TW: mentions of abuse and self-harm
This was a few years ago but I feel like this story really belong here.
When I was 16, I dropped out of high school due to some serious mental health problems. I was able to enroll in a community college that same year as I prepared to earn my GED (literally wasn't allowed to do that until I turned 18 but that's a story for another time). While in college, I decided to get a job during the normal school hours because all my friends were in high school and I really had nothing else to do.
I ended up working at the local coffee shop that had just opened up a few blocks from my home. I lived in a small Midwestern town (population 4,500) and it was run by an older woman with literally no education or experience in running a business. She didn't even know how to make coffee drinks, aside from drip coffee, and really just wanted someone to do that so she could sell her baked goods. I ended up becoming one of her only two full-time employees and developed a passion for being a coffee barista. The boss worked every day, same hours as me, and usually stayed there until close to midnight every night preparing for the next day's business.
After months of working there, I had only called in sick one time due to contracting a serious flu. When I called in that day, she was so sweet and told me not to worry about it, it was snowing anyway so nobody would come in and she wanted me to take care of myself. Besides, she couldn't have an employee vomiting all day at a food establishment (her words).
Then, one evening, I attended a concert put on by my high school's band and choir because my sister and friends were in it. My best friend at the time, who was basically my other sister (she practically lived at our house because her home was very unstable), showed up sobbing and completely collapsed on me when I ran to see what was going on. She ended up having a huge breakdown, her legs literally gave out and my mom and I had to carry her to our car. I won't go into details, because that's her business, but her parents got into a nasty fight and blamed her for it. They were NOT above attempting to physically harm each other so we knew it would not be safe for her to go home for awhile and she came to stay at my house for a few days. She was, understandably, not well mentally. We were genuinely concerned she may attempt suicide or self-harm if we left her by herself at all, so I called my boss and apologized profusely but said I needed to take the following day off work due to a family emergency. I think I was 17 at this point, so still a minor.
My boss did not handle that well. She began screaming at me on the phone, so loudly my friend, in the midst of her own crisis, looked at me with just the most awful, defeated look, like she was afraid for me and sad for me at the same time. My boss went on about how I couldn't do that to her, she's a small business owner, she couldn't work an entire day without me there, etc. I kept calmly telling her that I simply could not come in but would be happy to call some of my coworkers to see if anyone could cover for me, but I would need her to give me their phone numbers. She got angry, ignored that comment, and continued to yell at me. She began demanding to know what the family emergency was and I declined to tell her, informing her that it was private and sensitive to many people other than just myself and then she told me I was legally obligated to tell her what the emergency was. Luckily I knew that was bullshit and told her no again, so she just hung up on me. About 10 minutes later, she called me back to yell at me some more, rattled off my coworkers phone numbers, and then told me I'd be hearing from her attorney soon about this.
I found a coworker to cover my shift and he informed me a few days later that she had spent the entire 8-hour shift complaining not only to him but to customers about what a horrible person I was. I still don't know the extent of it, but she apparently told customers I screamed at her until she cried and cursed at her, which absolutely did not happen. The moment I was able to return to that job, I knew I was quitting. When I went in for my shift, it took me 3 hours to tell her I was quitting because every time I attempted to speak to her she would blatantly ignore me and leave the room. I had to wait until she went into our back freezer and tell her in there so she couldn't keep walking away from me. Then she had the audacity to cut me off mid-sentence and very bitchily ask if I was even going to be decent enough to give her a 2-week notice or if I was just going to leave her “high and dry to fend for myself”. As calmly as I could, I informed her that had she not interrupted me, I was planning to give a 2-week notice out of courtesy to my coworkers. She then went to ignoring me again.
The last two weeks of that job she treated me like fucking royalty. Giving me free baked goods throughout the day, hour-long lunch breaks, multiple shorter breaks throughout the day that I had never been allowed, and constantly telling me how much she loved having me around.
I have never felt such relief as I did when I walked out the door of her business for the last time. For an employer to treat any employee that way is absolutely insane, but especially a teenager with known mental health issues???
Anyways. It's in the past now and I only work as a freelancer now so I will never put up with anyone like that again.
TL:DR my boss from when I was 17 verbally abused my over having to call in due to a family emergency and threatened legal action when I declined to tell her what the emergency was. I quit immediately.