Okay so let me take you back years ago to naive 19 year old me at my first ever job. A warehouse store with all departments like meat/deli/bakery.
It was my first interview and I got the job.
I ended up in the bakery my first day was great fun. I'd mostly be put to the side and told to box cookies. I wasn't actually trained to do anything important.
Fast forward two days later. They had put me opening alone on my third day. You should have see the look on the general managers face as I walked up like a lost child and he realized the HR scheduling mistake and gave me small instructions to hold out until the next person arrived 4 hours later.
This should have been a red flag. But now we are gonna jump ahead a year.
By now the staff had been reduced to myself, my supervisor, and one other lady.
The lady would never do much. Be on her phone while half assing things and I'd usually get blamed. We were so short staffed for some reason I got tripped into staying late to finish work etc that was not my fault. I'd get calls and calls on my days off and voice mails. The abuse only grew.
It got to the new ASGM [assistant General manager] a horrible woman we will call her S, S would constantly treat me as a toddler. She would snap her fingers at me, repeating her self “What do you see? What do you see here?” And basically all around a horrible person. Even walking away while I'd be talking.
She got the general manager fired and began to run the store mostly. But here's where the decline of my mental health began.
I came in one day to a absolute mess. Boxes everywhere left out. A note asking me to basically do all the days work in a very short span of time. [I would work closing usually 4 or 5 pm to 9 or 10 pm] mind you one hour was dedicated to pulling old food off the floor and restocking and cleaning.
I take photos when I get stuff like this for a defense. Well this week was also the week my supervisor got demoted and the woman was promoted to it. She would spend her time shopping and outside the department. One night she had failed to do a cake order, which mind you i am not a decorator and don't get paid for it. So at 8;55 im scrambling to do this order and left two boxes out when I left with a note they needed to defrost.
The next day got pulled aside and wrote up. I tried to explain that I had been forced to stay later etc. They wouldn't hear it. I brought up my co worker to S about her not having stuff done and the words I will never forgot. “She don't go home with you, she don't sleep with you. You should worry about you.”
That was the day I stopped showing up 30 minutes early and started sitting on the bench on my phone until it was exactly my clock in time. That was the day I started clocking out at my exact shift end.
It gets worse. Yep. I was dumb and hopeful
It turns to Thanksgiving and I have a co worker who's around 6 months pregnant. We had to put a shit ton of pies out. That's the whole season for us. Well I didn't put out pre boxed pies that Defrost the night before. We have staff who arrives two hours before the store opens wouldn't be hard.
Im pulled aside in a back room with the door open. And S goes “Look at this” showing me her phone with a picture of the pie table with a few missing spots. She proceeds to go on about how she didn't get sleep because the new Gm was on her about it and I'm almost crying and shaking mind you. She's yelling this at me in front of two of my co workers from another department. I go back to the bakery. Cry. And my co worker and I make the table look great.
…
The worst night of my life:
It comes closing and the manager comes over complaining. I tell her we put a bunch out. It was me alone closing. On a holiday. It took me months to realize this isn't my fault. She and another mid manager both yelled at me and told me that I failed their expectations and I would be there until I got it fixed. These pies take 1:30 to bake and a hour to cool. I told her I couldn't I had a ride waiting for me. So she calls me out saying I'm getting her in trouble.
I still left a hour late because she wouldn't let us out the back door. Go home. Write my two weeks notice.
I go in the next day [my day off] to turn it in and the worst thing: she's at the HR mailbox. Go up and she asks who let me in [it's covid time and no one was at the back entrance so she knew I didn't go in like I should.] I told her I was just dropping something off.
“Whats that”
Me: “My two weeks notice”
Her: “Oh is this about yesterday sweetie? Some times in life you'll have bumps you'll just have to get over it.”
Me: “I know, but yesterday was just the icing on the cake.” I said this with a straight face and walked back down the stairs.
The best part comes when we are leaving we see her exit the building with a paper and envelope in hand. She opened a sealed letter addressed to HR.
I wish I could say that was the end. But my dumb ass got pulled by the GM and she begged me to stay and I did for 3 more months. S NEVER bothered me again however.
I learned alot here not to let People step on me now, I stayed so long thinking it'll get better and I was also afraid to leave my first job because it was all I'd known. This sub helped me alot and I hope someone reads this and gets themself out of abusive situations
Edit: some other things that came to mind: Do not let anyone tell you to do something illegal. My old supervisor would have us re date old food or extent it a few days.
Ive fixed some spelling hopefully it's clearer.