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So, the situation summed up. I currently work at Aaron Brothers Art and Framing. It is a small store with only 8 employees. One manager, one assist mgr, 2 leads, and 4 part time. I am the only female there when I am working in the evenings (the other woman is a framer who works durring the day and is leaving soon). One of the PTs is new, starts Mon. The other 2 PTs only work 2 days a week because of schedualing, so I’m really the only one who is consistantly there besides the leads.
Recently (the end of January) the manager that hired me left for a new store, and they promoted the assistant manager to run the store.
The new manager, who we will call “Z”, is basicaly an advantagous bully. He will only pick a fight if he knows 100% that he will win. He has expressed dislike of me with body language, and things that he has said to myself and other employees, but he has not said anything outright and incriminating (that I know of).
He has made repeated comments about how “This is at will employment and I can terminate you anytime I want without reason”, seeming to drop them like a threat. He also told me quite blatantly, after one of the other employees quit, that he “wasn’t surprised, and I was wondering what took him so long to quit” and “You know, one of the ways an employer trys to get an employee to quit is to cut their hours and give them to other employees, and that is what I did to (other employee)”.
I have been trying to get trained on the custom framing system since I started the job, and have never been given an exact date, any time frame of when I can be expected to be trained, or even if the materials neccessary to be trained have been ordered. I have asked REPEATEDLY (at least twice a week for the last 2 months), and only get brushed off with an “I don’t know when we’ll find the time” type answer.Things kind of hit their peak when I was closing with one of the leads, here named “J” on Monday night. “J” has become increasingly frustrated with the new policies being implimented and with the manner that “Z” has been trying to impliment them. Basicaly, I did something wrong that a simple discussion would have remedied, and couldn’t do something he asked me to do because of my back injury. He over reacted and blew off some MAJOR steam on me in a manner that was extremely uncalled for which escalated into a yelling match. That night I called the other lead, “K”, explained the situation and he said he’d talk to “J” and get back to me. The next day “K” told me that “J” didn’t really have an issue with me and that he was over the whole thing. I asked “K” if I should talk to “Z” about it, and “K” told me that it was probably best to lay low and not make a big deal out of it. As a friend to a friend “K” told me that his impression was that “Z” indeed didn’t like me very much and would probably side with “J” anyway if I brought it up, since I HAD made a mistake. “J” wasn’t going to say anything about it to “Z” and to even bring it up would cause more problems that it would solve.
Last night I saw the schedual for next week, and my hours had been cut down to 8 from 20 and all of them given to the BRAND NEW employee.
My situation: It seems obvious that “Z” wants me to quit. I had a situation with another employee, which put me in tears, that I cannot even talk to my manager about for fear of some sort of retaliation or termination. I am the only woman who works nights. My hours were just cut and given to a new male employee. There is not obvious or provable discrimination, just heresay.
My options: I can quit. I can quit and call HR. I can request a transfer to the store where my hiring manager moved. I can request a transfer and still call HR.
Whatever I do, I feel very taken advantage of, unfairly treated, denied OJT opportunities, and the situation is just NOT RIGHT.
Anyway, if you’ve made it this far, I would REALLY REALLY appreciate any feedback and constructive comments. If I quit, I quit, no big deal, it’s just a dime-a-dozen job, I find another, but it still affects my personal sense of justice.
You should communicate with HR no matter what you decide. That jerk has no business managing people, period. On top of it, if the employees leave, especially ones that have been there for a long time, it’s bad for the clients and the business.
I would then try to transfer with the hiring manager. If you like the job and said manager, then it’s worth it.
Hope my 2 cents helps.
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http://www.sarahjestin.com/feedbacklists.htmI agree with dragonmedley’s comments.
In this type of situation, you definitely should let HR know, but I doubt they’ll do anything (HR is not there to help the employees, their role is to keep the company out of legal trouble). I think transferring or finding another job is the best solution.
You could check with Cheryl on this too, because she was in a similar kind of situation and had to go through this whole process with HR, and eventually managed to transfer to a different deparment.
I would contact HR as well and consider transferring.
If you don’t want to quit because you normally wouldn’t have if it wasn’t because of this employee, I would consider transferring if the commute isn’t to bad. You are extremely articulate and smart; don’t let some jerk break your spirit.
def. get ahold of HR. Give it a shot and explain how this guy purposly takes hours away in an attempt to get them to quit. I would def put in for a transfer. Why put yourself through that kind of treatment. To me this sounds like discrimination.
Thank you guys so much for the support and feedback. It does help to know that I’m not completely crazy and over-reacting…..
On another note, if I do request a transfer, should I go talk to the managers at other stores first? To make sure they have room for me? If I talk to the other stores, do I need/have to let my manager know? Should I call HR and then request a transfer?
So many things I don’t know!
If you already know the managers at the other stores, I think it would be fine to talk to them privately first to explore your options, even before talking to HR. You can let them know your situation and request that they keep your discussion completely confidential.
In the current situation, I don’t think its necessary to first inform your current manager unless you think that the people you talk to won’t honor your request to keep your discussion confidential.
mimitrek wrote:If you already know the managers at the other stores, I think it would be fine to talk to them privately first to explore your options, even before talking to HR. You can let them know your situation and request that they keep your discussion completely confidential.
The only manager I knew was my hiring manager who went to another store, but I’ve just been informed that he is no longer with the company.
In that case, I would talk to your HR first and tell them that you would like to have a confidential discussion with them about your current situation, and see what they recommend. You should also tell them that you prefer to be able to look into your transfer options confidentially first, without informing your manager (assuming that’s what you want).
I agree with everyone else…
my other suggestion would be edited though….so um….yeah….
I hate people like that….but it seems they are the ones that get promotions while the decent people get pooped on…
I agree that you should talk to HR and tell them what’s happening. You should also request a transfer, unless they get rid of the boss for you. I used to work for a store chain as the manager of a store, where the district manager was a pill. I quit and talked to HR and they fired him. It wasn’t just me that he was a pill to. They won’t want to be sued by an employee either, so talk to them.
I agree with everyone else here, those are all wise suggestions.
If the job really doesn’t matter and you feel confident you could find something else (potentially, something better) at another place, I would go ahead and move if transferring isn’t a much better situation. This could be the opportunity to go someplace where you WILL have the option to move forward in your career. It sounds like this place would be a dead-end for you, ultimately.
And try to think of quitting/transferring as your decision to leave on your terms, rather than them having the opportunity to potentially fire you for ungrounded cause. What that man thinks of you hardly matters if he comments on your leaving to others, for his opinions and attitudes are clearly those of an immature person. Management shouldn’t be gossiping about others behind their backs and sharing unacceptable comments with people as a means of manipulation.
One way or another, you will be displaying that you refuse to take that kind of nonsense and will be taking your talents and professionalism elsewhere. Indeed, this kind of thing can damage a business when they hound all their good staff into leaving.
I definitely think you should talk to HR. This next is a pretty delicate and I certainly don’t mean to insult you. It sounds like like it was another employee and not the manager who had an issue with you not being able to do something because of your back injury but you might want to check and see if your manager has said anything. If I remember correctly you got the injury in the line of duty? It certainly would not be good publicity for the store to be curtailing the hours of a veteran injured in the line of duty plus I believe it is illegal. My impression of you, Cat, is that your are extremely tough and independent and capable. But if this manager is using the injuries as a reason to curtail hours I believe that is illegal. Just a thought…
Well, I PMed you this but if anyone else has this happen at least it’s public to read:
Okay, I finished reading it- 100% go to HR, tell them ANY DIRT AT ALL he has said to you about other people, yourself, the job, ANYTHING. Write it all down, write down instances/dates, take to HR and show them he is creating a hostile working environment, you feel personally selected against because you are a woman (better yet you feel threatened- the yelling is completely unallowed ESPECIALLY if there were witnesses OR customers present- you can crucify him on that for creating hostility) and you just can’t understand why he has taken such a dislike to you for no apparent reason other than you’d like to take on extra job responsibilities, he has decreased your hours intentionally because he has issues with you that he is unwilling to discuss with you- ASK FOR A MEDIATION SESSION…HR hates that request but if you say “I really want to work this out and feel a mediation session between HR, myself, and him would benefit this relationship and I just really want everything to be okay between us” for them to deny it would be problematic should a court case ever come up (not saying it would ever go there but most HR departments have a pretty good feel for situations that can BECOME law suits and shouting matches create hostility). Get a copy of the employee’s manual and read it- highlight passages, ADDRESS passages and his behavior to HR- in writing. That’s advice #1 from work computer, I’ll elaborate when I get home and answer any questions that just arose.
Mimi is right, HR is there to keep the company out of legal trouble. Not following the handbook can be addressed as well with HR. Make your case seem a threat to the company, like you might just take action against them. The scare alone will help make them listen to you- they’re listening for key words- discrimination, hostile working environment, threatened- keep in mind you ARE the victim- now you can be a victim and be dismissed or you can be a victim who will do their damndest to stand up for what is right. I chose the latter and it got me out of a bad circumstance. I never recommend going down without a fight.
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