I started my new job in early January. I had been looking forward to it for months, considering I applied almost a year ago, shortly after completing my Master's. The interview went great and I couldn't wait to start.
Things fell apart before I even started.
To start, I found out I wasn't going to be paid the correct amount of money. Yes, I know this should have been a dealbreaker right away. As someone with a qualifying degree, the website said I would make 70K/year in my location. Coming from a retail background, this was about four times what I had been making. Then, on a call with HR shortly before my start date, I discovered I would actually be making just under 40K/year. We then spent several weeks trying to figure out what the issue was. Long story short, I was eventually told there was no way to fix this and I was just going to have to deal with it.
OK, fine. Whatever. Even the lower level of pay is a significant amount more than what I was making in retail, so it's still acceptable. (Again, in hindsight, I should have declined the job at this point, I know.)
I actually started the job last month, and I found out on the first day that the person I interviewed with wasn't actually going to be my trainer, which I had assumed; instead, it was going to be this other guy I hadn't met and who lives outside of my state. As such, my work hours would have to mirror his. Again, not a dealbreaker, but definitely a bummer when I thought my schedule would be different.
Turns out this guy was an awful trainer. He had no patience whatsoever and responded rudely to every question I asked (and I had many, due to, you know, BEING NEW).
If I was sharing my computer screen and needed to click on something, he would say “Okay, now click on tha-CLICK ON IT CLICK ON IT NOW!” if I didn't instantly click on exactly what he wanted me to. Please also note he did not know how to articulate himself well enough to direct me where TO click.
He regularly deployed the classic pOwEr mOvE trick of asking if there were any questions, waiting to hear my question, then berating me for asking it.
He was too impatient to wait the 1 or 2 seconds it took for me to unmute myself (the job was entirely WFH), so he required my mic be unmuted at all times. The other new hires had no such requirement, despite also taking a sec to unmute themselves.
He refused to ever apologize for himself, including when he was clearly wrong. He asked if I had a particular job guide open – we had several, so he wanted to make sure I had the right one opened. The conversation went like this:
Him: Open the ABC Job Guide.
Me (after a short pause while I open it): ABC Job Guide, got it.
Him (five seconds of silence, then angrily): I didn't say that one! I said open the ABC Job Guide! How are you even organizing yourself? Can't you keep track of anything?
Me: I said I have the ABC Job Guide open. Did you want that one, or a different one?
Him: Great, moving on, go to page…
But here's why I quit:
We needed access to a few different systems. Such access had to be requested by the employee. The trainer sent me a list of systems to request access to. One system was out of our state. A different system was also out of our state, which created the idea in my head that this was a normal part of the job and nothing to be concerned about. He asks where I'm at with my systems access and the following exchange happens:
Him: Why did you request something in (different state)?
Me: It was on the list.
Him (yelling): Obviously, you don't need that one! You don't live there! Why would you think something like that?
Me: There have been a few systems outsi-
Him (still yelling): This isn't an argument! I'm not always going to be around to fix YOUR mistakes! Why don't you just learn how to think for yourself? Can you even DO that?
I gave them a few days, but I thought about it, and decided to quit. I don't care how long it took to get the job; I don't care that I'm unemployed and without any kind of insurance at the moment.
I was willing to tolerate not getting paid appropriately; I will not tolerate disrespect. No worker ever should.