I work for a small family owned business. There has always been the usual family business shadiness, favoritism, nepotism, et cetera, nothing worse than I've found before. This job got me out of customer service right before the pandemic. So I thought I had it goodish.
The pandemic has not been kind to this business. Massive material shortages. Materials that took us three weeks to get now take thirty.
In December 2021 the owners announced pay cuts. Twenty percent for salary. Hourly people would have limited hours since all their wages are different. I was incredibly upset. Somehow a rumor got around that I had another job offer? (Not true) When my boss asked me about it I told him how incredibly pissed I was about the cut. He told me it would be only for two paychecks. Maximum of three. An OG coworker said this happened before (in the “Obama Administration”) and it all went back to normal pretty fast.
The stress of this sudden development lead to me having what I now realize was a nervous breakdown. I lived in a state of derealization for weeks. Nausea, shaking. I couldn't function at all at home. I could barely function at work. I cried all the time on and off. I snapped at people. I snapped at my husband. I felt like I had died.
“Why didn't you look for another job?” you say. I could barely make noodles for dinner, let alone go through the stress of job hunting.
I spent $3,500 over the course of a few months trying to figure out what the fuck was happening to my brain and my body. Because our insurance also sucks royal ass. My marriage has been impacted GREATLY due to the results that this breakdown had on me.
They announced we're going to be “reducing” to a ten percent cut soon. Then by May we should get our full checks back. May. Half a year. Half a year making less than I did at shitty fucking retail. Oh I forgot to mention, I got a promotion about three weeks before the pay cut. So one paycheck of proper pay for my job before being put back to retail wage. And my workload has doubled in this time as well.
People are quitting left and right. There's no intention to hire anyone to fill their positions. This place couldn't offer an attractive pay anyway.
My boss's stepson (has a role that we are severely understaffed on) is quitting soon to start his own business that is just BARELY not in competition with this company. The owners are allowing him to use company resources to start his business. His work will be redistributed to the remaining staff with no increase in pay. How do I know? Because that's what happened when someone else in that role quit as soon as they announced the pay cuts. I still have to pick up after that person despite not getting paid for it.
I heard one of the owners talking about high cost of living and how he doesn't know how young people can buy their first homes anymore. It was all I could do not to scream. If someone was not in my office at that time I would have started sobbing.
I hope this place dies. I hope it goes bankrupt. There is so much bullshit that goes on here, everyone begs for help all the time and all the owners do is give everyone more work. I'm looking for a new job but they all suck and nothing is adjusted for the recently raised minimum wage. I browse indeed at work. Let them catch me, I don't care.
I'm so tired. Every day I am tired.