Dr.Jass
Pastor of Muppets
This is quite long, but then again I'm both irate and confused.
After the seriously f__ked-up week I've had, I'm really ready to just quit working parts in this area entirely. I don't think anything can possibly happen tonight or tomorrow, but I'm really not looking forward to Monday, as I may well lose the most-valued employee I have.
This week boils down to something like this:
There's a lot more to it than all this; I've been torpedoed by corporate three times this fiscal year monetarily, and a fourth fish hit me when my 2nd-biggest customer decided to buy their own store (goodbye, average $6000/month). The three corporate rounds: I got fucked on a transfer of parts from a closed store to mine to the tune of at least $16,000, had two full-time employees rammed down my throat and told not to cut any hours or any positions for 3 months (one of the employees was paid more than I am!), and then the brilliant decision to get rid of my paint line (no one switched to the new line, which has cost me around $6000/mo. since January). Yet, the fact that the store isn't doing well is apparently my fault.
Last year the store was profitable for the first time since the company's owned it. Had nothing changed, I'd already be above last year's final profit and headed to the Golden Ring!
It's time for a change... and the ironic part? Today is my 5th Anniversary with the company. Besides, if I go to work for my old boss I can legally drive something, even if it is a fairway mower!
Honestly, I'd consider just shutting this house down and moving if there's something out there for me...
After the seriously f__ked-up week I've had, I'm really ready to just quit working parts in this area entirely. I don't think anything can possibly happen tonight or tomorrow, but I'm really not looking forward to Monday, as I may well lose the most-valued employee I have.
This week boils down to something like this:
- Monday I was demoted to counter, and told that the new manager was the guy before me--the same guy that was forced out because he was a douchebag toward customer and employee alike. No one liked the guy, and what is currently my store was ready to be closed when I stepped in as manager. I decided I could not work with this asshole, and that I would look elsewhere (there were opportunities opening up).
- Tuesday, I find out that I'm being offered a job elsewhere for more money, but I also hear something that disturbs me about the new place and their hiring. Douchebag tells a friend of mine he might be going to work there.
- Wednesday, I find out that The Douchebag is not coming to work at my store--instead, he's apparently taking the position I thought was mine at the other place. I also find out my boss has a "backup plan" in case Douche bailed, which he did. In talking to one of the owners of the new place, I find out that yes, indeed, they hired The Douche, but wanted me in there as their point counterman working for him. I declined the job, telling him what I knew about the guy and his defective customer-service gene and overall asshole attitude. There was frantic explanation and just short of begging, and an offer to talk to the other owner, but I told him I could not, and more importantly would not work with that prick. I was begged to reconsider. I will not, and told them that straight. The conversation ended with my saying, "I appreciate the offer, and I'm not offended or bitter or mad at you guys. You've made your decision, and I wish you the best of luck in the new endeavor. You're certainly going to need it with him in the store." A little while later, I find out from a direct source that Advance Auto Parts is sniffing around about me again. Though I would not consider working for them again, it's still ammo. I had not yet talked to my boss about these developments.
- I predicted that Thursday my asshole boss would come back. I was right, but could not have predicted the circumstances. My best customer called me on Wednesday night, having heard about what was happening, and said he wanted to take me to breakfast the next day as a "Thank You" for being the parts savior I've been to him. I agreed, and he drove the 40 miles to my store to pick me up the next day. While we're eating, my boss walks in with Plan B in tow, for an interview. He doesn't see me. He goes to the bathroom, and still doesn't notice Scott and I sitting there, but when he comes out he can see Scott in the booth and decides to say hello. He comes around the corner of the booth, sees me, and literally jumped. Scott said nothing to him, and I was pleasant. Boss tells me he'll see me in a little while at the store, repeats it again as I'm leaving. Scott will not talk to him. Scott drops me off at the store and asks me for the phone number of the president of the company, then leaves. His intention was only to use such info if the day went badly for me. Boss shows up, and suddenly I'm reinstated and it's begging time. The nutshell version of 3.5 hours is that I told him I don't know if I will stay at this point. Too much politics, and too much drama. I tell him I feel like I'm cracking up with all this shit (that he is causing, no less) and the fuckin' guy suggests I seek some mental help! I don't need mental help, I need him to back the fuck off for a minute. I told bossman that I'd decided I would not work with Douche, and then was offered a job with Douche elsewhere and refused it, even though I'd have made about 5 large more a year. I also told him I'm considering taking an enormous pay cut to go work for a former boss, just to get away from the parts industry altogether. Fuck all y'all. He tells me, "You're still driving this car. These decisions are yours." REALLY?! Do you think for a second I can actually think straight at this point?
- Today, the boss shows up again. Fuck. He takes me to lunch and starts out about this Plan B fuck, whom by all accounts is a lazy drunk. I'd interviewed the guy myself earlier today, and though he apparently wowed my boss, I wasn't impressed in the least and have no intention of hiring him. He answered all my questions incorrectly, indicating that he doesn't want to work very hard. My boss's solution? We have to interview him together Monday (which means I have to see my boss AGAIN, which is never good. Then he starts again harping about one member of my crew. She is a fantastic employee--smart, works hard, never standing around, takes care of a lot of the background shit so I can service my customers, etc. Well, she doesn't like him, so he thinks she's a bitch and has a bad attitude. She does--toward him only. Customers like her, co-workers like her, and most importantly, she's the best hire I've ever made. He intimates that she and I are too close, to buddy-buddy, and that's why I'm defending her so adamantly. For the first time in the 5 years I've been with the company, I actually raised my voice to him and said "I defend her so adamantly because you villify her so unfairly. You don't work with her. I do. Don't you tell me about her training, her knowledge or her attitude! She doesn't like you, Mike. With everyone else, she's fine!" He will not and cannot accept the fact that he fired the first salvo, and she's been reacting to his own actions since. He was a dick to her all along, and now asks me why she can't at least fake it and be nice. Why should she fake it for someone who's a dick, and only in the store (usually) a couple of times a month?
There's a lot more to it than all this; I've been torpedoed by corporate three times this fiscal year monetarily, and a fourth fish hit me when my 2nd-biggest customer decided to buy their own store (goodbye, average $6000/month). The three corporate rounds: I got fucked on a transfer of parts from a closed store to mine to the tune of at least $16,000, had two full-time employees rammed down my throat and told not to cut any hours or any positions for 3 months (one of the employees was paid more than I am!), and then the brilliant decision to get rid of my paint line (no one switched to the new line, which has cost me around $6000/mo. since January). Yet, the fact that the store isn't doing well is apparently my fault.
Last year the store was profitable for the first time since the company's owned it. Had nothing changed, I'd already be above last year's final profit and headed to the Golden Ring!
It's time for a change... and the ironic part? Today is my 5th Anniversary with the company. Besides, if I go to work for my old boss I can legally drive something, even if it is a fairway mower!
Honestly, I'd consider just shutting this house down and moving if there's something out there for me...
So congrats to Cathy for getting to speak her mind and set shit straight!:clap: