A little backstory, I was hired as a social media marketer (Remember this – this is important) by a small local family run business. I was pretty much hired on the spot and I accepted. All started well, I was in an office by myself for 8 hours a day (Again, important).
The first sign of issues was on my very first day, I was greeted by the sister of the owner of the company (my boss), she was lovely and showed me around and showed me what my job would be. The first red flag then popped up, I was not going to be doing any social media but instead e-commerce, focusing on photographing, writing listings, pricing and keeping track of stock for their eBay store as well as being customer service. I didn't actually mind this, it was a relaxed job and I was told this part of the business would be my 'baby' as no one else in the company had time or desire to do it. The reason I was no longer to do social media was because the owner, who ran the social medias, didn't want anyone 'messing' with his way of doing things. His way of doing things was sloppy, ugly and didn't work very well but I wasn't going to be stepping on his toes because he made it clear he would not change his ways.
For the first 2 months, everything was fine and hints started dropping about the online side of the company splitting from the main company and having its own website. My boss started dropping hints about wanting me to build this website because she had seen my own personal website and liked my work. This is where I was in the wrong, I built the website and made them a logo without asking for any more pay for my work, my pay overall was barely over minimum wage. At the same time, I was approached by the owner of the company who was worrying that his social media strategy wasn't working and wanted me to come up with new ideas for the social media, so I also got to work on making templates, ideas and researching competitors. A week later I approached both the owner and my boss with my findings and ideas and each and every one of them was shut down and I was told to just continue doing what the owner was originally doing, so I obliged. A few hours after I was approached by my boss and told that I was extremely disrespectful to the boss by showing him ideas for the social media which were out of his usual style. I informed her that I was in fact asked to do this by the owner and her response was, and I quote “at the end of the day, we don't pay you to give your opinion. NAME (the owner) is a millionaire and you aren't so obviously he is doing better than you” I was taken aback but didn't press it any further, I just quietly got back to my work. For the rest of the week, my boss kept reminding me of this fact, mentioning anywhere she could that I was not a millionaire and that my pay was in fact just above minimum wage so I am not special and fully replaceable.
The next week, I went into work to find my boss was missing, I received a phone call from her stating she had covid and would be off work until she tested negative. She told me to simply get on with the ebay store and ignore social media, so that is exactly what I did. I would get calls multiple times a day from her 'checking up' on me and my work which I thought was odd but put it down to her being lonely isolating alone.
Fast forward to when she tested negative and was back at work AKA the final week, she approached me and asked me where my to-do list was, if I had come any further on the social media and asked to see what I had done since she was away. I politely informed her that I was told not to do any social media and that my to-do list was in my personal notebook. She was mad. She wanted me to go to the owner and talk to him about social media as she had apparently told me to start posting (even though I did not have access to the accounts) and that she wanted my to-do list on a whiteboard so she could look at it whenever she wanted. So that is what I did, I invited the owner to a meeting and transferred my to-do list to the whiteboard which she kept checking on multiple times in the day. During the meeting, I was once again told by the owner that he wanted to keep the social media the way it was and that he told me previously he did not like my opinions. He told me he had also booked a call with an outside social media marketing agency and would like me there to see what they think because he thinks they would have better opinions. I attended the call the following day and I sat silently throughout. The marketer said exactly what I had said, that his strategy wasn't working and shared the same ideas as I had. The owner told him he thought he was wrong and wouldn't be hiring him to do the job. The same day, 5 minutes before the end of my shift on a Friday, my boss came in and asked for a meeting, right then and there. As much as I didn't want to as I usually worked over my lunch anyway and wasn't going to be paid any overtime, I stayed anyway. She informed me that I was a “horrible nasty woman” and that “I cannot be speaking to other members of staff the way I was” she then said she was giving me a 2 week period to change my attitude or I would be fired from the company. I was in shock. I worked in an office by myself for 8 hours a day, the only people I spoke to was her and the owner and I was never nasty to anyone. I went home and realised, by the end of the 2 weeks, it would be the end of my probationary period anyway so chances are they would get rid of me, so I called up my boss and informed her I would not be back. That same night, the job was back on indeed but this time for minimum wage. As far as I can tell, that role was never filled. Recently I went back on their eBay which I ran and noticed a lot less products and an increase in negative reviews.
I did try and take the dismissal and negative treatment further through the proper channels but was informed I couldn't do anything about it unless I had been there at least 2 years. But anyway I am working for myself now and loving it.