They had me scheduled to work at a sister store rather than the clothing store I have always worked at. It was my first shift there and I didn't know what to expect. I walk in and off the bat, manager (let call her Jan) seems not particularly excited that I'm there.
After I'm done putting my things away, I grab a walkie and a water bottle per usual. I walk out to the floor toward Jan. She sees my water bottle and immediately tells me I'm not allowed to have it out. I think that's a strange rule. It will be super inconvenient to always have to run all the way to the break room to get a drink of water and I'll probably get dehydrated by the end of the day. I brush it off. Oh well.
Then Jan tells me she wants me to greet people at the entrance and to be sure to talk about the promotion. I greet the first customer and mention the promo, but the second walks away before I get the chance to do the whole spiel. Jan, who's hovering nearby, walks over and tells me I need to mention the promo every. single. time. Next customer comes in, I greet them and mention the promo. It goes super smoothly. Not awkward at all. She walks over and tells me I didn't ask their name and I need to ask the customer's name every time. This is when I start to realize who I'm dealing with. (Btw, I later heard her greet multiple people without asking their names.)
Later I'm ringing people up and she tells me to be sure to talk about the store card every time. No problem, I think. Jan tells me she doesn't like my wording and I need to say it exactly as she does. Then comes a customer that immediately says no before I'm done with the whole spiel. Jan, who's again hovering, tells me that I need to still keep talking about the card even when the customer has clearly stated no. Later, I'm ringing up a customer who straight up gets angry at me and tells me, “I already told you no” after I kept pushing the card like Jan wanted me to. Jan says on the walkies that she doesn't want me ringing people up anymore.
I'm getting pretty fed up at this point. I decide to maliciously comply with her last request. Even when I see the line getting super long, I completely ignore it. So each time she has to direct me to go to the register again when things get out of hand. Small win for me.
Then comes my break time. I always take a 15 minute break because it's paid. As I'm walking to the back room, Jan rushes over to me and insists I take a 30 minute break per unnamed store policy. I tell her I always take a 15 and I don't need half an hour. I tell her I really don't want to lose half an hour of pay. Money is tight for me right now. She keeps insisting and at that point I'm angry and so done with her. I tell her I'll just have to talk to my regular manager about it, turn around and walk away.
The rest of the day she has a totally different attitude toward me. Thanked me for helping that day. Called me “dear”. Tried to chit chat. I would straight up walk to the other side of the store every time she got near me. Left without saying anything and am looking forward to talking to my manager.