I just can't anymore. Not only do I not have a schedule that I can rely on because things get dropped on my lap last minute and I end up working later than scheduled 3-5 days a week, I also can't rely on the owner making up his damn mind about days off for the holidays.
We only get one scheduled day off for Christmas, and because it falls on a Sunday this year, we get Monday off. Cool, ok. But he will occasionally close us on the Saturday of a three day weekend. Mind you, only my department is open on Saturdays anyway. But he'll just randomly decide sometime throughout the week, not telling us ahead of time so we can make plans, but whatever, we still get an occasional extra day off. This year my manager all but promised we'd be closed this Saturday since it's Christmas Eve. All month he kept saying there's no way the owner will have us come in. Still though, never got word from the owner himself. I have family coming in and it's the first year both my older kids are in college, so they're coming home for it! I'm so excited, so I mustered up the courage to ask the owner myself so I can set family plans in motion.
Me: I got a quick question. I have family coming in and need to be able to plan, so I'd like to know soon if we're open this Saturday.
Owner: What? What's this Saturday?
Me: Christmas Eve. My kids are coming from out of town and I'm excited to see em!
Owner: Oh. I already told the other departments about leaving early on Friday, not yours though (cuz it's sales…) And even if we do open this Saturday, it's not like you'd be here all day.
Me: (trying not to show my emotion on my face) Ok then, I just needed to know so I could figure out what to do with family and when.
At this point, others chimed in a bit, saying it seems kind of silly to open on Christmas Eve, who's gonna come in to buy (what we sell) that day? Then… my manager, the one who swore up and down that we would be closed that day specifically, piped in to say that we need every sale we can get, so it's smart to open. The thing is, he's not scheduled to work that day, just me and two others. So out of the whole office, only three of us have to come in.
I'm livid. It's not like I can quit, and I make ok money, but my mental health is suffering lately. I feel like I never get to leave when I'm scheduled to, I consistently work through my lunch, and this year I'm only getting a cost of living raise of 50 cents despite my responsibilities more than doubling. This situation just feels like it's dropping a ton of bricks on all of my anxiety and stress.
Thanks for listening to my rant.