So now that some time has passed I’ll tell you about what happened at my former job and the reason why I quit.
In the weeks before Christmas I was pushing for more work to up my hours. Before that, I was working 1 day a week for about 2 hours. I didn’t like it but I only dealt with it under the pretense that I would be getting more work over time but it never came of course. The owner cited that I wasn’t retaining the information about the job and that was his reason for not giving me more hours. (yet he didn’t fire me) This reason I believe to be total BS because I was taking out the garbage one day and had asked him the question on where the garbage bags were. He got frustrated with me over that even though one of the claims he had about me about my job was that I didn’t ask him enough questions. Well it looks like he was fucking lying about that wasn’t he?
So what made me quit? Well the reason above was mainly the problem, however I had decided that I’d continue working there as long as I could until I could find a better job because hey I’d rather be making chump change than nothing. There was a series of events though that had lead me to quit completely. Note that there’s quite a bit to talk about so I’ll try to keep it short.
So first off, around the time I was told I was not going to get more hours I got sick with a cold (I can’t be anywhere near food with a cold) and called up the owner. I left a full message with my number (just in case he forgot it) and said in the message to call me later on when he would need me as I didn’t have a set schedule on when to work. He never called, which was expected as he never called me once when I started working there in the first place. He then calls me a week later asking me why I didn’t come in to work the week after I called yet acknowledged THE CALL LAST WEEK WHERE I SPECIFICALLY SAID FOR HIM TO CALL ME BACK LATER. On it’s own that incident is nothing, I understand that sometimes people can go stupid and forget stuff like that but he started hounding me about this like I was at fault for not coming in to work. At this point I clearly got the message, he didn’t want me there and was looking for any reason to get rid of me no matter how illegitimate it seemed. The garbage bag incident above happened after this but I knew my time at the job was limited either I was going to quit or get fired before I could find another job.
Sometime after the garbage bag incident I went to work feeling really shitty about the job but I was still withholding my feelings and held out on quitting or just not showing up that day. Bad idea, that day was the day that health inspectors were coming and the owner being a person that doesn’t care about the state of his own store (insert comment about how he should have brought me more than 2 hours a week to clean so he wouldn’t have to worry) was clearly going to be on edge that day. He first explained to me about the order he wanted me to clean things first the outside of the store then the inside. I started to clean the outside but then thought to myself “hey wouldn’t it be a better idea to start inside THEN work out?” of course the owner comes to complain to me that I should be cleaning inside first then remarking to me that I should “think for myself” okay whatever. I get done mopping up the store then the owner wants me to vacuum the carpets, not a big deal but the owner says to me in a patronizing tone:
“You need to get the vacuum. You do know how to use a vacuum, right?”
Okay at this point he’s just insulting me. While some people may think this isn’t a big deal keep in mind he not paying me enough to deal with any insults.
I debated a bit on walking out of the job but decided against it. I was already more than halfway done cleaning the store (and the rest of the building and parking lot) and felt that walking out would have been a bit too much. I continued working, but I was fully convinced that I wasn’t working another day after this.
The Health Inspectors came and told the owner that he really improved the store since the last time they came. I guess I can take credit for that, since it was pretty much me cleaning and mopping the entire store, front windows of the other stores he owned including the restaurant, the front tables, taking out the garbage, cleaning the front of all the stores of the building and the parking lot within the span of about 2 hours.
After that day the owner told me to come to the building later in the week to see if there was any work for me to do (if that sounds weird that is because it is) I decided on that day I’d give my two weeks notice after much convincing by people that I shouldn’t just outright stop working. On that day he had me set up a few things for the store but he clearly didn’t want me to work that day. The following conversation where I quit went like this:
After helping the owner clear up trash that was thrown around by some people haphazardly the owner says to me “See these kids they don’t care where they throw their trash, you would never do that right?”
Me “nope”
Owner “Ok then I’ll see you later on Thursday!”
Me “I’d like to tell you I’m giving my two weeks notice”
Owner “Oh you’ve found a new job then? (I had already discussed well beforehand that I intended to look for another job elsewhere and he allowed me to use him as a reference.)
Me “…nope” (I guess it’s rather clear now how I feel about the job)
I go on about some bullshit about how I’m sorry I’m quitting (note I’m not) but sorta agree to work on Thursday and the owner will call me whenever he needs me.
Thursday comes and I feel sick I try to call the owner but I realize that my phone is out due to lack of payment. (makes sense as I barely got paid anything at my job) I then debate on just showing up to work sick or calling up on a payphone. I only have enough money for a bus card for work or to call up work. I decide to do something better with my money and buy a 2 liter soda instead.
