Since March 2022, I had been working at one of Florida's top dinner theaters, in a minimum-wage position. I originally wanted to take a higher-paying job, but as an artist myself, I took a lower-paying one at the theater at the behest of the general manager, who had a manager under her hire me on the spot. It's also difficult to get jobs in the arts industry at all in my state (FL), let alone my local area.
For most of the time I worked there, I was satisfied. They covered my meals and drinks, and gave me a good first annual review. However, more recently, there was a change in management and staffing, and I feel like the turnover caused the work environment to quickly deteriorate into a hostile one.
The first red flag was when the manager who hired me quit. He was a good man and a great manager while I worked under him; he was fair, open-minded, and directed the employees under him well. However, the GM had apparently made concessions to him in order to incentivize him to stay, and keep him on in his position – such as giving him higher pay and a raise – that made other managers and staff jealous and resentful. This eventually culminated in him accepting a different position.
The next red flags appeared when another assistant manager was promoted; as soon as this happened, it seemed to go to her head a bit. Before, she was also fair, open-minded, and patient. However, not long after, she started micromanaging employees under her to a much higher degree than before; this included blowing small mistakes out of proportion, being harder on workers, etc.
When I was hired, I was open about being disabled; I was professional diagnosed with social anxiety and autism spectrum disorder (ASD-1) by at least 2-3 different psychologists. This was never a problem up until my immediate supervisor was promoted; in fact, my co-workers and other managers had been very accepting, even positive and encouraging. As an autistic person who had faced discrimination and prejudice in jobs before due to my disability, I finally felt like I could “be myself” at my new job.
However, this one manager seemed to zero in increasingly on what she termed “my big mistakes” – even though I and other employees I spoke with did not feel they were anything other than minor errors. I even spoke with my mother – the manager at another company – and, after reviewing the details of each instance, she also agreed that such mistakes “did not constitute a fire-able, or even probational, offense”. Despite this, I worked harder to make fewer mistakes in my job.
For weeks now, I felt as though this manager has been breathing down my neck much more than usual, including constantly micromanaging me; monitoring me; and having “discussions” and “conversations” with me every time I “slipped up”, even for minor mistakes. This confused and baffled the other managers in the office, but as the “micromanager” was their supervisor, they didn't say or do anything to challenge her. Worse, one of the new assistant managers – who had become close friends with the “micromanager” – continued to encourage the latter's aggressive “corrections”.
I finally confronted her a few days ago over text as her behavior(s) continued to worsen, explaining how her actions towards me were making me feel “very uncomfortable”. She apologized, thanked me, and promised to “fix the problem”; however, she never did, even going as far as to cancel our meeting.
The final straw was when the “micromanager” pulled me aside at the beginning of a 6-hour shift; informed me, without presenting anything in writing, that I had “made yet another 'big mistake'”, and was being put on probation as a result. However, the incident in question – despite the “micromanager” pinning all of the blame on me – was not solely my fault, or even primarily my fault at all. The blame lied primarily with a group of customers, who had failed to inform our team ahead of time that they had booked tickets under two separate party names, which had caused a lot of confusion with seating. This took 30-60 minutes to resolve due to the customers' own confusion amongst themselves.
Despite this, I had apologized – profusely – to the customers; the customers thanked me for my patience, and praised my efforts to help them. However, apparently, none of that mattered to the “micromanager”. In her eyes, I had “failed” yet again, and was being punished for being a “failure”, even though she repeatedly tried to claim “you're not in trouble” and “we don't plan to fire you”.
So, I finished my shift – even though I felt like vomiting from anger and disgust the entire time, which made it difficult to keep my usual smiley, friendly demeanor with customers – went home, typed out an immediate resignation latter, and e-mailed it to the “micromanager”, BCC'ing the GM as well. If the “micromanager” wasn't going to respect me as a person and employee, then why should I respect her?
I was supposed to work the morning shift there today, but I have no regrets. I feel like a weight has been lifted off my my shoulders, and I finally feel much happier, relaxed, relieved, and ready to start living my best life. I can only hope that things also turn out well for the coworkers who supported me.