I was an assistant manager at a shitty alternative fashion store who prides themselves on “not being like other stores”. It was my dream job as an emo teenager and it turned into my worst nightmare.
After being hired, I was told verbally the day my probation period ended, that I would be getting a promotion to level 2 assistant manager. Three months later, after my manager offering it to another worker to make her stay after she handed in her two-weeks, I finally signed the contract and got my promotion/ .25 raise (l o l). 3 months pass and the new fiscal year begins and unprompted, my manager pulls me into the backroom to tell me that I will not be getting a raise this year because I had “just gotten a raise”.
In my time of employment with this place, we had our entire team of associates quit and this was the third time this had happened under this manager. He also had multiple sexual harassment claims brought against him from staff AND customers, every time it was brushed off by the district manager and we were told that “we must have misunderstood the situation”. After one of the staff members quit and sourced the sexual harassment as her reason, he pulled each manager into the backroom separately, sat between me and a closed door and asked if I was ever uncomfortable around him. I have never felt so trapped in my life, so I responded no. He then proceeded to tell me that him, the district manager and our districts head of HR “all laughed for hours about this”, this should have been my reason to quit but I stayed for another few months.
The workload was ASTRONOMICAL for the job title and pay, to such a degree that one of the other assistant managers went on a leave of absence for three months. During this time she wasn’t able to receive any workers comp because the district manager never sent in the paperwork. FOR THREE MONTHS. Again I should have taken this a sign and gotten the fuck outa there.
I had enough come June and held out for a few weeks to get 40 full hours in accrued vacation pay, which according to the contract I signed when I got hired, would be paid out at termination. I would be starting uni again in September anyways, had some money saved up and dipped for the rest of summer.
The day I hand in my two-weeks, my manager starts to make my life a living hell, giving me mile long lists of tasks to complete in almost no time, all while giving me the silent treatment, literally not saying a word to me at all, everyday. On my last day, he accused me of stealing the sweater I was wearing that I had bought at work months prior and made me stand there while he looked through employee purchase records for 30 minutes after I had already clocked out.
Now, as of September 18th, I'm three months free of that shithole and I haven’t gotten my full week of vacation hours. I have called multiple times all to which the store manager as told me to call back later, he was going on vacation and he couldn’t do anything. Last week I went into the store and it turns out- HE NEVER SUBMITTED MY OFF BOARDING PAPERWORK SO I'M STILL AN EMPLOYEE. Also, just to sprinkle salt in the wound, he wouldn't even come out of the backroom to talk to me, I had to have one of the assistant managers look through the emails.
I have already filed a complaint through my provinces labour board (I'm Canadian) and that takes up to 16 weeks to review so I'm kind of just here venting because I used to dream of working there and it feels like I had my childhood dreams crushed lol