[CS-FSLUG] Quitting my job

[Nathan T.]

Hey everyone,

I think I'll hand in my two weeks notice on Monday. I would appreciate
prayers, and any help in putting this into perspective.

At work I've been denied requests for new equipment, what I have is
seven years old and failing, the managers have nice big monitors in
their offices and were talking about getting dual-head setups while
denying my request for a mere $10 CAD (ie: dirt cheap in US$) keyboard
and given then tenth degree when I decided to refurbish one that the
store already had as an asset so I could use it instead. Forget the
idea of even asking for a RAM upgrade, I was lucky enough to salvage
some from computers being thrown out and even luckier to get approval
from one of the managers to put it into one of the computers I've had
in the front. I've been called some names, been the subject of sexist
jokes, and even been chewed out over anonymous complaints that were
false. I'm the front line whenever there's a phone call, I hear about
every mess-up done by the people in the back by screaming swearing
customers and I'm supposed to sit there, calm them down, and no matter
what I'm not supposed to forward them to the person who messed up.
When a manager is supposed to be available to deal with something I
can't do, or when they have to deal with a ballistic customer, far too
often they're "too busy" to come to the front. When there's a problem,
I'm told to talk to them about it, which I do as soon as the problem
comes up, and they always wave the responsibility, so why bring it up
again when I know how they're going to be.

In turn I've sat in the front brooding, I think out loud without
noticing so I was mostly whispering to myself. I've complained to my
co-worker in the front about a few things, like when I was given the
tenth degree for refurbishing a keyboard even though there was nothing
else to do at the time, thus the company wasn't loosing any money.
Apparently the managers have heard more than a little yet never
bothered to talk to me about it, I would have appreciated it if they
had since those were the times I was ready to confront some issues
with them, but instead they avoided any interaction during those
times.

I've been in trouble more than enough times over some things which are
out of my control, I get the blame because no one thinks I can
remember anything -- a convenient excuse for when I remember a chain
of events differently than an accuser, or so I can be blamed for
something that happened when I wasn't around. If anything I feel like
they're treating me as if I were dumb or mentally handicapped because
I can't remember the name of one of the hundred or so customers who
was in the store the previous day.

Today I caught myself too late in a slip, and wound up in more trouble
than usual. One of the things I'm conveniently blamed is filing
service paperwork in the wrong place so the service manager doesn't
know what the earnings are for a given month. Of course I'm not the
one making that mistake, I've been "talked to" enough times about it
to know better. I found two such sheets filed in the wrong place, our
service technician was in the front and I asked him if he had put them
there, he said no and then I figured out it was my manager because one
of the sheets was for a client she had dealt with, and the other was
one I had left laying around because I was interrupted before I could
file it. I was frustrated and said she was a moron to myself, not
realizing that I had said it out loud. The technician told me not to
say that, I was rather angry that he decided to get involved in
something that wasn't his business and asked him what was so wrong
with it (knowing full well that everyone there calls everyone a moron,
and I'm usually the recipient of such comments) , he turned red in the
face, looked like he was about to start punching me, and said that I
should never say anything like that about my boss. Then he stomped out
to the room where the only two present managers were (my manager was
one of them and the other was the majority share holder for the
company), told them his exaggerated version of what happened, and
stomped into the back to share his version of events with all the
staff he had known since before I was working there.

I couldn't bring myself to apologize. I've been called much worse by a
lot of the staff, that same technician made it a practice to kick me
whenever he didn't get his commission for service work because someone
else messed up the invoice, and I've put up with it all for the good
of the company. They never believe me when I mention these things, the
service technician has been there for more than long enough to
conspire against my predecessor, and now me in some deranged illusion
where he things the company is his. I don't stand a chance because the
same things happened to my predecessor who had been there longer than
myself, and they sent her leaving in tears and still say heinous
hurtful things about her after now that she's fired and gone.

I really wanted to walk into the managers office, hand them their key
back, and tell them I will no longer be coming to work as of two weeks
from then unless they wanted to do us both a favour and let me leave
that same day. Sadly my exit will be a little less dramatic, since I
agreed to cover for a co-worker next Saturday in order to let him
enjoy his birthday on the preceding Friday, and won't be able to
return my back door key until the following Monday.

I wish I could see this as a turning point for my life, but except for
business owners all the other people I've seen that are as much as two
or three times my age still complain about biased managers and bad
work conditions. What scares me the most about going back to work on
Monday is the reaction of the one manager who wasn't there when the
technician complained. That guy looks like he could burst an artery
over small things when he comes up to "talk" to me. The managers don't
yell, but this one does raise his voice and does so while telling me
his version of events and why "it is what did happen".

Thanks.

Nathan.