It's coming to the end of my time off work and I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm looking forward to returning to work, but I'll be glad to have something to do with my days. I'm slightly disappointed that all the things I planned to get done in these two weeks haven't really come to fruition. No point in regretting what I can't change though ey?
Day 8: Someone who made your life hell, or treated you like shit.
At first I thought I had nothing to write about for this entry but then I remembered a pretty bad time in my life that wasn't really caused by an individual alone, but a group. It was back when The Boy and I first started going out. We worked together at a video game store and were aware that company policy dictated we wouldn't be allowed to work in the same store. Despite that, we were honest about our relationship from the start, we informed our superiors and were told that it wouldn't be a problem as long as we were professional. So we were. For a year we worked together and not once did our relationship get in the way of work, not even when The Boy was promoted to be my supervisor. Then our manager quit to work for a family business and things got really crap.
The company hired a new manager who had no experience working for an electronics retailer, trained him for a week, and shipped him out to our store. On his first day the new manager, S, called me into the office and gave me a speech about how having The Boy and I work together was bad for running the business, pointing out a day on the holiday calendar that we'd booked off together. I was then informed that the solution to that problem would be for me to transfer to another store. I refused on the grounds that the new store was two hours away by public transport, far too far for me to travel for a four hour shift, never mind the fact that I'd worked in the store since it opened and felt I'd played a large part building it up from nothing.
A few days later I was asked to sign a contract change. S wanted me to change my contracted hours and one of the new shifts would coincide with one of my university lectures. I'd been a student the whole time I'd worked for the company and thought it was outrageous that it hadn't been taken into account when S had been rearranging my shifts. Just as I was starting to worry about where the situation was heading, The Boy was signed off work sick for a month. With the most senior member of staff out of action, S began relying on me to run the shop (no experience remember). I worked my ass off for a month and during that time, S confided a few things to me. First, there were a LOT of vicious and untrue rumours circulating through the other stores about The Boy and myself and our work conduct. Second, one of the colleagues from another store wanted to transfer to our store but, due to the fact I had some history with her boyfriend, she absolutely refused to work with me. She also just so happened to be the Divisional Manager's favourite and it was at the DM's insistence that I was asked to transfer stores. When I refused to sign the contract change S had been instructed to make me redundant. The day before The Boy was due to come back to work S took me to one side and said that he was impressed with how I worked and thanked me for helping him transition to his new role. He said that if I stayed at the store and worked through Christmas (the store's busiest period) he'd "try" and convince the DM that I should keep my job. I just laughed, told him I was resigning and never returned. I got a new job with a reference from my old manager.
I loved my job. The staff were like a family and I poured my heart and soul into the store and worked upwards of 60 hours a week, a good portion unpaid. At the end, when I learnt what I did, my life was turned upside down. It made my life Hell. I still can't believe something I loved so much ended that badly and I haven't been able to work up the same passion for any job I've had since. It broke my heart.
Sorry for such a long entry!
I'm writing my 30 Days of Truth. If you are writing yours, let me know so I can follow along!
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