Long rant. I have a story from a decade ago. I worked at JCPenneys. I actually have no major complaints for the majority of my time there. It was alright for a retail job for a young adult. No scars. I made a lot of friends.
I gave them my two weeks notice because I wanted to pursue a career in childcare (spoiler alert that was a nightmare and I’ve moved on to better things) I already was hired by a day care. I was also in the process of moving to the other side of town. When I gave my notice they scheduled me everyday for 2 weeks. Not one day off. And as a good worker bee I worked those days without complaint. Did I also mention that I didn’t have a car and had to walk a mile home most nights?
I worked in the lingerie dept and I actually liked my manager. Well that holiday season, the top manager of that entire JCPenneys had a friend, whose daughter just graduated business school, but because of the recession, had no job prospects. So she was hired as an additional redundant supervisor under my manager. I despised this woman. She was very beautiful but ineffectual. I would still go to my manager instead of her. I tried to avoid interacting with especially because I was leaving soon.
So it’s my second to last day. Oh and by the way it’s also Black Friday. I’ve never experienced anything like it before. It was mayhem. All hands on the registers. No time for any other customer service bullshit or stocking.
After we open the doors and ring people up here comes Ms. MBA over to my register. At first I didn’t think anything. I was too busy to focus on her. But then I notice she was acting weird given the situation. It was like she was coaching me and reading script. Trying to retrain me on how to fucking put clothes in a bag like I haven’t done that all year. Even with all the mayhem going on.
I realize she had this clipboard with a document with my name on it. It’s like a performance check off list. I knew what it was because I briefly dated one of the mens supervisors (another story). Basically it’s when they feel an employee is underperforming they kind of shadow them for a few hours and coach them. It’s not a write up. When I realized what was going on I was shocked that any managers would be messing around with such foolishness on Black Friday! Then I just out and said to her “you know my last day is tomorrow?” I assumed she had no idea since why would a manager fart around with a performance review with someone leaving? She apparently was aware. I was super annoyed. So annoyed that I decided not to come in the next day. I told my manager that today was my last day and he was not happy. I spent that whole day packing anyways. Middle managers are useless. That JCPenneys closed for good a few years ago