Yesterday I (25f) was hanging out outside with my mom, my boyfriend and my friends as it has began to get nicer outside (I’m located in SE Georgia for context) when I received a text from a coworker which was a little unusual as we don’t talk outside of work much.
They ask me if I’ve ever spoken with my manager (calling her A for short) about drugs or had any similar conversations and I tell them I haven’t. They respond to let me know that A has accused me of offering her drugs and having conversations with her about them. While I do smoke weed myself, I’m not exactly the biggest fan of A as a person in the first place so that’s not even something I’d think to do, much less with any current manager/higher ups.
Immediately I start to brainstorm with everyone I was outside with and the best conclusion we could figure is that she has a problem with my interracial relationship. At first I was apprehensive about this conclusion as I’m from SoCal so I’m not used to absurdities like this being real things that happen, but as we discussed the possibility I got increasingly uncomfortable with the valid connections.
For one example, my boyfriend had brought me an energy drink around the beginning of my shift. This wasn’t usually an issue as I usually worked nights but for some reason got moved to opening shifts with A a week or two ago. He had sent me a few texts in regards to her giving him really dirty looks that I hadn’t seen until he was already gone. My closing managers didn’t have any issues with him doing this, there was never any mention of dirty looks or feeing unwelcome or anything. It upsets me because with A being a type of manager that’s impossible to please, she could at least set a standard especially if she’s going to be at register, as the store manager.
There have been no mentions of issues with my work quality, I do ask the other managers to make sure I’m on the right track as retail is a new career field for me. This is a seasonal retail store that I was really looking forward to adding to my resume, and I wanted to stick with them until they closed for the season, but I don’t even know what to do here. I don’t want to throw my coworker that told me under the bus, but this just feels wrong.
I haven’t worked a shift yet since this incident as my next shift is Thursday, so I don’t know what it’s going to be like the next time I go in and I’m nervous about that. I have been looking for work elsewhere since even before this incident, but I’m having a hard time receiving responses and it’s leaving me feeling overwhelmed and discouraged from leaving this now toxic workplace.