I’m currently getting back on my feet after some financial hardships and bad decisions. Trying to save money to go back to school for a degree. Found a godsend of a small business (or so I thought) that I now have been working a few months in. A short walk from my apartment. Typical full time 9-5 ish schedule. 45m – 1hr lunch. Weekends off. However, no benefits and the pay is almost minimum wage. But for the scheduling I thought it be perfect to balance school with. Not a lot of places in my town have a schedule as good as that. So I turn a blind eye to the bad pay. At least for now.
Believe me when I say I was not excited to start working here at first. 20 minutes in and I realized it’s such a cool place to work at. The day usually flies by because I have a blast being there with my coworkers.
However, the owner (and only supervisor) eventually showed his true colors the first moment something minor went wrong. The guy is the biggest asshole I’ve truly ever met. I’ve lost count of how many times the guy has threatened to take money out of our checks to cover business expenses when he’s mad, threats to send our asses home, telling us we’re lucky to be even going home with a hundred bucks a week, etc. I’ve seen him throw around merchandise on the floor and make us clean up the mess when he has a tantrum. Recently I won a giveaway contest at work. His response was “I knew you had something to do with it you motherfucking piece of shit.” One time after we got told off bad, the owner came around with a napkin and tiny pieces of sliced cupcake when he cooled down and told us all to get a small piece. As a piece offering, I suppose. I put up with it because financially I have no choice. It’s degrading for staff to be talked to that way. Under any circumstance. Maybe I’m overreacting a little because I’ve typically always been employed in a corporate environment and am not use to bosses being able to say whatever they want without fear of HR getting involved. I’ve grown a thick skin because of it but it’s never a good feeling to be talked to that way.
Do you have a similar story to share? Any advice?