Power tripping managers need to recognize their bs.
Context;
I get an interview for this really nice local specialty store that I will leave unnamed. I interviewed so well, that the management team hired me on the spot. They were very impressed with my vocational skills and thought I was very thoughtful to the interview questions. They offer me a position which is a step above entry level with keys to the store to start due to my extensive retail experience. I was very excited about this opportunity to say the least.
A few days into the job, I come to find out that they didn't hire me at the position they told me about, in fact they hired me at entry level at minimum wage. I was pissed. I talked to the regional manager to try to figure out what the heck was going on. He explained that I had to start at that position and work my way up. I was pretty upset about this, but this didn't deter me immediately.
Time came where I was finally put into the system where I could log in and enroll for my health insurance. But because they delayed my start date by 2 weeks, and didn't give me log in access till 2 more week had passed, my official start date in the system was over a month before I actually had access to the system to enroll. And as it turns out, the open enrollment period was exactly one month. Whodve thunk it? After SEVERAL calls to hr, I was basically shafted my medical benefits because I didn't enroll and there was nothing I could do about it. At this point I'm feeling pretty crap but I still am holding out for that promotion I was promised, and just told myself to keep going and hope for the best
As it turns out, this store had no manager. There is however a ASM who has taken on the duties and has been doing his best for quite some time. He was really honest, straight to the point and was understanding of the other employees. I decide I'm going to give my all for this guy, because he was actually pretty cool. I put the axe to the grindstone and just started doing my best and finishing tasks faster than anyone expected me to. I even went above and beyond and organized the entire stockroom. The ASM made me feel valuable and I was proud about that.
At some point i got covid and needed to stay home for a while. I learned about a covid payment program to help keep us afloat when we get sick. When I got better and came back to work, I was told I wasn't approved for the covid pay, or that I wasn't working long enough to be eligible for it. Yet another shifting from management. I had to fight for months just to get the money I was told I would get.
After a long while of doing my hardest to make the store clean, Organized, and learn all the different systems like tagging and write offs. I was finally in consideration of the position I was promised when I began, only a few months into the job. I was feeling good. Around that same time they hired a new manager for the store. She at first seemed to be pretty casual, I hoped to prove to this new manager that I can be depended on, and prove my worth. Not long into her taking over the store, my coworkers started dropping like flies. I would talk to them and they'd say all the backwards garbage this manager was doing to them. Cutting hours, making her own schedule to come into the store several hours before the store opened, when the usual earliest time anyone was in was 30 minutes before open. She would do fuck all in those hours, and leave all the hard work to us. Our opener quit within a week of dealing with her, because she cut her hours so much she couldn't pay rent.
Not only was our new manager lazy, we all found out she had basically no management experience, and was hired from outside the company, despite several people who were qualified applied who worked in the store, who knew the procedures already. So she would come to the entry level people, me included to ask us how to do her job. I can't describe how painful it is to have to tell a higher up how to do their job. She was also stirred up drama for no reason, talking about us behind our backs and she was only there for a couple weeks at that point, which caused another 2 people to leave.
So this manager is 3 weeks into her new position, lost us 3 coworkers who were great at their job, and then basically comes to me and asks me to postpone my pre planned vacation by 2 days because there was a staff shortage. That week I worked 9 consecutive 8 hour shifts to cover for them, all while hearing her talk about how much she was doing with the low staffing and how we should basically be grateful for her help staying 2 extra hours and coming in on one of her days off.
Basically burnt the hell out at this point to the extent I want to explode on any customer or coworker that comes my way sideways. But my Vacation was soon, and I'd get to relax.
7th day, I get a discussion with the regional manager about my promotion. I finally was getting the position I was working my butt off for. With a $1.50 raise… you know when they say you can negotiate your wages? I had no say in the matter because he used his “Spreadsheet” to be impartial. So I was once again shafted, and then had more duties to boot. This promotion would go into effect the following Sunday, which was a day after I leave for my vacation.
8th day of work I get into an argument with a coworker and have to leave for the rest of my shift because there was no way I was gonna be able to manage being in there alone with her after that argument. I get a call from the manager, with some thinly veiled comment that because I “Abandoned the store” there would “Possibly” be reprocussions. Basically what I took that as, was I wasn't going to get the promotion I had been working so hard for for MONTHS. I was destroyed, I was literally crying my eyes out on the kitchen floor because I felt I just lost this big break because of some tiny bs.
I call off the 9th day because I was litterally on the brink of jumping off a bridge.
So now I'm finally on vacation, but now I have this nightmare looming over my head that when I get back I'm not going to have that position. Whole week was ruined because of this. So much I didn't know what I was going to do when I went back.
Finally the day I have been dreading all week comes, I get there, go to the pc, and look at my title and pay, and sure enough, she didn't update it. Still minimum wage, still entry level position. I ask why I wasn't promoted like I was promised. There was the manager and the regional there, and basically she played it off like she “Forgot”. Now I won't be promoted till the following Sunday because she wanted to be petty, and I'm still a mess about it.
At some point during the 9 day week, I was asked if I could work some shift for her. I agreed basically under duress because she was guilt tripping everyone. Well I completely forgot about it because of how stressed and worn out I was that entire week. The day rolls around and I wake up to 10 odd missed calls from my manager. I call back and she chews me out about it. It was an honest mistake, and I went in anyway but later than they had scheduled me. I got there and she chewed me out about not showing up, and counted several of my days I was sick and unable to work as no shows. I went into the office to see
I was shaking in anger at thisnpoint, but I gritted my teeth and bared it for 3 hours before she went out for lunch. And finally as if she wanted to REALLY put the final nail in the coffin, she told me I couldn't park where I parked and told me to move, because customers need to park there, despite being a reasonable distance out. As soon as she left for her lunch break, I walked to my ASM, gave him my keys, told him I'm tired of this bullshit and I'm not coming back. No 2 weeks, no nothing. I had so much animosity flowing through me twords that woman that day I had an eye twitch for a few days after.
Tldr;
The long and short of this is, I should have left the first sign of bullshit. Don't waste your time on a corporation that doesn't give 2 shits about you because of some promise or your own nerve. I would have been so much better off if I had left when they first screwed me over. Don't go silently into that good “I QUIT” moment!
Ps. Because I worked so hard I messed up my back and now have Spondylolisthesis from lifting too much :).
Don't let your body die for a paycheck.