Question I’ve had for a long time, and what ultimately pushed me to be against 90% of jobs. I’ve been working since I was 16, I’m 22 now and I’ve been through quite a few jobs in that time. At first I thought I was just jaded, or unlucky, or maybe it’s a trust thing; I’m the new hire, they don’t really know me enough to trust me yet, etc. Been at my current job for going on 9 months, and I currently have one foot out the door due to this treatment.
TLDR for those that don’t want to scroll: my lazy ass coworkers get preferential treatment and get whatever they want from management, but myself and my other responsible coworkers have to fight to get anything at all, and I’m sick of it, so imma leave ASAP. I just want to understand why it is the way it is.
Every job I’ve worked, it seems like NOT doing your job actually gets you preferential treatment. Take my current one as an example: myself and three other coworkers come in on time or early every scheduled day, we clock in, do our jobs, clock out and go home. The other three, however, clock in, and then disappear; one has been caught sleeping in her car on the clock several times, one hides in rooms we’re supposed to be cleaning, and the other takes a smoke break every hour on the hour, lasting at least 15 minutes at a time. All three of them also call out frequently over ridiculous shit (examples: “I’m on my period”, “my head hurts”, “I just don’t feel like it”) None of them get in trouble for this. Meanwhile, myself and the three who actually do our shit get chastised on the rare occasion we call out, if we mess up or forget to do one thing, or with me, it’s whenever I take a single 5 minute smoke break (I usually just smoke on my lunch/15 minute breaks, but sometimes I feel I need a lil extra). I’ve been threatened with write ups several times but haven’t received any yet.
One coworker recently lost his brother. He requested (and was able to use) bereavement, he was only gone three days for the funeral. The entire time he was gone, our manager was threatening to fire him, cut his hours, or basically begging him to not go and just “let work distract him from his grief”. She put him through hell, to put it simply. Meanwhile, the girl who gets caught sleeping in her car asks about going to a funeral for someone she doesn’t even know, and had no personal connection to, she’s really just going because her husband is going (her words, not mine), and she gets to go with no trouble; she doesn’t get begged to come in, she isn’t told to just let work distract her, none of that.
I’ve got 90 hours of PTO, we have to leave 40 in case of emergencies. I’ve requested to use my PTO for a week off due to being stressed and burnt out, and I’ve done so several times over the last few months. Each time I get told “no, we don’t have anyone to cover your shift” (we’re full staffed right now) or “we need you here while x person is on vacation”. I’m sure at this point y’all can guess who gets their vacations while the rest of us keep getting excuses thrown at us as to why we can’t take ours.
God forbid myself or the others who do their jobs have a negative opinion, too; we’ve brought up the work ethic of our other coworkers many, many times, both to our manager and the upper manager of the building. Nothing has gotten done. We get told to either shut up, or just “stay positive!! Negativity isn’t a thing here!!” But it’s not “negativity”. It’s reality. We aren’t making these claims up, and we aren’t the only ones talking about how lazy they are. People in other departments make comments about it all the time. Yet things stay the same.
I just can’t help but wonder… WHY? Why do people who actually do their shit get punished far more than the people who don’t?? Is it like this across the board? Is this just an Indiana thing? Do I just have bad luck with bosses? All three, maybe? It makes no sense whatsoever. I thought managements goal was to KEEP their good people. After all, nobody wants to work anymore, right? You’d want to hold on to those that do, right?
Anyway, I’m looking forward to leaving as soon as I hear back from the new place, fingers crossed it’s at least a little better.