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Nice People Acting Badly or Why I’m Damn Close to Quitting My Job

As many of you know, I work at a high end retail store.  While it isn’t exactly my dream job, it pays money, (good,) and for the most part I enjoy it.  But over the last couple months, this job has really been riding my nerves.  Needless to say, with the recession and all numbers have been a bit down lately, and desperation is seeping down through the upper ranks.  Everyone from the district manager on down is riding our asses, and it’s making work beyond stressful.

So last week I find out about this gig working for our buddy, and how he’ll pay $500 extra if I come along.  I don’t think I need to tell you how badly we could use an extra $500, because I think you all could, too.  Plus, let’s be frank, the idea of escaping the stress of the store to hang out and drink beer with my husband and our friend is pretty appealing, too.   So I start looking to see about getting rid of my 2 shifts for this week.  I leave voice mails on all the associate’s phones, and by Friday I’ve got 1 shift covered.  On Saturday, I call the store to talk to one of the girls, (we’ll call her Serenity,) and see if she can work my hours.  She tells me that when she got my voice mail she told Manager that I was looking to get rid of hours, and Manager gave all of my hours to New Hire.  Oh.

Oookaay.  Was anyone going to call me and tell me about this?  What would have happened if I hadn’t been able to get my shifts covered myself and had stayed home from the trip?  And shown up at work, not knowing that someone else had been given my hours?  Does anyone realize how royally and violently pissed I would be?  Okay, breath.  It might be a little sketch, and probably a sure sign that Manager is getting ready to replace me, but at least the hours got covered and I can go work the gig.  Cincinnati, here I come.

Everything’s fabulous until this evening, when one of my assistant managers, (we’ll call her Monica,) calls me and asks me if I want some extra hours this week.  Here’s how the conversation went (paraphrased, obviously,):

Monica: Hey Steph, I was calling to see if you wanted some extra hours this week unloading shipment?

Me:  A large sigh. Any other week I’d be all over that shit, but right now I’m actually out of town and we won’t be back until late Saturday night.

Monica: Okay, no problem.  Have fun on your trip!

Me: Thanks, Monica.  Bye.

Monica: Bye.

3 minutes pass.  Stephanie’s phone rings again.

Me: Hello?

Monica: Hey, it’s Monica. Um…so, you know you’re scheduled to close on Saturday, right?

Stephanie explains that Serenity told her that Manager gave all her hours away to New Hire.

Monica: Why in the hell would she do that, New Hire is working on Saturday afternoon?

Stephanie explains the entire sketchy story

Monica: What the hell?  It doesn’t say any of that anywhere on the schedule!  Listen, let me get this figured out and I’ll call you back.

Me: Okay.

Monica hangs up.  Stephanie resumes eating tacos.

It’s now 2 hours after close and I haven’t heard a word.  But something’s going on.  Either Manager arranged all this but forgot to write it down or Serenity straight up fucked me and lied about Manager giving away my hours.  The first is pretty likely; it gets busy in the store, and things often get forgotten.  And even managers are human.  But, I suppose, it’s also possible that Serenity fucked me.

The thing is, I really, truly hope that it’s not true.  For one, because I can’t imagine anyone, let alone Serenity, doing something like that.  She’s always given me the impression of being a good-hearted, generally nice person.  We seem to work well together, chat when the store’s empty, and she’s always been very kind to me.  I can’t imagine how I could possibly have upset her enough that she would jeopardize her own career (and new promotion to Sales Lead) by lying to me.  But even if I had, why would anyone do something so childish and petty that can so easily be caught?  Call me naive, but I just can’t fathom the idea that behavior like that exists anywhere in the workplace.  We’re adults, for chrissake.

I also hope that it’s untrue because frankly, I like Serenity.  I admire her incredible fashion, her sales skills, her confidence.  To know that someone that I admire so much could do something so petty and mean would be incredibly disheartening and disillusioning.  So for both her sake and mine, I hope that Manager just made a big ass mistake.

But even if Serenity did fuck me over one, the thing is, I really don’t care.  I should be pissed.  I should be outraged.  I should be worried that they’ll believe her over me and that I’ll get fired.  But I’m not.  I’ve been so frustrated and fed up with that place that I’m seriously looking forward to leaving for my summer gig, and I probably won’t make any attempt to continue employment there in the fall.  If they want to fire me over something so ridiculous, they can knock themselves out.  Personally I find this whole dibacle ridiculous, and the fact that I can cause drama in the store while 3 states away hilarious.  I have a feeling that by the end of this, the story will be retold in 6 different versions, and somehow I will be blamed, if not for not getting my hours covered then for wanting to take time off and causing trouble in the first place.

Whatever happens, I laugh knowing that in 5 weeks I will be far away in Wichita, hanging lights and drinking beer. And then who wins?  That’s right.  The girl with the beer.

{ 1 comment… add one }
  • Marla April 8, 2009, 2:39 pm

    Ugh. That sucks. I hate work drama. I hope that your manager just messed up and forgot to write down the new schedule.

    But I have to agree, you’re going to be the one who wins in the end. Go beer. 😀

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