TL;DR: My department lead is an ass and needs to go to manager classes. I'm considering quitting and taking a pay cut to save my sanity.
I had recently started a new job roughly over a month ago. It's a fairly small company right now, I would call it a start-up (Details about the job itself are not necessary in regards to this post) I get along with the few employees that are there, and by few, I mean a good dozen.
This company has exponential room for growth and I thoroughly enjoy the work that I do and put in. Being one of the first employees, as this company is expected to grow tremendously within the next 5-10 years, puts me in a position of great opportunity. The job field itself is not something that I am familiar with but the skill set that I aquired from my past work experience has helped me catch on to the system and workflow fairly quick. My goal set by myself and the President and CEO of the company (that's how small the business is) is to have me running the department that I was hired in, which consists of me and a few other people right now.
Just a little back story; I met the President of this company at my previous job. He was a customer. We had a pretty good interaction so he offered me a job. At first I was skeptical. I had just met this person, it was in a field that I wasn't familiar with but the pay was too good to pass up, especially in today's economy, and they saw potential in me.
Before I was hired, I had my previous work schedule for the last year set perfectly in tune with my personal life. I had a specific day off that I needed, however with this new job, it conflicted with that personal schedule. I had expectations, as did the employer, with what was needed within the job. I was initially told to work Monday thru Friday, travel once or twice a month max, 35-40 hours starting between the hours of 6-9AM daily, and to keep that schedule consistent within my usual time. Which I think “Cool, these guys are laid back. I finally landed something salary. I can just come in and work whatever hours I want or need to basically as long as I do what is needed.” WRONG.
My first week, I get thrown into the biggest order that the company has dealt with in it's existence since it was first established. My team consisted of me and 2 other people, I'll refer to them as Team Lead and Mr Seniority.
Mr Seniority has been with the company since the start of it. He was middle aged, his health was declining, and he always complained about everything. (He quit at the end of the month I was hired). Team Lead and Mr Seniority got along, from what I was aware of. They both tend to be a bit stressed and over dramatic. I worked in various job fields where high pressure situations were the usual so as time went on, I never quite understand even as I'm typing this, as to why they get rattled by the smallest road block but then again they have years of experience and I'm the new guy with none in this field.
Mr Seniority liked to tattle tale. Back to my conflicting schedule, I would show up early and leave “early” without taking a lunch. I know for a fact he would complain to Team Lead and the President. My first week, I would come in around 8 and leave at 5. It seemed to be no problem there. Mr Seniority would come in early and leave around 3 so I though hey, why not? I can too. I mean that's what I was told when I got hired. Week #2, Team Lead and Mr Seniority went on a travel so I was left alone to run the show. At the time, I was going through cicumstances so Monday I came in at 10:30 and left at 6:30 . The rest of fhe week I would come in at 7AM and leave at 3:00- 4:00 PM depending on if I took a lunch or not. Mr Seniority came back later that week and saw me doing that and told Team Lead. Get this, there's no time clock as well so you just show up and hope that your word is legit.
Week #3, I come in sometime closer to 9 both Monday and Tuesday. Monday, Team Lead tells me if I'm coming in past 8, I need to notify to make sure I'm showing up. On that Tuesday, Team Lead pulls me aside and says that “in such a small company word gets spread around easily. People talk. Stop coming in with breakfast, etc. (which made no sense to me). You're schedule needs to be 8AM to 5 PM.” I abliged. Wednesday I show up at 8:05 AM, and immediately apologize as I had underestimated traffic. Rather than being professional about it, Team Lead blows up in front of Mr Seniority, slams the workbench saying for word “c'mon dude are you fucking serious. you show up 5 minutes late after our conversation yesterday. you're really starting to piss me the fuck off. From now on be here 10 minutes early”. I look at both of them, say “Sorry, Okay” and Team Lead storms off from whatever they were doing.
Now I'm willing to own up to my mistakes and I get it. I brushed it off. Whatever, I fucked up. 15 minutes later after things cooled, I walk up to Team Lead and apologized for getting them irked and that I'll do better.
Week #4, it's Mr Seniority's last week. I'm following the 8-5 schedule now. Team Lead goes on another travel. We're given a task to complete by the end of the week. It's pretty simple straight forward stuff so I decide to hey why not, I have Live TV now; SportCenter pulled up on my phone and I have it propped up and am listening to it as background noise. I'm assuming Mr Seniority didn't like it so they told Team Lead. Team Lead comes back that later that week and I'm finishing up on that task. Next to them, I pull up SportCenter and just have it playing in my headphones as I'm doing my task.
Team Lead goes “No Videos, Turn it off”.
I respond with “I'm not watching it, I just have it on as background noise cause I like listening to it”
Team Lead responds “Dude, I'm not going to fucking argue with you. You can listen to podcasts or music. No videos”
I respond “Why? I don't see the big deal”
Team Lead responds, “I'm not going to do this shit with you dude. Just listen to what I say”
At my last job where I met President, having a video play as background noise wasn't a big deal as long as I was completing my tasks. Some days I'd bring my Switch in and play if there was downtime. So to me, I was doing no wrong.
I look at them and say “Okay”.
Again, once things cooled I apologized for having the video pulled up.
Later that week, I had my one month check with the President and Team Lead, it went well. They explained what bad habits they saw in me and I understood. Everything seemed okay, no reason to have any more instancess to get yelled at. President was cool with what I did as long as Team Lead was okay with it.
I will admit, on the days I had to leave early prior to the month review, Team Lead and I agreed to have me come in earlier so I can leave early but I would show up 30 minutes after the agreed schedule time but before 8 AM. This week is what lead up to why I'm making a post about this. My past work experiences, I have had the fortune of lenient bosses who let me be late bc my work ethic showed.
Week #5. Mr Seniority is gone and we get a new hire, Team Lead's In-Law. Theyre young, has no experience, so theyre a great candidate to grow with the company. I show up 30-45 minutes early Monday and Tuesday. Me and Team Lead switch off training new guy. I show them what I learned with my month's experience and what to expect. Team Lead basically confirmed or added more info to what I taught. It's going well. Team Lead seems happy all week. Everything is cool.
Later in the week, I ask Team Lead at the end of a shift “Hey so do you want me to come in early tomorrow so I can leave early at 2?” Team Lead responds saying “President wants us out at a certain time so I'll make an ultimatum and you can leave at an hour early.” Didn't answer my initial question so I assumed “alright, I'll just come in at the usual time.”
I show up the next morning, Team Lead is showing the new guy some stuff that I knew. Once they wrap that up, I pull Team Lead aside as he's about to walk out of the work space, in front of the new guy and say “Hey, so I got it all situated. Today will be my last week moving forward that I'll need to leave early for any day throughout the week. I can work that schedule you need from me, no problem” Team Lead immediately responds saying “Well why didn't you come in early today if you have to leave early?”
I respond “I asked yesterday when we talked and you didn't specify what time to come in, just that I could leave early.”
Team Lead goes “I was literally right in front of you, how did you not hear?”
I respond saying “I swear you didn't say otherwise I would have came in early”
Immediately Team Lead let out a big puff, put his hands up to the side of his head and goes “I'm not going to fucking argue with you”, walks off for 10 seconds, comes back “sorry, I'm blowing up on you but you need to fucking grow up, man up, and get your shit together. I'm tired of this shit.”
At this point, I wasn't expecting that interaction. I thought I finally got it resolved and we'd be moving forward from that point. I look at Team Lead in shock. Immediately I apologize and he storms off.
New guy looks at me and asks what happen, I explain. His response was “yeah, that was unnecessary.”
I texted President and plan on sharing my concerns. I'm supposed to be traveling with Team Lead once I get more accustomed to the job. At this point, I'm conflicted. I don't feel comfortable telling Team Lead how I feel or explaining myself, let alone traveling with them. I don't want to make it out to seem like I'm playing victim or trying to throw Team Lead under the bus, but as someone with management experience, this isn't how you should go about interacting with your employees who you dont agree with. 90% of the time, Team Lead is a great person and easy going. I'm okay, I'm concerned about the business moving forward if this is how he reacts to stressful or iritating situations. Maybe I'm wrong. There much more information and characteristics that play into this situation. I can't even begin to fathom. No job has ever had me feel like this. I am willing to own up to my mistakes but I don't know. Sorry this is long but any advice?