5/7/2018 0 Comments Life StoryGood News, I was a Better Employee
“I hope you’re a better employee there then you were for me.” I couldn’t believe those words were in a tiny green bubble on my phone screen. I mean I had been working my butt off trying to be the best employee I could be. I was friendly to customers, I always said thank you to my boss while I was leaving work. I willingly cleaned all of the bulky hard to clean drink machines, I could not figure out what I had done wrong. I thought everyone there had liked me. I mean I didn’t love working there, but it was money and it was bearable. I worked at the farmers market so it was always very busy and I liked it that way, I’ve always been a people person. I think where I went wrong was trying to get a second job. I was working with the main manager one Saturday afternoon and I brought up the fact that I was looking to work a second job in the summer. “I have started a few job applications because I would like to be able to work a little bit more in the summer, would you let me put you down as a contact?” To give some context, the farmers market that I worked at was open two days a week. Every single week I worked 4-8 Saturday night. That’s about $22 a week. I needed a little bit more money than that if I wanted to be able to pay my car insurance. Back to the point: my boss was not quite pleased with my request. She nastily replied, “Yeah, as long as you still work here.” I told her that I would, it’s 4 hours a week, that isn’t that much of a commitment. And, I liked what I did, so why would I leave? Well, eventually I got a call from Rita’s and I was quickly hired. I started on a Friday night. Before that day I thought that work was always miserable for everyone, but wow I loved my new job. I worked one shift and I already knew that working there was going to be great! The boss wasn’t creepy and snappy, he actually introduced himself and got to know me before just throwing me into working. After he started training me, he asked if I could work the next day. A Saturday. As in the one day, I promised to my old boss I would keep for her. I was a little bit stuck, I didn’t want to disappoint him, but I also couldn’t not show up for my old job. I explained that to him and he just let me work the early shift so I could still go in. I went in the next morning, everything was fine, he taught me how to open, this was way easier than anything I’d ever done at my old job and it was certainly easier than closing. I went through, practiced making ice cream cones and perfect domes on the water ice. The boss got to know me a little bit more and I got to know him. It was really just an easy experience. Then 3:30 hit and it was time for me to go to my old job. As soon as I left a grey cloud slowly settled in over me. I knew that my next shift was going to be terrible. Still, I put on a happy face, and my butter stained shirt and was off to the farmers market. Little did I know that was my last shift ever, and that I would get to leave early. As soon as I showed up I realized that there were three people working the closing shift. “That’s odd,” I said to myself, “usually we only have two people working.” Still, I put on my apron and visor and said hi to my co-workers. The first one, the younger one, replied with “ You’ll be doing most of the work today, I already talked to Dana (the older one) and she said it’s fine.” I was flabbergasted. “Why is she here getting paid and collecting tips if I was the one working?!” I looked over to Dana who shrugged and said: “She’s hungover and I feel bad.” At that point, I got irritated. I still did my job, and the other girl's job, for three hours before I started to feel really hungry. I had a four-hour shift and that means that you get a 15-minute break. I asked Dana if I could take my break since it was slow right now and I was really hungry, and she replied impudently, “you’re shift is short so you don’t get a break today.” I was really confused, “I always get a break and I work the same shift every weekend.” She still refused. At this point I was shaking, whether it was anger or hunger at this point, I wasn’t sure. I knew the real reason that I had to stay was that I was doing all the work and neither of the other employees wanted to do anything. I’m willing to go to great extents for my job, but this was ridiculous. I eventually calmed down and said “Can I at least go to the bathroom?” to which I got a rude “yes”. I grabbed my purse and went to buy a sandwich; if I didn’t eat I was going to pass out. I ate it way to fast and returned a few minutes later. Dana was in the back, which was odd considering there was a line out front. She said: “I called Lisa, she said we only need two people working tonight and told me to tell you to leave.” I was more than happy to go, but I was confused given the fact that the other girl told me she wasn’t going to work today. I didn’t dwell on it. I called my dad and he picked me up. The next weekend I couldn’t work so I let a week go by with no contact with anyone from my old job. I eventually mustered up the courage to text my old boss and tell her that I found a new job that gives me more hours, I wouldn’t mind still working for her, filling in a shift if she was in a pinch. But, now my main priority would be Rita’s. She snapped back telling me that I was an awful employee and that if I were to put her down for a recommendation that she would give a nasty one, a very immature response from a lady that was the same age as my own mother. All in all, it worked out better for me. I still work at Rita’s. I still love it. I have a great relationship with my boss and I am a closing and opening manager, ice maker, and key holder. No other girls hold that title after working for only a year. I am finally proud of my job and I am excited when I get to go to work. This also really changed my outlook on people. I used to really care what everyone thought of me. It was my goal in life to have everyone like me, but sometimes I would end up trying too hard. I’ve since realized that if people don’t like me it’s not worth focusing on them and making sure they like me if those who do like me get ignored. Now I make sure that I put the people who really care about me over those who treat me poorly and don’t like me. It doesn’t matter what they think and I maybe better off without them. I will still treat everyone with respect and how I would like to be treated, but I can accept it if I’m not treated this way. Not everyone at Rita’s loves working with me, but at least they don’t threaten to sabotage any chance of me getting a new job in the future. I know that if I asked my new boss to write a letter of recommendation or if I could put his number down for a reference he would do it in a heartbeat. Not only does he actually care about his work, but he also cares about his employees.
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