to make a long story short, at 18 I was hired by a hardware store who was just as enthusiastic to have me on board as I was to join them. my manager who hired me always liked me and treated me with kindness. However, for the other members of management, this could be far from the truth.
in typical minimum wage fashion, I was required to shill $100 on steel toe boots before my first pay check. it was a honey moon phase until I realized just how anal one of my bosses was about me being at my station when I was being tugged by other members to do other tasks. one day I was speaking to one of my coworkers and apparently interrupted this one lady who was having a conversation with him, she notified this same boss of mine and he went to town on me, absolutely reaming me for asking one of my more senior teammates a question while she was speaking with him. i should have taken this as a warning to leave and never come back, but when you are being exploited, you hardly see how you are being taken advantage of until it’s over.
the straw that broke the camels back was when I was in the bathroom, you know, probably bleeding out of my hoohaa and taking my sweet time so I don’t walk out onto the floor all disheveled and not ready. i get called onto the floor and the same boss who reamed me was there, telling me how I was taking “inappropriate breaks” while he’s probably never had to deal with a menstrual cycle or unpredicted anxiety attack in his life. i remember looking dead in his eyes and thinking “you’ll wish I was still around when the next person you hire pulls the same shit “. He told all the other management about my “behaviour “ and I had my only and last warning that week.
not long after, the boss who hired me told me that I was not working up to the expectations. We both agreed that it was best if I left. I offfered to train the next person so that they wouldn’t be understaffed, but they took me off the timetable right away. so much for being the bigger person lmao
anyway, they would have to pay me at least $30 an hour for me to ever go back to that godawful soulless place. I went back with my dad not so long ago and saw a brand new set of kids working, same old management doing the same shit for 10 years at a time. i definitely know many people who would have stayed at this job longer if they were treated properly. Looking back, it was mostly the female employees who struggled with this. i remember being a 18year old girl being mansplained everything about hardware stores. Like I work here, I know what the fuck primer is.
Anyone else have to deal with a shit (pun intended) boss that just makes the experience that much worse?