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Old 06-29-2011, 04:01 PM   #1  
Getting my life back
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Red face The "Vent about Old/Current Jobs" Thread.

I "lost" my job today. I needed to vent, I also realized that we spend a LOT of time at work and we all have bad days. Venting always helps me. Complaining about bosses, customers, co-workers, people not being superlative of our diets at work (we all love that skinny girl who scoffs at you when you have a salad and says, "Like THAT will help," under her breath). So, here is an official Vent about our jobs thread.
Support, advice, VENT, even "great day today" parts. CRAZY stories are always welcome. Past jobs are always great too.
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Old 06-29-2011, 04:01 PM   #2  
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I'll start this thread off.


I've never been fired before. One job a few years ago, I kept expecting to get fired because the manager was horrible and LOVED tormenting me, but she never fired me, just got me to quit.

This job, was probably the easiest job I have ever had, and the one I have hated the most. REALLY HATED! It was at a toy store in the Cherry Creek area and really, it wouldn't have been bad at all if it wasn't for the owner and the management. I had never shown up late, never gave major issues, never had a customer complaint (in fact I had a few good reviews from customers and one offered me a job if I was willing to drive WAY out in the suburbs), and I always did what was asked of me.

So why was I fired? It was really PETTY is why. One of the managers is evil in the purest form. She loves bullying everyone. I've seen her berate coworkers in front of customers because they forgot to say "THANKS FOR SHOPPING AT [insert store name here]!" And instead they said, "Have a great day!" I would say she was constantly on her monthly, but I'm sure she was too old to even have one anymore.
The store owner also had serious issues, but I'm not going to get into that right now.

I was fired, because my last shift with witchy-woman, she came upstairs to where I was and TOLD me I was staying an extra two hours that day. I calmly replied that I couldn't, I was off at 3:00 and that's when I was going to leave... that I had made plans. She literally looked at me, peered over her horn rimmed frames and stated firmly, "Cancel your plans. You're staying her."

Maybe it's the fact that I HATE her, maybe it's the fact that I HATED the job, maybe it was the fact that she didn't even ask me if it was ok with me to stay late (I've stayed late plenty of times before), but I just looked her in the eye and just as firmly stated, "[insert name here], I'm off at 3. I have plans I will not, and CAN NOT cancel. I'm not able to stay here extra hours, if you need me for extra hours, you should put it on the schedule or ask me ahead of time, not 10 minutes before I need to leave."

I'll be honest, it was the first time I had told her "no." Actually, the first time I really stood up for myself EVER. I also think it was the first time ANYONE had told her "no." She's use to bullying 16-18 year old kids and a few part time college kids that NEED the job. Everyone tolerates her, "Be here EARLY not on time" policies and her, "Do what I say EXACTLY AS I SAY IT" attitude about everything. I think I was the first person that just told her "no."

So today she pulled me aside and told me I had a "lack of commitment" to the job and just didn't feel it seemed like such a good fit. All I wanted to scream was, "How can anyone have ANY commitment to this job when they work for YOU!? You've yelled at people for telling you they need to PEE for god sakes. You don't ask anyone if they can do extra work, you demand it. You treat everyone here like garbage. You embarrass us in front of other co-workers and customers. You get witchy when we clock in EXACTLY on time instead of 5 minutes early. You FREAK out when someone puts a sticker on an item THEN sets it down on the shelf instead of putting it on the shelf and then adding a sticker (how anal can you be?). AND on top of ALL of that we get paid EXACTLY the minimum wage with ZERO benefits, NO chance of a raise or bonus and complete lack of ANY benefits other than a PATHETIC 10% discount on over priced toys ranging from 0-8 years of age...."

I was going to quit before school started, so I'm not too butt hurt about "losing" this job. I'm a little annoyed that I was fired, especially because I've never been fired and the reason I was fired, was because I finally got a little back bone and stood up for myself. SO, I'm filing for unemployment benefits. It's a lovely "stick it to them" feeling, I don't NEED the money (good thing this was just a "savings" job), and it's something while I look for another job to keep me busy while in school.

The only thing that sucks, this is going to hurt my diet. I could barely afford FOOD before, now it's back to ramen noodle and cheap, corn syrup loaded foods... I'll try for more fruits, but it's pricey to get those in CO. I'll look into food stamps or something, maybe some food donations and perhaps cheaper stores...


Anyone else want to vent about their job or one they lost?
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Old 06-29-2011, 04:09 PM   #3  
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Well... my last job I was a waitress... that was fine. Except... I was in high school... and I was expected to work nearly 40 hours a week. Finally after getting my parents kind of involved I was able to convince my boss to let me work more like 20-30 hours.

OH... and it was a nightmare after a few months. Not the job (even though the place was falling apart and absolutely nasty), but one coworker. He made numerous sexual comments at me, and... before I ended up resigning (because I was moving), I would look at the schedule not to see when I'm working, but if I was working when he was. And if he was, I would purposely go out of my way to avoid contact with him. The jerk.


But... the job I have now is awesome. If I could get enough hours that is. But might end up with a second job...
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Old 06-29-2011, 04:21 PM   #4  
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I have a slew of complaints about my current job. I have no supervision. No consistency in my work load. Definite lack of clear direction. Work comes at me from all directions or none, I'm not part of any team working toward a common goal. All that said, I'm pretty spoiled. I'm paid pretty well. I enjoy most of the projects and the people I work on them with, with the exception of my theoretical supervisor. I mostly have the freedom to come and go as I need to.

I was really spoiled at my last job. I worked from home for the last 3 years of it. I had an amazing manager who gave me my projects and deadlines, was available for questions, but more or less stayed out of my hair. I knew and worked well with the other people he managed. Ah, I miss that job.
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Old 06-29-2011, 04:39 PM   #5  
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where should i start? LOL actually i've been fortunate to have mostly good jobs since i started work at age 17 or 18...

when i had just turned 20, i was working for a small newspaper (small in staff size, 3-4 people there, for a town population about 4-5,000) and i was working for a guy who was my mentor in journalism...i was 9 months pregnant and still working full-time when he chose to go into drug rehab for a cocaine addiction and left the newspaper in my charge...i supervised all daily aspects of producing a weekly newspaper at only 20 years old LOL and hoped i wouldnt go into labor before he got out of rehab...he got back about 2 weeks before my baby was born

when i moved to this town, i took a job as managing editor of a larger weekly newpaper, run by this bizarre lady publisher...she was older and treated her staff like cr*p...she fired a girl who had just returned from a vacation...she told everyone, including me, to leave her notes on her office door so she'd get back to us...her ENTIRE office door was covered in yellow sticky notes and she never responded to ANY of them! she hired and fired staff like they were disposable...she gave us all conflicting directions about the newspaper and, what's worse to me, didn't require any standards of formal journalism to be upheld...it was like working for a tabloid and it drove me NUTS! definitely NOT the award-winning newspaper that i had previously worked for...she would tell me and her staff specific things to do like "focus on sports this week" and then BERATE all of us for "why are you focused on sports? we need to focus on our website this week!"...her eyes and face gave away clues to some sort of drug addiction and DH said he thinks she was on something strong like heroin or cocaine...i worked there for less than 2 months before i quit

the only other work stories that i have are about various kids that i work with...the violent ones that i've encountered...the one who tried to stab me with a tack, the kindergartener who took out two 3rd-graders with one punch, the creepy sneaky one who would vanish into the woods behind the school and no one could find him until he was ready to be found...stuff like that
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Old 06-29-2011, 04:52 PM   #6  
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I could write a book about the customers I dealt with while working as a cashier/customer service worker at a grocery store, but the job itself wasn't horrible.

Co-worker horror story:

I worked for a company for a good seven years at an office doing something that would take far too long to explain. There were a lot of regulations and much detail work. Suffice it to say that I did my job excellently. I moved to the senior position in my department. That's when I ran into problems with X.

X was a bitter, self-important, middle-aged woman who thought she knew everything about the job since she worked there longer. Let me tell you, this woman was not an intelligent person, but oh boy she thought she was smarter than everyone. (Her morals were also questionable, but I'll just focus on her attitude.)

Since I was the senior she was forced to ask me questions when problems came up. I gave her my very logical opinion on the problems, always politely, using our company sources as proof when questioned as to why I gave the answers I did. It's important to me to not only know the answers, but to be able to know WHY those are the answers. (It's one of the reasons why I was promoted, after all. I knew the entirety of the process, I wasn't just a parrot.) She'd huff, fold her arms and roll her eyes at me while trying to defend her idea of what was right by saying "she wrote it down in a meeting that it was supposed to be that way"... meanwhile totally misinterpreting what was actually said in the meeting. I saw her notes that she used, she'd write down HALF of what was said or underline the wrong emphasis. The words were there, but there was a clear disconnect in her brain between the meaning and the words.

Well, I'd give her the answer. To which she'd eventually stomp and huff off... (I swear to you, often rudely snatching the papers out of my hand as I handed them back) then walk around the floor to our boss' office and ASK OUR BOSS THE SAME QUESTION. Every. Single. Time.

This woman made her presence known everywhere. She held grudges. She spoke about her medical issues loudly on the company phone that was surrounded by all our desks. She'd talk about people in "whispers" that everyone could hear. She was easy to anger, and refused to believe she could ever be mistaken about anything. I cannot properly express just how horrible this woman was. She made me so frustrated that I'd have to go into the lavatory and practice breathing exercises.

I eventually decided to move to a different department, and it was 100% due to her attitude. I was done. I was sick of dealing with her childish crap. It's sad, because I actually didn't mind the job. I liked the work itself and helping the other co-workers who were generally friendly or at least polite.

Bitter, miserable, conceited, half-witted woman who thought the world revolved around her. Just thinking of her makes my blood boil. She is the one person in the entire world that I have ever met that I most sincerely and truly hope she gets everything back that she has dished out.

*deep calming breath* Even thinking about this woman means I have to go back to practicing breathing exercises.
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Old 06-29-2011, 04:52 PM   #7  
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i forgot to include another managing editor that came on board the smaller newspaper that i worked at...after my mentor left, i was in charge for several years while we looked for a replacement...the higher-ups in the big city hired this guy to come down and manage it...he didnt' have a place to live and started sleeping in our tiny little office...WITH his girlfriend AND her teenage son...i would come to work and find them all sleeping on the floor still...they would wash up and leave dirty clothes and underwear in the building's common bathroom...the guy and his gf would get smashing drunk and have fights at night in our office...she broke a phone over his head one night, put cigarette burns in our advertising paperwork another night, and upended a file drawer full of stuff another time...one time she drove her son to high school in the morning with my boss laying in the truck bed and puking over the side of it...that poor teenage boy was SO embarrassed

the new boss hated me for several reasons...because i had been there longer than him, because the community wanted to deal with me instead of him, because we argued over what standards our newspaper would be held to, etc...he tried more than once to get me fired but the higher-ups in the big city refused to fire me...they saw through him

the morning of 9/11, i went to work knowing we were breaking important news and all the details that go along with covering an urgent story and how it was affecting our town (the state oil pipeline terminal in our town was being evacuated at that time)...my boss was preparing to go on vacation..he said "oh it won't affect us, we dont need to publish anything" and he left the office...while the higher-ups tried to reach him and order him to return to work, i took the lead and got the coverage done and printed in order to meet our deadline..they were NOT happy with him

a week or so later, i discovered that he was planning to leave town in the middle of the night (he shouldn't have used MY work email to plan it out on) and leave me without an edition to publish, blame it on me, and get me fired as well....he sneaked out of town literally under cover of darkness, packed his stuff, had someone take him to the state ferry and left town at night...i went to the office the next day, on a saturday, because i knew he was planning to leave...i took the lead, gathered everything up that i needed to publish the next week's edition, and everything turned out just fine...i found out later that he had sent a letter to the higher-ups blaming me for all his screw-ups and demanding that i be fired....the higher-ups didnt give the letter a second thought LOL
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Old 06-30-2011, 02:16 AM   #8  
Getting my life back
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Serbrider: I did that with my old manager. Look for the amount of days I *had* to work with her. It sucks when someone is horrid! Sexual harassment is NOT ok. XD Hopefully that never happens to you again.

zoodoo613: What's your job now? I had working blind sometimes... depending on what it is. Some projects, at my Old OLD job, my manager didn't give directions because she knew I didn't need it. It was just easier doing it my way, and it turned out better... I miss that job. T.T

alaskanlaughter: I would have loved to work for a news paper... not the second one though. O.O I hope your ex boss, is no longer a boss. An older job of mine was like that, with the not knowing who was going to be fired that day... it's not a good environment. Glad you quit before it got too crazy. Jobs shouldn't be THAT horrid...

Lovely: Jebus! That woman sounds CRAZY! I hate when people question me, then ask the exact same question to someone higher up. MAKES ME SO FURIOUS! Why ask me, if you plan to ignore the answer anyway?
I also agree, I like to know the how, and the why, behing what I do. I made my old manager (the one I just lost the job with) so angry one day because I asked why on earth I wasn't alloud to use the front door of the store when I left my shift. She got so mad at me questioning her odd logic she shook violently. Glared at me and just snapped, "Because, I SAID so..." and that was that. So after that I had to go around, downstairs just to get out of the store. UGH! Breathing exercises help... a LOT
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Old 06-30-2011, 03:01 AM   #9  
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I am going to miss my current job. I teach 4 classes a week, but work 40 hours a week. See my post count and join date? Yeah.

I've been blessed with good bosses and supervisors for every job I've had. Probably the most morally bankrupt one I had was calling alumni from my college and asking them to donate money. School costs $50,000 a year and I'm calling 2007 graduates (I graduated 2008) and panhandling? Seriously?
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Old 07-01-2011, 02:55 PM   #10  
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I worked the golden arches when I was 16 for 3 months during the summer before my junior year and quit right at the beginning of my fall semester. I worked there again at 18 after begging for almost 2 months.. I think they hired me to get me out of their hair.. my second day back they put me at a window (I didn't repeat orientation and there were loads of new policies and such). The food bagger is supposed to place the bags in order but in this case was jumping around the screen bagging and placing whatever came up first.. meanwhile I was thinking they were in order and handing out completely wrong orders to at least 4 cars... well the manager came up to me and says something along the lines of "if you're going to do this we don't need you here" in front of everyone... I constantly got written up for penny shortages on the register and I expressed that if a couple pennies was going to get me fired I didn't want the responsibilities of register... my favorite instance though was definitely when I was working the register and this little girl came up asking for some ketchup. I grabbed a moderate handful and sent her on her way (it wasn't her first trip so she obviously wanted more than one) I proceded to help the next customer in line when the night witch comes up and gets an attitude with me because I gave the kid too much ketchup and tells me I don't have to continue working there... Here is where it gets fuzzy.. I wrote down my schedule for the week and got called one day because I wasn't at work... they put me on suspension and cut back my already below 20 hours... then I got called a second time that week.. fired.. what I can't figure out is how that happened twice in one week.. I either read one of the other workers above or below me by mistake (not hard to do, the print is tiny and it's all in military time) or someone did it to me. Either way it was no big loss.. I just had that it's on my work record.. Oh and all of this happened in 1 month.
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Old 07-01-2011, 04:54 PM   #11  
Getting my life back
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Avezy, some places aren't worth it. And just don't list them as a reference or post them on a resume. If you're asked if you've been fired you have to answer honestly, but I've discovered so many people have been fired it almost doesn't matter....

And the ketchup thing bugs me. Some restaurants are so freaking cheap... extra mayo on a burger can cost $0.50 and a cup of water costs someone a quarter these days. I hate being nickle and dimed over little things. It shouldn't be a firing offense for making a customer happy. XD

I've worked for so many stuck up businesses, and so many different corporations it hurts. The ones that seem to be the most successful... the ones that care about the customers AND the employees. As much as I didn't like working for starbucks (curse some of the customers!) I have to admit, it was a good place to work. Employees were treated fair and we had a "just say yes" policy. Customers could get extra syrup if they wanted. (Granted the drinks were pricey to begin with...)
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Old 07-01-2011, 05:14 PM   #12  
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Hi guys - please be careful airing out vents about your current job in an online forum if you are in any way recognizable by your coworkers or employer. I work in HR and there are a lot of cases out there where people are losing their jobs over things posted online about their current position, company, supervisor, etc. Online with a pseudonym doesn't insure anonymity anymore.

Off my soapbox now. Take care!
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Old 07-01-2011, 09:37 PM   #13  
Getting my life back
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I've heard about law suits if you say the name of the place, location etc... but I'll be honest (this is a vent) I think it's wrong for a place to fire you for venting about them in complete anonomity.
><
You don't state anything about the job that would give anyone a hint as to what it is you're talking about. You're just venting about how they treat you, or how the customers treat you, or the co-workers... and then to prove a point they fire you?
>.>

ANYWAY! I think venting is healthy. Sure, vent at your own risk, but nothing wrong with venting about previous jobs...

I saw a Dilbert comic that cracked me up (they all do).

"Unemployment is an all time high, and employee job satisfaction is an all time low... when people are desperate for work, we can get away with anything!"

It feels true...
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Old 07-01-2011, 11:10 PM   #14  
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Default I'm so grateful for this thread!

Work is really stressful for me right now.

I work part time at a store and four people have been fired in two weeks. I started this job two months ago, hoping it would be less stressful than other jobs I had done but it seems the stress is really getting to me. When I found out one of the bosses was fired who I was fond of, I went home and cried, not just because she left but because people are leaving left and right.

I don't think my job is in danger because I have heard positive feedback about how I am doing. It scares me though because I doubt that the other people who were let go felt that they had this coming to them.

This job is a stepping stone as one of the girls who used to work there (before she got fired) said. I plan on going back to school after I put in about four more months there. I need this on my resume though. I just hope I can survive the stress.
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Old 07-02-2011, 12:17 AM   #15  
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At one point I worked (and lived) on a farm run by a crazy person that loved me. Loved to hate me that is. He was fairly rude to most of the other workers but he seemed to have it in for me especially. Nothing I ever did was right in his eyes, even down to the little details like the way I stood while pulling weeds. A coworker once described me as Cinderella but I thought I was more like Eliza Doolittle. I was like his project. Something to mold into the image that he wanted me to fit.

But the worst were the personal attacks. Things would be good for a couple of weeks and then he would just blow up and start literally screaming at me. He was like a toddler going on temper tantrum. And it was always about something stupid. Like one time he went on a rant because I didn't praise his raspberry shortcake recipe enough. He made sure to add that people more important than me loved his shortcake. To which I could only respond with an "Uh...okay then?". Another time he freaked out because I sent him a postcard (which he asked me to send) and didn't write a message on it. He said that it was the most offensive piece of mail he'd ever gotten. This is a man in his 50s we're talking about here. But why would I write anything to him? I lived on his farm. If I had anything to say, I'd walk 10 feet from my camper to his house and just tell him. Then there was the time he told me I was the most selfish person he had ever met because I didn't smile at him enough.

When I announced that I found a new job and was going to be moving away, he got so angry that he locked me out of my camper for the night. He denied having anything to do with it but I do believe he was responsible. He accused me of trying to turn a new employee against him (no, yelling at her on her first day for not making pancakes exactly the way he wanted them probably did the trick). All the while making sure that he told me how awful and opportunistic I was about getting the new job. In spite of all this, throughout my final week he did everything he could to try to get me to stay. He even tried to get one of my coworker friends to try to talk me into staying. The irony being that she was the one who was helping me move. When it become obvious that I definitely wasn't going to change my mind he remarked that he should be considered a saint for having to put up with me for as long as he did.

Some of my current coworkers have commented on our boss and how he can be a bit of a jerk sometimes. I get where they are coming from but frankly, my current boss may as well be the nicest person on earth compared to my old boss. At the very least, I know he will never yell at me over a postcard.
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