When I was in university, I got a job through a friend at a bagel shop. It was the absolute worst. I came in for the interview and the first thing the owner said to me was “I don’t want a guy working here, but no women applied, so I’ll give you a shot.”
The next day I come in and it’s the breakfast rush. Nobody trained me and the owner is just yelling at me to be faster. A bagel caught on fire in the toaster, so naturally i unplugged it. Apparently that’s what you’re not supposed to do, so the owner is berating me for that while I’m scrambling to help customers. The whole time I worked there nobody gave me any training, and I spent most of the time just trying to find where things were.
We close on Sunday afternoon at 4, and we were slow, so I start mopping and cleaning up at 3:30. Somebody comes in at 3:55 with muddy boots (it’s winter in Canada) and gets the floors all muddy. The owner comes in at 4:05 after we close and yells at me about the floors not being mopped.
Anyway, I just really needed a job, so I worked there for 2 months and endured the abuse. I’m getting the hang of the job, and am starting to get good at it, and I get a call from my friend who got me the job an hour before my shift. He says “the owner wanted me to call you to tell you not to come in today. Or ever again.” And just like that I was fired. I never even heard from the owner. The day before he was pissed at me because I was washing dishes, and could tell he was watching me, so I turned around to see what was up if he needed anything, and he screamed “HURRY UP!” at me. I turned back around and started furiously washing more dishes. He mailed me my last cheque. I was really bitter about it because I was set up to fail and worked my ass off.
Anyway, it worked out for the best. I got a job at a sports store the next day, which was a good job for someone in university. I ended up working there for 2.5 years while I completed my degree, and I enjoyed it.
I’m still bitter to this day about how I got fired from an abusive job even though I worked hard and endured the abuse that was directed towards me.
Also, I forgot to mention that the owner would take the tips at the end of the shift and pocket them.