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Management that treats you like shit.

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  • Management that treats you like shit.

    I really needed to vent.

    I've had this job at a liquor store for over 2 years and I've realized recently just how ineffective our management is.
    When I first took this job, I had just moved to the country and I desperately needed a job. I was lucky to get this job just before I ran out of money.
    When I had first started, the management was dramatically different. A female (FM) was in charge of hirings, firings, and shift scheduling. She had a bit of a tendency to favour her own friends over the other employees in how many shifts you got, which pissed me off and often left me barely getting enough for my rent some months as I was the newest employee.
    Beyond that, however, she was a pretty good manager.
    She scheduled monthly staff meetings and she dealt directly with and employee warnings and disciplines. If you rang the store any time between 9-5, she was always available. She would hire people based on their experience and personality and she would promote people to shift-supervisor for the same reason.

    Little over a year ago, FM quit to move to another province with her husband to start a family. Her replacements were 2 middle-aged men (the MM's).

    Since their promotion, I personally feel that the store has gone drastically down-hill, and has become a hostile place to work.

    Soon after the MM's promotion, one of the shift-supervisors left and the position was open. I was at that point the most qualified and experienced of the staff members. I wanted that job and the slight pay-raise, so I voiced this to the MM's and managed to get a recommendation from all the other shift-supervisors.
    I didn't get the promotion.
    I found out, from reading the next weeks schedule, that the MM's had decided to promote someone who had been at the company for less than 4 months and had no supervising experience. No-one even had the guts to tell me this to my face.
    The reason the other employee was promoted over me? He had a penis and the MM's were of the opinion that men were better at managing staff.

    I eventually did get a supervisor position, but that's only because they thought I was going to quit.

    Other than this crap, the MM's also suck at the most basic of management duties.
    The last 15 people that have been hired have all been pretty girls with big boobs and fat and somewhat unattractive guys. Almost all were horrible at the job.
    The MM's are too cowardly when it comes to having to fire people. Instead of firing someone, they will just stop giving them shifts.
    One girl they 'fired' found out when she came to check her shifts for the next week and found her name covered up with black marker. I had to deal with her when she started crying (I didn't know she had been fired).
    Another girl they decided to fire just before her 3 months probation was up. They had a shift-supervisor to do it after one of her shifts.

    Not once have we had a staff meeting in the year or so since the MM's promotion.
    Problems at work are dealt with by placing passive aggressive notes around the staff room for us to read.
    No matter what time you ring the store, the MM's never seem to be there or be available.
    The cooler in the store is filthy and has mould everywhere. I put forth the idea of having it cleaned, but was told that it wasn't in the budget or even necessary.
    One of the counters had a sharp piece of metal sticking up from it. It currently has a bandaid that's been coloured black by a sharpie on it to stop people stabbing themselves.
    Minimum wage went up for the province. The new staff are currently being paid less than minimum wage. When I pointed this out, the MM's said there was no room in the budget for pay increases.

    I finally decided that this job wasn't worth it anymore.
    I and about 6 other staff at work (3 of them shift supervisors) are actively applying for other jobs. I know at least another 4 are considering moving on as well.
    "Having a Christian threaten me with hell is like having a hippy threaten to punch me in my aura."
    Josh Thomas

  • #2
    Aside from everything else, I had no idea minimum wage laws were optional. I wonder how they'll get around that when it comes to records.
    "My in-laws are country people and at night you can hear their distinctive howl."

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    • #3
      I feel your pain.

      In January, I got a "slap in the face" raise of 50 cents/hour. I wasn't even told about it. I just opened my pay and saw it there.
      There was no pat on the back for a job well done, nor any acknowledgement of just how valuable I am to the company. (I hear it everyday from my coworkers, but not from management. Hell, on Friday, I even had my work ethic acknowledged by one of the guys at Head Office.) To me, it was nothing but a cost of living increase.

      Just last week, I found out that, after my almost 25 years with the company (in July of this year, actually) a guy who has only been employed there just over 2 years and has much less responsibility than I do, is making only about $1/hour less than I am.

      Not sure what province you are in, but that mold in the cooler and sharp metal on the counter could be workplace health and safety violations. The mold alone might qualify as a board of health matter, too.
      I realize you aren't selling open food or drink, but liquor is still a beverage, so I would think the mold would be an issue.
      Point to Ponder:

      Is it considered irony when someone on an internet forum makes a post that can be considered to look like it was written by a 3rd grade dropout, and they are poking fun of the fact that another person couldn't spell?

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      • #4
        Originally posted by HYHYBT View Post
        Aside from everything else, I had no idea minimum wage laws were optional. I wonder how they'll get around that when it comes to records.
        They'll probably falsify some paperwork. There are always loopholes--I once worked at a scout camp. Some of the things they did regarding pay...were unbelievable. For example, on paper, you were working 8 hours a day...for minimum wage. In reality, it was about 12-13 hours...for a lot less than the minimum. They got away with it, because of their "non-profit" status. Any complaints were quickly squelched. I don't know if it's still like that now though.

        I do know that one of the camp directors got busted for not only pay issues, but his refusal to give work crews water in 90F temperatures one summer. Even though he was a volunteer, he got canned, after the parents of a few sick kids threatened to sue not only him...but the council too

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        • #5
          This is going to sound so petty....but I feel for ya and just have to insert this right here.

          I am beyond upset about good dedicated workers being given bad marks, talking-tos, slaps on the wrist, write ups, lots even let go or made to hate their job so much they leave, because their attitudes aren't "team player" or "perky Patty" enough. People that sure, may not be very happy or relatable and even jaded, yet show up to work every day and do a kick ass job, leaving others in the dust...........are made examples of and treated like dirt if they ever have a bad day or a negative thing to say about someone or something else...

          And people who fucking THROW THINGS at their coworkers they are mad at....get to keep their jobs with all the security of knowing they'll never be fired. And people who punch their coworkers. And people who find every loophole they can medically to get out of work.

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          • #6
            I've heard of people being able to screw you out of overtime for little loopholes too. Like, you work at a restaurant, you spend 40 hours washing dishes, and 20 hours cooking. But the cooking is a "seperate business" or some such shit, so it doesn't count as OT cuz it's a different job.

            Some managers feel like they have to screw with you to have power over you. Like a constant reminder of "I'm doing this because I CAN". I had one boss who deliberately scheduled people for these awful "back to back" shifts (close store at 11, come back in at 6). Because he didn't have a problem with it, why should anyone else?

            And there was no reason for it! He just felt like doing it that way.

            Sometimes they like to play mind games with you too. Ever worked a gas station? Really fun when on Monday, the DM tells you to lower your gas prices by 10 cents cuz you're losing business. Then on Friday, same DM tells you that you're being written up for losing 10 cents a gallon on all your gasoline sales.

            Or when they say "Hey, I'd like you to have 2 people per shift at all times, even overnights." Ok, 24 x 2 = 48 x 7 = whatever that equals.

            Then he tells you "Oh btw, you need to cut your budget down to 300 hours a week.

            300 < 48 x 7. Physically impossible unless you're walter bishop.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by DrFaroohk View Post
              I've heard of people being able to screw you out of overtime for little loopholes too. Like, you work at a restaurant, you spend 40 hours washing dishes, and 20 hours cooking. But the cooking is a "seperate business" or some such shit, so it doesn't count as OT cuz it's a different job.

              Some managers feel like they have to screw with you to have power over you. Like a constant reminder of "I'm doing this because I CAN". I had one boss who deliberately scheduled people for these awful "back to back" shifts (close store at 11, come back in at 6). Because he didn't have a problem with it, why should anyone else?

              And there was no reason for it! He just felt like doing it that way.
              There's a good chance this may be illegal. Many jurisdictions have laws which state employees must be given AT LEAST 8 hours between shifts. 11-6 would fall short of that.

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              • #8
                Originally posted by Crazedclerkthe2nd View Post
                There's a good chance this may be illegal. Many jurisdictions have laws which state employees must be given AT LEAST 8 hours between shifts. 11-6 would fall short of that.
                I don't think it is where I live, and even if it was, just about every work place in this state seems to have a ton of waivers for you to sign about giving up various breaks and privileges.

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                • #9
                  The minimum wage thing is bad, yes, but what caught my eye was your description of the cooler and the counter. I'm pretty sure the health inspector would have something to say about that. I'm not sure how things are where you are, but here in the states (or in Iowa, at least, though I assume most if not all states) we have health inspections once a year at the C-Store. If we get enough bad marks, we can be shut down immediately until we clean things up. Thankfully, we've never had an issue. Your store, however, sounds like a shut down waiting to happen--that's if someone doesn't get sick from the mold or hurt from the counter first!

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                  • #10
                    When you get a new job, would it be feasable to make an anon tip off to the health inspector? The cooler and the counter definitely fall short of health and safety regulations here; I don't know if it's the same where you are, but I'm sure that a mouldy cooler doesn't pass muster anywhere!

                    I had a bad manager when I worked in the pet section of the garden centre. The general store manager had been, I am certain, promoted due to the Dilbert principle cuz he was incompetant at everything; not just management, but also general maintenence and dealing with the general public. On at least four occasions he started a verbal fight (one that nearly blew up into a physical fight) with customers that I was dealing with and who I could have calmed down if I'd been allowed to continue dealing with.

                    The manager also on several occasions created SCs out of just slightly pissy customers simply due to his patronising voice and bad attitude. I was just content, as was every other staff member, to step back and let him get himself out of the pit he'd dug. In Pets I was supposed to write the order forms and give them to the manager; I stopped doing this after several occasions where he edited the forms by crossing out stuff that I'd put in on the grounds that "we don't need that". -.- Most of the time, it was specific products that a customer had asked me to order; I told the manager this and his response was "You should have said". *facepalm*. I shouldn't have to explain every single product on the form; if it's there, we need it, end of. I eventually ended up having to seek out the boss every week and hand the order forms straight to him. It was annoying and time consuming, but at least this way my forms stayed unedited.

                    I eventually left the place after an argument about minimum wage. I hit the age of twenty one and my pay should have gone up; it didn't. I also found that for working a thirty nine hour week I should have gotten paid around twice as much. I told them I'd leave if it wasn't sorted out; they didn't, so I left. I then got the job at the pizza place which was a part time job that still paid more than the full time one in Pets.
                    "Oh wow, I can't believe how stupid I used to be and you still are."

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                    • #11
                      When you get a new job, would it be feasable to make an anon tip off to the health inspector? The cooler and the counter definitely fall short of health and safety regulations here; I don't know if it's the same where you are, but I'm sure that a mouldy cooler doesn't pass muster anywhere!
                      These are things you want to keep in your own personal logbook. Pictures, notes, even a recording or too of whatever seems relevant. Then you hang on to it. Then one day you get fired because the boss needs a new car. Then you remind him of your personal logbook and all the things I'm sure he'd rather the health inspector or the IRS or maybe even his wife not find out about.

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