Week 4 - Don't bend over backwards for Kay!
I know that I'm really, really lucky in a lot of ways. My husband makes enough that I don't need to work to help the two of us make ends meet, and he's really been very generous with his income in all the years we've been together.
I'm not saying I don't get pretty bored not working, though (there are only so many seasons of Portlandia on Netflix!), and I'm definitely still looking around for the right job for me.
The last job I had, though, was definitely NOT that job. On paper it would have looked like a totally great fit for Li'l Crafty Callie. I took a job working for a locally-owned fabric store. Oh, OK, maybe NOT the best use of my bachelors in English, but I doubt I need to tell anyone else here what kind of demand there is for us on the job market! Besides, it was pretty low-stress and I wouldn't have to lose my soul in a cubicle. Instead I'd get to hang out with other crafty types all day long, learning a lot about fabrics, sewing and maybe even upholstery. And the hourly wage was really suprisingly good considering.
When the owner, "Kay," interviewed me she really seemed like a great person to work for. She came off so laid back, definitely very hip for a woman in her 60s, totally the old-hippie stereotype. I was to be her only employee, but I wasn't worried about that; I thought we'd get along great.
But after a few weeks on the job, Kay apparently thought I was smart enough to do more than just help with sales, and was already asking me to take on a little more than I signed up for. She started by asking me to be at the shop an extra morning to cover for her, because she had a doctor's appointment that day. No big deal, I thought. I hadn't expected more than 20, 25 hours a week... that was what we agreed on... but I thought an extra four hours on a once-only basis wouldn't hurt me. She handed me the key to the shop, which I thought was a pretty amazing display of trust for someone who'd been her employee for barely two months!
I went to the shop and opened up at 8:30 sharp. I didn't quite know the lay of the land well enough to be running things myself, and that created a few uncomfortable situations with customers, but I managed anyway. Kay had told me to expect her back at noon or 1, at which time I could go home, but she actually didn't come back to the shop until 4:30. I should have taken this as a sign of what was to come; I guess I wasn't quite perceptive enough to see what was coming.
Since things had "gone so well" when I'd run the store for a "morning," Kay asked me if I would be willing to do more shifts in her absence. I told her I really didn't feel comfortable running things by myself yet, and she agreed to show me more things before she would make me do it again.
Three days later, with none of the promised training, she asked me to go solo at the shop again for most of the next day! I was already scheduled to work, but I still felt very uncomfortable; when I expressed my discomfort to Kay she just smiled and said "You'll be fine, Callie." She told me she'd be back around 3, when my shift was scheduled to end, and to call her cell phone if there was any emergency on the job. I figured there was nothing else I could do.
Kay never turned up that day at ALL. I opened the shop at 8:30 and closed it myself at 7. Two of our suppliers had called about due invoices and were very upset that Kay wasn't around, while I couldn't give any answers. I know a lot of customers left the store that day thinking it was run by idiots. My then-fiancee had been worried sick about me. I was so incredibly tired and angry with Kay.
I had the rest of the week off and didn't see Kay until the following Monday. By then I'd cooled off a little, but I did ask her to PLEASE not put me in that position ever again. She smiled and promised she wouldn't, said she was really sorry, she had been very sick with food poisoning all day long and she'd lost my cell phone number (never mind that she could have called her own shop on the landline!).
Then she started simply not showing up once every so often, every couple weeks when she knew I was already on the schedule to open the doors, not answering her cell phone when I called to ask where she was, maybe turning up at the end of the day and immediately / quietly locking herself in her office to avoid talking to me about it, or maybe just not turning up at all.
More suppliers called back in her absence week after week, angrier each time. I'd leave messages on Kay's desk or text her about it, never a response.
After I'd been there about four months, one day I noticed my paycheck hadn't been direct deposited on time. I was scheduled to work the next day and I figured I'd just ask Kay about it then. Well, guess who conveniently didn't turn up! And she definitely wasn't answering her cell phone either.
Bad position to be in. I wanted to just quit and get my last check, but then the store would be closed during scheduled hours (I felt bad about that for some reason). I also had no idea how to find Kay to tell her I was leaving, demand my money, or get her the shop key that had started this ridiculousness. So I just worked the whole day, and she never did turn up that day.
I wasn't scheduled the next day, so I made a special trip to the shop when it was opened. Kay got there about two hours after official opening time. I walked up to her and asked her if she'd write me a check for what she owed me. She said she hadn't had a chance to figure out payroll yet that week, which is why I hadn't been paid. I handed her the key, said I was done working for her and that I'd give her a week more to pay me what she owed, and then maybe look into legal action at that point.
You can probably guess how this ended-- I never got my last paycheck (it didn't make monetary sense to hire a lawyer to get it), and from what I can tell Kay didn't stay open for business very much longer. I'm guessing whoever her previous employee was had seen the trouble coming and had probably suffered in all the same ways I had.
In a way I feel far worse for Kay than I do for myself. I don't really know what happened to her. Her store had been open and seemingly pretty successful for 15 years, but it's so easy for businesses that small to run themselves into the ground. All it takes is a few more troubles than one person can handle, and it's all over.
Still, on the matter of that last missing paycheck after I said "take this job and shove it" - tell her for me, if you see Kay, you, Kay... you. :) :) :)
(Read it out loud.)
I'm not saying I don't get pretty bored not working, though (there are only so many seasons of Portlandia on Netflix!), and I'm definitely still looking around for the right job for me.
The last job I had, though, was definitely NOT that job. On paper it would have looked like a totally great fit for Li'l Crafty Callie. I took a job working for a locally-owned fabric store. Oh, OK, maybe NOT the best use of my bachelors in English, but I doubt I need to tell anyone else here what kind of demand there is for us on the job market! Besides, it was pretty low-stress and I wouldn't have to lose my soul in a cubicle. Instead I'd get to hang out with other crafty types all day long, learning a lot about fabrics, sewing and maybe even upholstery. And the hourly wage was really suprisingly good considering.
When the owner, "Kay," interviewed me she really seemed like a great person to work for. She came off so laid back, definitely very hip for a woman in her 60s, totally the old-hippie stereotype. I was to be her only employee, but I wasn't worried about that; I thought we'd get along great.
But after a few weeks on the job, Kay apparently thought I was smart enough to do more than just help with sales, and was already asking me to take on a little more than I signed up for. She started by asking me to be at the shop an extra morning to cover for her, because she had a doctor's appointment that day. No big deal, I thought. I hadn't expected more than 20, 25 hours a week... that was what we agreed on... but I thought an extra four hours on a once-only basis wouldn't hurt me. She handed me the key to the shop, which I thought was a pretty amazing display of trust for someone who'd been her employee for barely two months!
I went to the shop and opened up at 8:30 sharp. I didn't quite know the lay of the land well enough to be running things myself, and that created a few uncomfortable situations with customers, but I managed anyway. Kay had told me to expect her back at noon or 1, at which time I could go home, but she actually didn't come back to the shop until 4:30. I should have taken this as a sign of what was to come; I guess I wasn't quite perceptive enough to see what was coming.
Since things had "gone so well" when I'd run the store for a "morning," Kay asked me if I would be willing to do more shifts in her absence. I told her I really didn't feel comfortable running things by myself yet, and she agreed to show me more things before she would make me do it again.
Three days later, with none of the promised training, she asked me to go solo at the shop again for most of the next day! I was already scheduled to work, but I still felt very uncomfortable; when I expressed my discomfort to Kay she just smiled and said "You'll be fine, Callie." She told me she'd be back around 3, when my shift was scheduled to end, and to call her cell phone if there was any emergency on the job. I figured there was nothing else I could do.
Kay never turned up that day at ALL. I opened the shop at 8:30 and closed it myself at 7. Two of our suppliers had called about due invoices and were very upset that Kay wasn't around, while I couldn't give any answers. I know a lot of customers left the store that day thinking it was run by idiots. My then-fiancee had been worried sick about me. I was so incredibly tired and angry with Kay.
I had the rest of the week off and didn't see Kay until the following Monday. By then I'd cooled off a little, but I did ask her to PLEASE not put me in that position ever again. She smiled and promised she wouldn't, said she was really sorry, she had been very sick with food poisoning all day long and she'd lost my cell phone number (never mind that she could have called her own shop on the landline!).
Then she started simply not showing up once every so often, every couple weeks when she knew I was already on the schedule to open the doors, not answering her cell phone when I called to ask where she was, maybe turning up at the end of the day and immediately / quietly locking herself in her office to avoid talking to me about it, or maybe just not turning up at all.
More suppliers called back in her absence week after week, angrier each time. I'd leave messages on Kay's desk or text her about it, never a response.
After I'd been there about four months, one day I noticed my paycheck hadn't been direct deposited on time. I was scheduled to work the next day and I figured I'd just ask Kay about it then. Well, guess who conveniently didn't turn up! And she definitely wasn't answering her cell phone either.
Bad position to be in. I wanted to just quit and get my last check, but then the store would be closed during scheduled hours (I felt bad about that for some reason). I also had no idea how to find Kay to tell her I was leaving, demand my money, or get her the shop key that had started this ridiculousness. So I just worked the whole day, and she never did turn up that day.
I wasn't scheduled the next day, so I made a special trip to the shop when it was opened. Kay got there about two hours after official opening time. I walked up to her and asked her if she'd write me a check for what she owed me. She said she hadn't had a chance to figure out payroll yet that week, which is why I hadn't been paid. I handed her the key, said I was done working for her and that I'd give her a week more to pay me what she owed, and then maybe look into legal action at that point.
You can probably guess how this ended-- I never got my last paycheck (it didn't make monetary sense to hire a lawyer to get it), and from what I can tell Kay didn't stay open for business very much longer. I'm guessing whoever her previous employee was had seen the trouble coming and had probably suffered in all the same ways I had.
In a way I feel far worse for Kay than I do for myself. I don't really know what happened to her. Her store had been open and seemingly pretty successful for 15 years, but it's so easy for businesses that small to run themselves into the ground. All it takes is a few more troubles than one person can handle, and it's all over.
Still, on the matter of that last missing paycheck after I said "take this job and shove it" - tell her for me, if you see Kay, you, Kay... you. :) :) :)
(Read it out loud.)