Like the title says, I was just passed over for a promotion at work because of my age.
I'm 23 and have been working at a local brewery in my town for about 3 months as a package tech, basically doing grunt work. I made it very clear from day one that I wanted to learn about the brewing process and move up within the brewery and was told that once I showed “mastery” of my position that would happen. Well, turns out there's not that much to master in the prestigious role of package tech and I can now do everything in my job description plus the work of a cellerman (the position I want to move to). For the last month actually, I've been doing the work of a cellerman just without the title or compensation of one. A cellerman position opened up and I asked manager 1 how I was looking for the spot, he told me that I have not yet mastered the role of package tech because I can't do everything as fast as him, a master brewer who's been in this industry for 20+ years. He also said that I sometimes have a “negative attitude” that brings down the rest of the team which is total fucking bullshit, especially when manager 2 comes in everyday yelling and complaining. Now I'm not all sunshine and rainbows everyday but I shouldn't have to be, and I definitely have not ever had a negative attitude while at work.
Long story short they gave cellerman to one of my co workers (I'll call him B) who has only been here for three weeks, has no past brewery experience, and isn't even remotely close to “mastering the position,” but he's 29 years old. When I questioned manager 1 about this he gave me some long winded speech that went something like:
“all the ingredients need to come together for an employee to move up, mastery of the position, hard work, attitude, attendance, etc.”
“I don't understand, so am I missing any of those things?”
“you're young man, you look like you just graduated high school. I made the decision to hire B on an individual case, not because you're missing any of those ingredients or because I have anything against you”
“That doesn't make sense though. YOU told me once I mastered the position I would move up, B can't do half the things I can do and he gets the job?”
“Look don't be put down because B got the job and you didn't, this isn't an age discrimination thing, but again you're young, you've got lots of time to work and grow. If I were you I would look at it as an opportunity to work even harder and show us managers I'm ready for the role. Just keep up that grind man, keep working hard, and when the time is right we'll move you to cellerman.”
Total. Fucking. Bullshit.
- the line you fed me about “mastering the position” was a lie since you gave the job to someone who has not yet done that.
- you brought up my age multiple times in that conversation, so as far as I can tell the only reason I didn't get the job is because I'm 23??
- it feels like they just wanted a body in here to work without the intention of ever moving forwards or learning more
I should also mention that multiple co workers have told me they've overheard the managers refer to me as a “kid” who “doesn't know anything” which just backs up my theory. There's been other BS I've had to put up with since starting this job, but this was the last straw. They got my 2 weeks after that conversation, and I already have a job offer from another brewery with better pay + benefits, as a cellerman.
sorry is this isn't the right place to post this, I just needed to rant about it for a bit.