Honestly just kinda want to rant and share my experience because I've been thinking about how far I've come. I'm in a much better spot now and just had my first week at a job that genuinely cares about employees and I had a fantastic day every day, and it makes me so happy that I left my old job and learned how to set boundaries.
I worked at Starbucks for a few months in 2019, so literally right before the world went to shit. It was still one of the better jobs I'd had and most of the employees were genuinely great. The only problem was the manager who I'll call Bea.
Bea seemed really nice and energetic at first, but after being there for a few weeks I found out that she was just a hard ass that didn't actually give a shit about people. Nothing was ever good enough for her and everyone there hated her. Even regular customers didn't like dealing with her and would try and avoid her if they could.
If you were sick you always needed a doctor's note, no exceptions. She would literally tell people to take Tylenol and then still come in. I sprained my ankle on the way to work at one point and she said “Are you sure you can't come in? I can give you a chair.” I was barely given 3 days off and only because my doctor specifically I ordered it after hearing that she still tried to make me work.
She had no consideration for people's time, asking them to stay late right at the end of their shifts or calling them and asking them to come in within an hour. She also made those of us with vehicles drive to pick up stock from other stores if we ran out, and would actually ask us to use our breaks for it.
My friend attempted suicide at one point during this time and when I called in because I was going to be there for her Bea asked “Is she in the hospital? Then you have to come in because she's safe so you have no reason to miss work.” No sympathy, no understanding, and I got chewed out for “trying to get time off” as though I was trying to just skip work for fun.
I eventually got put on morning shifts meaning I had to be there at 5:30 am, which was awful but I made it work. I requested to get taken off them since my circumstances had changed and it would take me 2 full hours to transit to work, but she didn't care and didn't take me off those shifts.
I was really struggling mentally, I was couch surfing because my mother was being abusive towards me and I was trying to move out, I was suffering through a severe depressive episode, and as stated before my commute was 4 hours because my friend lived across the city. But one of my coworkers told me that when she told Bea about her mental health issues she was able to get time off and reduced hours when she needed it, so I decided to talk to her. I fully broke down and was embarrassed as hell, but I knew I couldn't keep doing what I was doing. She seemed sympathetic at first, got me some water and put me on break to give me some time to calm down. But when I came back she said that since I was always so chipper and seemed fine at work (you know, a customer service job where you're paid to smile and look happy) that she didn't think I really needed the time off and that she didn't have enough people to reduce my hours, so I should just “power through it” and that everything would turn out fine.
I left that day and never went back.
This was November 2019, luckily I had moved out with my fiancée and a roommate that October, so I could spend the next two years working from home doing transcription and working on myself and my mental health. This have gotten so much better for me since then and the only thing I regret is putting more work on my coworkers, but from what I have heard most of them have moved on to bigger and better things as well.