mind they wanted to know if I was worth it because taking care of kids can get in the way of someone working. I'm childfree and plan to never have children, but why is that their business to ask me?
Trial went well and they took a chance on me and I started the next week. The first week was okay, but it was apparent that my bosses had never trained anyone before and had insanely high expectations that borded on unrealistic, to the point where they would pull me up for every tiny mistake I made when I was shown something just once and left on my own. My bosses would also mention that I was a little strange, how it was weird I didn't like to make eye contact, was soft spoken and sometimes talked fast when I was excited. I explained to them I had aspergers syndrome, but they didn't know what that was, and I told them it was a form of autism, to which they still drew blanks. Honestly they didn't seem to know what that was, and I don't know if it was because of the culture they were raised in – they were foreigners – or they just never encountered an autistic person before. I was asked if my disability would effect my work and I told them that honestly no it shouldn't.
After that, they seemed to act very differently toward me, and got even more pushy and picky when I made the smallest mistake. I had to get my employment case manager in to speak with them and explain my aspergers to them because the way they treated me was effecting my mental health negatively to the point I wasn't able to avocate for myself anymore.
At some point during my time there, I was messaged by a friend that told me she had just found out one of our mutual online friends had died months prior but none of us knew because sometimes friends just disappear from the internet for a bit due to being busy. This really did effect me since this friend was such a lovely person and to know that I would never speak to her again made me emotional. I went to work the next day and casually mentioned in a conversation to my bosses about my friend, and that it was so sad that she was gone and I didn't even know how she left us. My boss gave me the side eye and asked “will this effect your work performance?” And I was taken aback that she'd so coldly ask that to me after I had opened up about something emotional and personal. A mistake, I realised. I told her no, and got back to my work.
After that, things just got worse, they expected me to be as good as the senior worker (who had 10 years over me) in the space of five weeks. They would keep saying “you've been here x weeks. You should know things and be better now”. I honestly was picking up things very well, I think. For every 10 things I did right, I might have made one small thing wrong and that was what they focused on.
They told my case worker that they were apparently okay with me but I read between the lines by how they were treating me. Come week 7, on a Saturday morning, I get a text message saying they did not think I was a good fit and that I was relieved of my position. At that point I didn't care because I was already thinking of leaving on my own so they did me a favor. My case worker was shocked, as she had told me various times that they seemed happy with me but I honestly think that was wishful thinking on her part.
My mental health improved drastically after that point and I started looking for another job. It took about a month and a half to land myself another job, this time in the field I wanted and had a degree in. I'm still in the new job, a year on, and that itself had its own challenges, but it was far better than that damn post office.
I should also mention that I told my bosses when I started that I was fighting for my super annuation from a previous job, that illegally did not pay their workers super despite it being the law. I was owed thousands and to this day am still fighting for it. The company has since shut down – at the time it wasn't though. They were amazed that a company would screw over their people like that and told me that they paid super and on time. Come end of financial year, I noticed the post office still hadn't paid me the one contribution they owed. It had been months since I worked there but still they needed to pay it as required by the law. I had to chase them up, but finally they paid… after the date they were meant to. Ironic huh?