So, this may be a long post. Delete if not allowed, but I need to get it off my chest and figured this was the best sub
i am 20, trans male, whos currently working as a shift supervisor in a well known fast chain. they like to pride themselves about how theyre so inclusive with their employees and whatnot.
i first started working there when i was 16, and left when i was 17 due to some workplace bullying that i was receiving from two supervisors when i was a crew member. i hopped around to diff jobs, then came back to this one early last year due to their pay being better and possibly being eligible for a promotion soon after. i work at the same store i originally started at, and a year and a half later i am now a supervisor going on 9 months with a highish hourly pay (19.05). i am now wanting desperately to quit and have since started showing up to work high off of marijuana because i find that i cannot bare that place while sober anymore.
there's so many reasons, mostly being due to my manager. my boss is not the same one who hired me in 2018, and began at my location a couple months before i came back to the store. she was really nice and seemed super proactive and dedicated to making the team happy. we were all pretty close to her, and she wanted to promote me as soon as possible when i expressed interest. she was always super flexible with my schedule, and her and i bonded over a lot of things, one particular thing being that i am autistic and she relates to being neurodivergent. she never saw this as something that hindered my work ethic or performance until recently though.
her behavior has always been odd and toxic to a degree, although everyone thought nice of her. she has always used her manager status as a reason to not help the team out, frequently putting herself on the schedule but not showing up, not providing efficient coaching, not listening to crew member and supervisor needs and suggestions, etc. she was however very harsh with team attendance and quick to point out things supervisors did wrong despite not wanting to help train anybody. she frequently traumadumps to our team, including people who are minors, and shit talks team members to other team members.
her behavior this past month is what broke me and makes me want to quit.
we all had a group meeting with our regional manager about something to do with our store standards. the meeting was something i knew about, but since it through off my daily routine at work, i was having a hard time with accepting the meeting and being calm about it. we sat down and i was extremely fidgety and shaky- i wasnt nervous, just thrown off by the whole day. i also never tend to sit in the seating area of my restaurant and the sound of the music and general ambiance was giving me sensory overload my coworker noticed and immediately got me a piece of paper and a pen to scribble with- it helped a lot, as it gave me something for my hands and mind to focus on, and i didnt think itd be a big deal since this was a fairly casual meeting (again, we're a fast food chain). the regional manager is sitting across from me and notices how shaky i am and asks if im okay. although i was a bit embarrassed, i explained that im okay, and that i typically get sensory overload a lot and have autism so i have a harder time with these types of things. her demeanor changed, and was like 'so what can i DO for you?'. i again said that i appreciated it but i really didnt need anything, no one could do anything for me, it was just something that was going to pass. she seemed to leave it alone and the meeting went relatively well in my opinion, and the shaking did subside. keep in mind my boss was not at this meeting.
the next morning, i attend work as usual, and my boss is there and is actually helping rhe team this day. i am not running the floor so im just doing typical crew member duties. im in a station with a headset on (since we have a drive thru) and my manager says over the headset, 'so, RM is thinking about demoting you. she mentioned it to me the other day.' i immediately as why even though i know for a fact its because of what happened yesterday, and she explains that it was, and RM thinks 'the stress is getti g to me and im not cut out for the role anymore'. i immediately become offended, and my boss assures me that she stuck up for me and that she wanted me to know, even with everyone else on headset and us being on rush hour. my coworker (same one that helped me) ended up reporting this to our HR, since i was too scared to at the time. my boss even brought it up later again tk say she stuck up for me another time about the same issue when it wasnt even being discussed. now, my boss treats me like i am actually inadequate at my job and need different dumbed-down explanations of things, accomodations such as cutting my hours without permission, telling me i need extra training, etc.
also, this past week, she has yelled at me over the phone because our closer called out and she was the only one with supervisor keys that wasn't working rhat day and i was trying to ask if she could come in or if we had to completely close for the day, yelling at me telling me various different reasons why it isnt her problem, even though she is the manager and is required to figure out solutions for that kind of stuff. she pulled me aside because she heard i was upset aboit it from a coworker and said 'i wasnt yelling at you, i think when we're stressed we take things out of proportion sometimes, and see, i ended up making it work out so you shouldnt have been even worrying about it anyway.' she has also been on my case about our drive thru window times (really important in our specific company), even though its summertime so theyre going to be bad (its always projected that they will be) and saying that on the weekends i do a terrible job of running the floor and tbat we need to run a shift together to work on it, but will still not tell me what im specifically doing wrong and will not schedule us a shift to work together on it.
basically, i dont know what im looking for when posting this, maybe some validation on how gross this company is being towards me and also encouragement to quit, i dunno. the main thing preventing me from leaving is my other coworkers, who see what ive been through with the company and are totally on my side, as well as the fact that i get paid a good amount hourly and its hard to find that anywhere else until i finish my desired degree in a few more years. i just feel absolutely crazy for staying there and have to let this off my chest. big ol f you to work and capitalism.