Work Things
So, I have some bad news. This year has been bad for the store. About this time last year our previous manager was quitting. The job was not paying well enough and she had a dream to pursue as a mother and an artist. We persevered though, and for several months we didn't have a general manager in the store. The assistant manger, who had been with the store for most of it's run and had messed up and recovered a few times, finally had a shot at running the store she's poured eight years into.
The district manager told her that the store was hers. Some ironing out needed to be done, some talking to corporate needed to be done, and soon they'd fly her to HQ and teach her the few things she didn't know about the store.
It was a lie.
The DM was stalling because she had a candidate in mind that was on her way. In july of last year we got our new manager. She's been... terrible. Her first order of official business was to have a meeting in which we were talked down to and treated like we were thieves and liars who had no idea how to do our job. In addition to this, she's got a complete lack of artistic ability, bends and breaks the rules for herself while making new ones for us, No people skills, and a lack of good management abilities. She talks the talk really well, but doesn't bother to actually apply any of it. She's run long time customers away from our store, and has scared away new ones.
I've talked to her about her job history, and she comes across as a 'fixer'. She comes into a problem store, sorts it out, and ends up moving on afterwards. Is my store a problem store? Sure it is. We are sarcastic, blunt, and aggressively good at customer service. We do frame jobs that no one else in the city could pull off. It wasn't profitable, but the combination of the rare chance to increase skill on a difficult project and having a customer who would *always* came back made it worth it.
I didn't realize that 'fixing' our store meant a barrage of demoralization and pissing off our customer base.
We've tried to get rid of her. We really have. We gathered every bit of evidence against her we could, enough to bury anyone else. Racist and homophobic comments she's made, workplace grievances, customer complaints; we leveled every goddamned gun we could at her. The DM's response has been 'Get used to her being there'.
Last night, we got a killing blow. I was told by the assistant manager that her position was being eliminated as of the end of February. Her options are to take a transfer out of state, take a pay and hour cut, go work for another store owned by the company, or to be laid off. It's like asking which bullet you'd want to be shot with. I hanging out with one of my co-workers. She cried. I almost lost it and called the district manager, demanding an explanation.
So, the store's getting fixed I guess. We've all talked about finding new jobs for months. I feel pretty broken up about this. So, time to finally give up, trade the red hair for black, walk the streets, and hope that I actually have the skills to do something else for a living.
So, I guess the best thing I have to say for now is that this is for Jaqui. She's a pain in the ass, but she's our pain in the ass, and it's bullshit that she's getting treated like this.
The district manager told her that the store was hers. Some ironing out needed to be done, some talking to corporate needed to be done, and soon they'd fly her to HQ and teach her the few things she didn't know about the store.
It was a lie.
The DM was stalling because she had a candidate in mind that was on her way. In july of last year we got our new manager. She's been... terrible. Her first order of official business was to have a meeting in which we were talked down to and treated like we were thieves and liars who had no idea how to do our job. In addition to this, she's got a complete lack of artistic ability, bends and breaks the rules for herself while making new ones for us, No people skills, and a lack of good management abilities. She talks the talk really well, but doesn't bother to actually apply any of it. She's run long time customers away from our store, and has scared away new ones.
I've talked to her about her job history, and she comes across as a 'fixer'. She comes into a problem store, sorts it out, and ends up moving on afterwards. Is my store a problem store? Sure it is. We are sarcastic, blunt, and aggressively good at customer service. We do frame jobs that no one else in the city could pull off. It wasn't profitable, but the combination of the rare chance to increase skill on a difficult project and having a customer who would *always* came back made it worth it.
I didn't realize that 'fixing' our store meant a barrage of demoralization and pissing off our customer base.
We've tried to get rid of her. We really have. We gathered every bit of evidence against her we could, enough to bury anyone else. Racist and homophobic comments she's made, workplace grievances, customer complaints; we leveled every goddamned gun we could at her. The DM's response has been 'Get used to her being there'.
Last night, we got a killing blow. I was told by the assistant manager that her position was being eliminated as of the end of February. Her options are to take a transfer out of state, take a pay and hour cut, go work for another store owned by the company, or to be laid off. It's like asking which bullet you'd want to be shot with. I hanging out with one of my co-workers. She cried. I almost lost it and called the district manager, demanding an explanation.
So, the store's getting fixed I guess. We've all talked about finding new jobs for months. I feel pretty broken up about this. So, time to finally give up, trade the red hair for black, walk the streets, and hope that I actually have the skills to do something else for a living.
So, I guess the best thing I have to say for now is that this is for Jaqui. She's a pain in the ass, but she's our pain in the ass, and it's bullshit that she's getting treated like this.
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