I started work for a local business thinking that it was the opportunity I had been looking for. During my interview I was told that they were like family there & it was a great dynamic. On my first day, I began to notice passive aggressive notes posted by the owner (no cell phones or personal belongings, purses, bags, etc must be locked in your vehicle, and other things pertaining to work procedures) around the restrooms and break room but didn’t give it a lot of thought. I had also been warned that the owner of the business was less than welcoming but to ignore it because “that’s just how he is.” I met him that same day and was given a good perspective of what kind of person he is. He asked me a few questions about myself and seemed less than interested in my answers, then quickly he started talking about the girl I was hired to replace. He boasted about firing her because her brother had committed suicide and she couldn’t focus on her job. His exact words were “I don’t care about your family, when you’re here, you focus on your job. If you’re anything like her or can’t get your work done, we don’t need you.” I was pretty taken aback that he was exploiting her personal trauma and using it to intimidate me so I just didn’t respond.
A week or so later, I had finished the majority of my initial training and was working on training for the other aspects and was asked to shadow someone for a few days until I was confident enough so I could work independently. I was shadowing someone & doing exactly what I was asked to do when he ripped into me the first time. He raised his voice and said “What are you doing?! You don’t get to stand around with your hands in your pockets here! You get busy doing something now!” I tried to explain but he wasn’t interested in anything I had to say, so I got pulled to the side and shown a few small things I could do in the downtime. I tried to keep busy, and didn’t go back over to shadow the person again for a while because I was afraid that, out of nervous habit, I might have my hands in my pockets again. I was dusting shelves when he came back up to me again for round 2, a few inches from my face and tore into me again, saying “I thought you were supposed to be shadowing someone, what are you doing now….get yourself back over where you’re supposed to be.” At that point I was at my breaking point, so I went into the break room and my supervisor was in there. She casually asked me how things were going and I just broke down in tears and told her everything. I told her that I didn’t know what he expected me to do and couldn’t do the position I was shadowing independently yet, unless they wanted me to make a mistake, and I added that if I did that it would just give him a reason to fire me.
I gathered my belongings and went to lunch and didn’t plan on returning, but I decided not to let it get to me, and returned to finish my shift. About 15 minutes after I returned, I was given a task to work on and began working on it immediately. A third time he asked me what I was doing, and I responded with a pretty short answer, but I didn’t feel like explaining myself again especially when he knew what I was doing because he heard my supervisor instructing me to do so. He then mocked my answer, repeating it back to me and laughing. I looked up from the paperwork in my hand, and said “Yeah, that’s what you heard me say” and went on about the task but I was so angry that I was being made fun of to my face, and the whole situation had me beyond livid.
I finished my shift but I said nothing else to anyone and I didn’t return the next day. I am now without a job but I wasn’t getting paid enough to put myself into a hostile situation like that again. I have wondered if I should have stayed but also wonder what else would have happened if I had.