Every time a boss steps over me, I let them. And I hate it because I always agree with what they tell me to do even if I know it’s going to be terrible for me.
Just today, I started a new job and was under the assumption that I was only going to be working 3 days a week, since I go to class the other 2 days and made it clear to my recruiter what my availability was.
When I came in, my boss asked me what time I get out of class and I said 1:15pm, she then asked me what time I could go in and I immediately answered “around 3pm” not realizing that I’ve pretty much agreed to come in on the days that I said I couldn’t. I felt so fucked up right after that interaction and I later worked up the confidence to go up to her again.
I told her that I had midterms coming up and that I just want to stick with the original 3 days I agreed to, because if I came in at 3pm I would just be working a 3 hour shift since we close at 6pm. She said that any hours are fine and that she could schedule me for as many hours as I wanted, even if that was a 10 hour shift or a 2 hour shift. I felt so defeated and left it at that.
I was so upset by being such a doormat and not being straightforward that before she left I told her again that I just want to stick with the original 3 days because I’m a full time student and that I told the recruiter that I could only work those 3 days, but she told me that the recruiter said I could come in at 3pm on those 2 days I said I couldn’t work on. I was so confused that my only response was “oh?” because I literally have an email where I told the recruiter I could only work 3 days.
My boss insisted that they needed people for the last 2-3 hours of operation and said I could think it over and tell her tomorrow if I could work those days.
I don’t know how to tell my boss that I just want to work the original 3 days that I agreed to, because she’s under the assumption that I told the recruiter I could work 5 days even though we both agreed that I would just be working 3. I feel defeated and almost guilty for saying I can only work those 3 days and then pseudo-agreeing to work those 2 other days.
I want to tell her that I can only work those 3 days but I don’t want to get walked over again, how should I approach this? It’s a new job and I don’t want to have a bad reputation already. I wish I had the backbone and the foresight to just tell her I couldn’t work after school when she first asked.