I work a convenience store that gets heavy traffic. We are always busy. New hires are never fully trained. My manager is a very fat man, so fat that he couldn't get wrist surgery because the anesthesiologist thought he would have a heart attack. It's pretty clear by the way he treats the staff that he has no respect for women. He acts all buddy buddy with the males but yells at the females constantly.
It is a very stressful environment due to the heavy traffic we face and yet being "fully staffed" we are constantly scheduled to work alone for hours with duties and responsibilities that cannot be met by any single person. My assistant manager is undoubtedly the backbone of this store, she constantly puts in overtime to make sure everything is running smoothly and without her I'm sure the store would devolve into a filthy mess. We need to cook hot'n'ready food multiple times per shift while signing in new inventory, stocking, cleaning and serving a never ending line of customers. At best we have 2 people on shift and that is honestly not enough.
A few days ago the assistant asked to leave early. I texted her some best wishes and she responded with some dark red flag stuff. I assured her that it can happen to anyone and that I'm there for her for anything, no shame. I even told the manager that I'm worried about her and he acknowledged similar warning signs. Then she called in and told me later that day that she was checking into a hospital for mental health. She called in again today but she didn't tell our manager why, when I got to work I didn know that. I asked him how long she was going to be out for her mental health issues and how long she was going to be hospitalized. His first reaction was " she did tell me any of that, if she keeps missing work I'm going to fire her".
I ready have a new job lined up and just have a few more weeks left here, but I'm absolutely disgusted by his response. This is just a fucking convenience store for crying out loud, we should not be pushed to the brink like this so people can buy our shitty food and alcohol while getting gas. Our customers are the worst slobs and addicts you could imagine and we make more than enough money to afford some extra help. My assistant manager has been used to her limit making this place run and he doesn't even give a single shit about the fact that he forced her into this position and didn't even properly train her for it.
This whole thing makes me sick. Everyone who works there except for one kiss ass is sick of his laziness and disrespect. The shit we have to deal on a daily basis could break anyone. I served 6 years in the army and after 10 months here I can honestly say I don't think I've ever been more miserable.
Please be kind to your local convenience store workers, and if there's any legal discourse she can take please let me know.