I'm a Pacific Northwest boy. I got priced out of my home and had to move to the southern east coast. Got a wonderful wife, 3 teens and a one year old. I'm 32. I work for an organization that sells booze in several surrounding states. This state ran organization has a monopoly on all liquor sales. You can buy beer and wine at the grocery store, but if you want a bottle of whiskey or a premade cocktail you gotta go through us. For the sake of explaining shit, I will refer to this employer as “xyz”. (If you live in the south east, you know what I'm talking about.)
I bust my ass for xyz. I'm definitely one of the more dependable and motivated workers under their employ.
I got pulled into the office recently because someone found some booze in the bathroom (employees only) and they were pretty sure it was me. (It was not.)
They showed me a picture of me walking in on my lunch break. I bought some chips and salsa for my coworkers and myself. They told me “You seem to have a large bulge in your pocket, coming in with this plastic bag.” I said “That's my phone and my keys. I put them in my pocket.”
” Well, you should know, drinking on the job is against policy and we WILL FIND OUT who is responsible.”
I encouraged them to just review the tapes because I didn't have anything to worry about.
The more I thought about it, the more it pissed me off.
We recently had a middle management transfer at my xyz store (whom I will refer to as Shcannon). Shcannon is very eager to prove herself (she is also a cops wife but that's besides the point. It tracks though, considering.) Her primary method for doing so is basically telling people to perform random tasks and then taking credit for them. Really swinging her dick around in a group of people that were doing just fine without her. I bring up Shcannon because of what I was told during my interrogation.
The booze found in the bathroom trash can was apparently wrapped up in multiple paper towels and buried under a mountain of used tampons and pads (that were also wrapped up in paper towels) and “dude wipes” (They are basically baby wipes for your swamp ass. I have an obese male coworker that uses them to keep fresh). That means that someone ( definitely Shcannon) dug through and unwrapped a bunch of feminine hygiene products and ball sack wipes in the bathroom trash can.
The only reason I can see anyone doing this, is they have an axe to grind. I ain't about that shit. And I'm not going to work with someone that is trying to prove their worth by stepping on others, especially if that is an effective method of advancement within the company. I went to the big boss man and said ” Yeah, this is getting weird. Here's my two weeks.” He needs me for a different more Labor intensive part of the job ( I work the retail end a couple days a week but mostly do the shipping/loading/unloading part). I got a raise and his blessing to stay on for the part of the job I actually like. I told my boss on the retail end (Shcannons boss) and she understood and was really sweet about it saying “Honey, when you start looking for other work I better be the first reference you list cause I know how hard you work and I know why you are stepping back and I'm sorry for that.”
AND THEN….
Come to find out, I'm not the only one!
Another employee (Old dude, good guy.) Put in his notice (because of Shcannon mostly). My other coworker is looking for work, just can't quit outright. That basically leaves the manager (who's a really great person and hard worker), Shcannon and the dude wipes dude who really doesn't need the job and his work ethic reflects that (his wife is the bread winner).
TLDR: Middle management digs through trash for dirt on employees, winds up losing almost all the people working under her.
Don't tolerate this shit. When push comes to shove they need us more than we need them. Recognize your leverage. If you live in a super anti union state ( like, hypothetically Corth Narolina) just remember that YOU ARE NOT AS REPLACEABLE AS THEY LEAD YOU TO BELIEVE.