This story goes back over 20 years ago, but I thought I’d share.
While attending college I spent some of that time living with a longtime friend. I worked 40 hours as part time while taking a few classes. Not gonna lie, we spent most days high af and drank all the time. I mostly worked evenings so I’d always end up having to call to get my schedule so I knew what time to show up over the weekend. The assistant manager was responsible to make the schedule and could never get it submitted in time. We didn’t even have a department manager because he was let go for taking product out the back door.
So most of the guys I worked with were cool. We were all around the same age and hated working retail. We only had one full timer in our department and we got along well enough. He was the guy I usually talked to when I called to get my schedule.
So it wasn’t very long that I was working there that I realized the posted schedules were datetime stamped. And every once in a while someone would need to switch shifts and the whole thing needed to be reprinted after the changes. So far no problem. Until one week the schedule was posted in time and I jotted it down real quick on the way out. That weekend I ended up being over an hour late according to the assistant manager. I wasn’t sure what happened, I told him I must have wrote it down wrong. I thought that would be the end of it; boy was I wrong.
This issue happened a few more times. By this time I knew it couldn’t be me; or the weed. This was before the invention of smartphones, so I had to rely on writing down the date and time the schedule was printed every time I got my hours for the week. So one weekend I wake up to a call from the assistant manager yelling at me and asking why I hadn’t come in. I told him I wasn’t scheduled. I ended up relenting and went into work. When I got there I was pulled into the back and ended up getting into an argument with the manager. I even picked up the schedule and pointed out that it had been reprinted. He completely denied having changed it, I was still young in experience, I just went back to work.
While working at this job I never took any time off. My girlfriend convinced me to request off for July 4th so we could go watch the fireworks that year. At work we had no formal way to make these requests, and we either had to put a note on the posted schedule or talk with the assistant manager. So I did both, figuring I’d cover my bases. When the schedule for week of July 4th finally came, I was scheduled to work. I went to the assistant manager right away asking him why I was scheduled. He told me to my face that no one gets that holiday off and he didn’t recall ever speaking to me about that. Seriously? I was so mad.
Halfway through my shift that day I said I was going to lunch and just left for the day. I was on the schedule for the next day and walked in just like nothing happened. The manager pulled me aside and began to go to town on me about having walked out, abandoning the team, etc. I came back with what was likely too many racial epithets and similar foul language. But I told him right there that I quit.
These days I know better than to sink down to that level, but I am still proud that I stood up for myself; even though I was totally freaked out because I had no money. I had another shitty job within two weeks.