Last night our customer reached out to us via email, after we had all left the office for the day, about an urgent change. I usually don’t read my email if I get it after work, but I saw urgent and the customer, and gave it a look. Some problem with the fixture we shipped a few months ago and they needed this change QUICK (approved any OT work without needing prior approval for the quote). This morning we met at 10 am, to discuss the quote and the changes. Now I’m new to the field and only been doing it for 1.25 years here, so I didn’t have the majority of info that the customer wanted so I messaged my boss around 9:15, basically saying “hey this meeting is at 10, I’m unable to provide to all the info he will need, what’s the plan” because I had not been given any info about what our plan was. He ended up taking the call from home and I was excluded from it, not a big issue, I got a summary of the meeting from the owner (his dad) who was in the office, and I got to work, getting 99% of the changes done in a few hours (pretty impressive if I do say so myself).
Due to some poor weather the owner pretty much went “hey guys, don’t leave for lunch, I was going to get some pizza, I’ll get some for everyone”, so when the pizza arrives, my boss comes in (1 PM) to which he comes straight to my desk, and starts telling me what I needed to start doing, I spent a minimum of 5 minutes trying to tell him “hey all these things your saying, I already handled” he added one slight change that was a “maybe we do it” type of thing. The entire time he ignored me, and just kept talking to me. Literally talking to a wall. This is a constant, every time I have gotten any sort of instruction or feedback, I’ve been met with, belittling instructions. I spent 4 years in high school learning this software, and the past year using it for work, I don’t know a lot of the complicated rules and practices, but I know quite a bit, and I believe I’ve shown myself to be especially talented and proficient, not to mention fast, I get my models done first, consistently. And still he makes remarks like “oh are you sure you know how to mate two surfaces” (not exactly like that but in the same sort of vibe), mating two surfaces is one of the most basic and easy to do things in this software, 3 clicks. I do it countless times everyday.
Not only is this a story but a question, how do you deal with this sort of thing. I’m 19 years old, I have next to no professional experience besides working here, while I am actively looking for a new job (1 interview so far, another on Friday!), I try to solve problems and do the right thing. There’s no HR department I can contact, it’s the owner and his son. He treats everyone like this, even his brother and sister, and sometimes even his own dad.