Hi . this is my first post on this subreddit. i am posting here today because i am just so tired of having to deal with my own coworkers being in the way of doing my job. a year ago i made a few posts about starbucks. (which i did end up quitting by the way). here and here.
So i had been working at a new place for like 2-3 months now. (also fast food. blaze pizza.) and it was ok for a while. my last few posts i had complained about not getting along with ANYONE. but this time it's pretty ok theres a wide variety of people that work so im chill with most of them. but i work with two girls (around 17-18) that just make it unbearable. i just dont know how it got to this point. and one guy (around 40?) who just ruins my day. the girls constantly brag abt how they do things better than the boss and like they are the boss too just bc they have been there for a year. i despise working with them. they put too much stress on me because i'm a bit slower. (like, i get it. i know i could be faster) but it just feels so inhumane and unrealistic when ur bosses tell u that u could improve on ur speed .
what i hate abt these damn corporations and their stupid business models is that they expect you to be inhumanly urgent and tip top of everything and speedy with the service when that TAKES AWAY the quality of whatever food you are serving. maybe it's just a me problem but it's just not in me. no one is made to be like that. we are made to take our time. i get it ppl are in a rush sometimes but i feel like most customers don't care and have the time anyways. in fact in both experiences the CUSTOMERS are usually understanding and patient about their food but dont typically go in unless they have time to kill.
I just can't stand the bitching from them. its actually very occasional and not as often as it was at starbucks but like holy shit. it really does take an emotional toll on you especially because you dont want to take ORDERS from a minor. They are both young to me, but also at that age i was also well aware of what capitalism bring out in people. So it just feels borderline CATTY at this point. My shift leader also plays favorites and is biased in favor of the two girls (which makes me uncomfortable) but also it just feels like EVERYONE just has something to say about each other and i just cant be around that. Like they call our managers useless over anything when they arent with us that shift and it feels weird. like i get most of them are gonna keep it civil though so its whatever.
Today however i snapped at my coworker, it did not escalate and i wasn't like YELLING in front of customers but i just happened to walk away when she was being nitpicky about something that wasnt really my fault/problem. She became really upset and had an attitude abt how she was talking to me and i told her that she's always bitching me about something. (the lid wasn't on the sauce we use for the gluten free dough. wow, let's notify the president). it's really exhausting how i am automatically the one being lectured when something isn't perfect. TO THEM its like i was literally only hired to make THEIR jobs easier and do all the work THEY don't wanna do instead of being hired to actually help out. My ACTUAL bosses have been cool and understanding about things which is like a real blessing. I just can't stand environments like these.
And then it just makes me wonder, like no matter if i quit or get another job something like this will always happen. even if you have like a high paying job or something more “impressive” you still have to deal with stuff like that and it just makes me so upset. I also don't wanna be a person who wage slaves for the rest of my life and actually want to do something that helps the communities around me but that'll be a different post. I say this because I feel like there are millions of people in my same situation that HAVE no choice but to deal with this as well for survival reasons. Like we all just want to vibe and do things that will actively make a difference. Right now i'm only working because i might be displaced within a year due to gentrification (so like, also an actual survival reason lol but i dont mind looking for better jobs).
What gives them the reason to act like this? we're literally all girls , around the same age, (im 20) and instead they are feeding into this hustle culture (which is another thing i dont like. they brag about 12 hr shifts and how thats where the real money is, i work maybe like 25-30 hrs a week) and perpetuating into toxicity and i just dont know what i did??? luckily everyone else i work with has been nice (funny enough theyre usually double my age) so it's not all that bad. I really don't want today's incident to be reported to my boss and to have one of those “sit down conversations” where we all have to talk about it because i will literally give her time of day about how they've been treating me.
About my shift manager; luckily he bitches everyone so we all have like some sort of camaraderie against him. But that doesn't take away that he's just like. awful. even to like our boss he's kind of pushing it. he's so condescending to people that dont automatically do what he says. he makes me do things that takes time literal minutes before i leave. And the whole time he's usually gossiping in the back with my other coworkers. And another thing about that, is how my other coworkers can get away with things i can't. My boss was worried about “things at home” because i was on my phone (and that's what that means apparently? lol) for a little (they didnt care as long as it was while no one was there to take orders from). but meanwhile one of my coworkers can go facetime her friend in the bathroom and it raises no concern. I know it sounds petty and immature, and like honestly more power to everyone to killing some company time but it's just something i was bothered by.
Like why is there some sort of bias between certain coworkers just because they've been there longer? it doesn't water down the quality of work that everyone else puts in new or not. Idk. i just really hate people who literally think they are the boss just because the boss isnt there. especially when they brag verbally about it. I start getting pissed off at things i didn't know i could get mad about. I have tried to be the bigger person for weeks. It's especially embarrassing when they berate you in front of the custies.
You would think that running any store like the navy will actually probably not be inviting to any potential custies! Like the one time I was tearing up and shaking as i gave the customer her change. because i got an order wrong more than a couple times and my boss YELLED at me.
I had tried to be the bigger person for a while but it just eats away at you. (personal here rn but growing up i was bullied and berated by a lot of my peers and other adults so if u read my starbucks post its a similar feeling to all of those). I might not quit (unless i get fired lol) but if it starts to become a major issue where i feel like i cant do anything, i'll just take the L tbh.
But anyways, i just wanted to get this off my chest and i feel immensely better. i had been upset for a while because of my situations involving work, and because i had remorse over what happened today. but i just want to be respected in any workplace. and i believe EVERYONE deserves to feel respected and safe in their workplace. but also the workplace model of these types of corporations actively encourage this behavior from anyone, so inherently it is not ethical and humane, and we must get rid of it. I had been interested in this subreddit for a while, thank you for reading 🙂