I am SOOO Sad!!! :*( *Vent*

[ChicknThief]

It was my little sister's 10th birthday yesterday, and that morning we found out that mom had been planning a surprise trip to Marine World, and that we leave the next day (today)! Here's the catch, I have training for Raley's tonight from 4-8.

So I called my boss, told him the situation, and asked if there was another training that I could possibly get to. He huffed and said "How on Earth could you have not known about this party?" I repeated myself saying that it was a surprise that my mother planned and that I had just found out about it. He was yelling now "That is exactly the kind of irresponsibility that I hate! Either you get to that training or you don't have a job here!" and then he hung up.

How was I being irresponsible here? I didn't know about it for more than fifteen minutes before I called my boss! And it wasn't like I called saying that I would not make it, I just asked if it was possible to attend a different training. And what stinks is that I don't even NEED this training. I have been doing the EXACT same thing for Safeway for 9 months! In fact, I have been doing it BETTER than the clerks that they already have! My Safeway has a shop score average of 9.3., this Raley's has a shop score average of a 3.6. Out of ten. And they are PROUD of that! So even without this training I would run circles around the other clerks. I myself have been shopped twice, and both times recieved a PERFECT 10. And do you know what, I bet that if I had called in "deathly ill" today, I would have been able to attend a different training this week. But no, I decided to hold to my integrity, and to call my boss and tell him the truth. And for that, I have been called irresponsible and juvenile.

My family just pulled out of the driveway.

*Vent Over*

 

[LoneCowboy]

You know what, you should have gone with the family. You are still young and the time will soon be at hand when you can no longer do that fun stuff.

You'll have to work 40+ hours a week to support a family and all options are off. Not that I'm saying you should be irresponsible to your job. I'd never say that. I'm just saying that I hate to see kids lock themselves into jobs at a young age only to find out that adulthood is just more of the same crap but worse you have tons of worry to go along with it.

You should have had your mom call and explain it to your boss. Maybe even tell him that you don't know that it's a surprise. Are you sure you want to work for that kind of guy?

 

[lizardz]

Jess - that's horrible that you were treated so rudely by a manager. It doesn't matter that you're an employee rather than a customer, they should treat you with respect. I know they have a hard time keeping young employees and that they are often kind of flaky, but they really shouldn't assume that everyone is that way. I know plenty of teens who are more responsible than many of the adults I know. Don't know that I would want to work somewhere that thinks so little of their employees. Was that the Auburn or Grass Valley Raleys? If it was the Auburn one and you might be interested in working at the GV one, I know some people who work there and would be happy to put in a word for you. Or if you're interested in working at one of the GV Safeways, same thing. Let me know. Sorry you're missing out on a fun day.
Liz

 

[equine chick]

Get another job. If that's how they respond now, I can only imagine when you work there. You are young enough to be able to pick and choose a little. I know you felt you made the right choice being responsible but the manager is a jerk, and family does come first. I'm sorry you missed out today.

 

[ChicknThief]

Lonecowboy, no I am not at all sure I want to work for this guy. But the unfortunate fact is that I do not have a choice. I owe my father about 1200 dollars for my car. I absolutely HAVE to have a job, or he will take me off of his insurance. That said, I have officially decided that as of today I am looking for another job. I will stay with Raley's until I am presented with a job offer, and then I am outta there.

Liz, this was the GV store. I purposefully did not transfer to another Safeway down here, because the pay is so bad, and the customers hate us, regardless of how hard we work to make things easier for them. I had thought that things might be better at Raley's, but now it seems that I have traded one for the other.

equinechick, Trust me, that has crossed my mind. I have a resume typed up, and will be applying (again) all over town. I seriously wish I could have recorded that conversation.

 

[tnkinhunting]

I am sorry you have such a miserable person for a supervisor. I would find a better person to work for as soon as I could. And when I left, I would tell him why.

 

[chickster88]

I'm so sorry that this happened. Best of luck finding a new job. I'm in Canada and obviously not familiar with your community, but if you have a Starbucks or Whole Foods within commuting distance, both are said to treat their part-time and full-time employees very well. I hope it all works out. I love my job now, but I had some real retail and telemarketing stinkers when I was in high school and college. Good luck!

 

[chickster88]

Another thing I meant to add was, I agree with the other posters: when you're young, you do have a lot more options to quit and find a better job.

Not sure if the grocery retail field is the most lucrative out there, but my experience in high school and college was, even though the retail clothing and snack-bar type jobs didn't pay that great, there was a lot of cameraderie and laughs, and the smaller an operation was, the less someone was always checking if your break was exactly 15 minutes, or a bit extra. The reduced stress was worth earning just minimum wage.

 

[Tutter]

I'm so sorry that you were treated like that; and that you missed the trip,

I know I'm a bit north of you, and things may have changed, but our Safeway used to pay well, depending on the job (You work your way up to the better paying positions.), and are (were?) union, so I thought that meant standard from store to store. If you became a checker, or night stocker, you were set. Whereas other stores, in other places, paid a lot less, even to the checkers.

Shoppers don't have a lot of patience, do they? For some reason they forget that they should also be polite to people working at the store. Perhaps it's because they shop when they are hungry, and their blood sugar is low? But the bigger picture is that it may not really be the type of job for you, regardless of which store it is, if anything else is available.

Perhaps you should run, not walk, to all the other types of places, such as book stores. I say run because all the younger people are starting to flood the places right now, as summer approaches.

Whatever happens, just hang in there. Remember, someday the person who yelled at you will move on, or you will, but you will still have earned driving your car!

Maybe you could spend this free time making up resumes, with the fact that they will go to a variety of employers, in mind? Go for it!

 

[bamadominaker]

Dear ChicknTheif,

You are stronger than me, I don't know that I could even go to training after that phone conversation. I may have even called his surpervisor. There is a thing called respect, but when you don't give it to your employees you most currently willnot get it back. As for finding another job. I have a few friends in NC tell me where you are and I will see if I know someone in the area that could possibly help you with a job. There is no since in anyone having to work for people like that. Some people aren't meant to be leaders!!!!! Intergrity is a good thing until it makes you feel like a door mat. I am 31 and I have learned that sometimes you have to let your employer know that you have responsibilities to your family 1st. Even if you do need the job, there are other things in life that will become more apparent "improtant" as you get older. Regret that you gave it up for a job. I am so sorry that you had to experience this at such a young age. Let me know if I can help with trying to find you a new job.