I’m quitting my job as a keyholder at a chain drugstore whose name rhymes with Nite shAid. I put in my two weeks on Saturday, holiday season be damned.
Why? Because the workload is unbelievable. But before you write me off as a typical lazy 19-year-old, keep in mind that I’ve been working at this job for a year and a half. Debby has been the head manager here for six months, and she’s just made things horrible. When Dave, Jim, Jeremy, Careen, Sherry and Linda spent their tenures at my store, the workload wasn’t like this. They didn’t yell and scream at everyone. When they started brand new workers, they worked them the number of hours they requested. They didn’t give college students 35 hours a week when they requested 20-25. They didn’t abuse the brand new workers and yell and scream when they didn’t adhere to protocol points they were never taught. DJJCS&L treated people with a measure of respect, whereas Debby yells a lot and has decided that the store’s workers are her lackeys and peons. Consequently, we can’t keep our workers.
I was happy. I used to show up at work half an hour early and just putter around the store helping customers. I have a reputation as a mindlessly happy, helpful, dorkily funny guy. The customers at the very least pretend they like me a lot more than any of the other cashiers. Now I dread going in. I don’t want to hear Debby yell at me for not having enough people last night. I don’t want to put up with the consequences of the two Jennifers quitting two weeks ago and Debby still not replacing them for this shift.
And I’m quitting because we have a horrible crew. When we’re turning over tons of high schoolers every month, when no one learns anything and when Debby’s more concerned with protocol than with serving the customers… goodbye.
It would be juvenile if you quit one night and just walked out. Giving notice and working the remainder of the time is responsible. Noone can fault you for leaving an environment that makes you crazy. But if you have expenses that this job paid for, don’t leave your job until you have another lined up- or you can afford to be unemployed for a little bit.
As long as you give notice, more power to you – it is anything but juvenile. Working for a wage does not mean that any manager has the right to treat you poorly. No one in a management position has the right to treat either an employee or a volunteer poorly. If you really care about the situation, you might consider mentioning in your letter of resignation your reasons for resigning – maybe this Debby person will treat her position as a manager seriously and adjust her behaviour in order to induce you to stay… You don’t, however, owe her an explanation, one must hope that someone above her in the organization will eventually take notice of the turn-over rate and begin questioning her ability as a manager.
Work doesn’t have to be a degrading experience, if it becomes one, get the heck out. Just be thankful you are (probably) in the position of not being laden with a mortgage, major car payments and/or have dependent children – then you might not be able to extricate yourself as easily from what sounds like a really crappy situation.
Excuse me, but giving notice is a courtesy. If Ace is being verbally abused the courteous thing to do is inform that you will work 20 hour weeks for 2 weeks and there will be no yelling or it will be instant. You are 19, and it really won’t follow you around your whole life to if you walk out on a college job. The jerk in charge won’t give you a good reference in any event. Jerks don’t change.
In this situation you owe it to yourself to give the two weeks notice to learn how it is done and discipline yourself to treat business in a businesslike manner. But that needs to be balanced with learning how to stand up for yourself and refusing to take abuse. Which is more important in your individual situation is up to you. If you are the kind of person who would never in a million years walk out without notice and regularly let people walk all over you, the sliding scale leans more toward less notice. On the other hand, if you’ve been a bratty teenager used to doing whatever pleases you, the challenge lies in the other direction. Remember, we work to benefit ourselves and get the satisfaction of serving others. That is why it is called work and not play.
I’d make sure that your letter of resignation gets into the hands of the store manager or area manager. I remember that when one of the assistant managers of my Little Ceasar’s quit rather than work with the manager-in-training, the m.i.t. was in a lot of hot water. The manager begged her to stay, but she wouldn’t, and the m.i.t. was told to shape up, pronto, if good employees were going to leave because of him.
It is never a juvinile thing to quit a job, especially when you feel you cannot work the job any more. If the situation is really that bad, all you are doing is hurting yourself by staying there. From my experience, knowing when to quit is just as important as knowing when to stick it out.
I agree with what the others have said, and would add one more thing. Prepare your resignation, but ask for the changes you’d like to see made. Explain to the manager/supervisor what you see the problems are. Have suggested solutions and present them together. Be professional, direct, and calm. Give them/her the opportunity to address the situation. If you receive a bad reaction, shouting, insults, told to mind your place, etc… Then turn in your resignation.
I have always appreciated the chance to correct problem before losing someone, your manager/supervisor might also.
Not juvenile at all. I would definitely make sure that Debby’s boss knows about the situation before you leave. You should talk to him now and tell him why you’re leaving. Maybe others have complained about her and you just don’t know about it. The situation won’t improve for anyone there if Debby’s boss isn’t told about the situation.
I got my first job at 16 and kept it for 5 1/2 years. I loved it. Great hours, liked the people I worked with, Monday-Friday with no weekends once I graduated high school and worked full time and my boss was great! I didn’t make very much money but I made enough to keep my own apartment and buy everything I needed. I was happy. Then my boss moved to Georgia and I got another boss. Boss #2 was nice and we got along great but she was fresh out of college and just looking for some experience so she could move on to a better job. Six months later she was gone. The 3rd boss we got was a real bitch. (that’s putting it mildly) I’m not going to go into details because there’s just too many but let’s just say I worked for her for 3 months and gave her my notice Dec. 1, 1996. My last day was Dec. 13 and she asked me to stay for 6 more weeks because one of the girls was having surgery and would be gone for 6 weeks and they were going to be shorthanded. I gave her a hearty “f**k you” and out the door I went. Best decision I ever made!
Stick to your guns Ace. Tell the higher ups what’s going on and tell Debby what you think of her supervisory skills, or lack thereof.
Ditch 'em. Give notice, write your letter, everything that has been said above.
And come work at our store! We need people but our boss is reasonable. (The people who have been hired have sucked recently though. We’ve lost or had to boot two since I hired not three months ago! I don’t mind the extra hours a bit, I’d work more if I could, but we need another dependable person, badly.)
Good for you! I work in a chain drugstore as well. (Mine rhymes with “Hermann Hesse.”) It’s been a year on November 24, 2001, and I am still making minimum wage. (And as a pharmacy technician, yet!) I explained to them this week that I am a student, have lots of expenses, and deserve a raise. They have been informed that if I don’t get the raise, I’ll be out the door following Christmas. I’ve stayed there because I like the work, I feel it will prepare me for life after college, and because I have another job (which pays a damned sight better). In short, I think leaving is the best thing for you. Best of luck.
Everyone: Yeah, I gave notice. We have a schedule posted through December 8th, which is a Saturday. In theory, it’s ‘my weekend’ (Of four management people in the store, only me and the other keyholder work weekends; the manager and assistant don’t), so I should also work Sunday the ninth, but that starts a brand-new pay period. There’s no reason for me to come in to pick up a ten-hour check from one Sunday two weeks after the fact, and besides, it won’t kill Debby or Jenn to work a Sunday. Of course, they’ll probably make Brian do it.
istara et al: There’s a district manager above Debby who’s aware that she’s a problem in our store. We’ve lost several management people already… even if he knows that this is my problem (which he will), a nineteen-year-old key cashier isn’t going to make any difference that the assistant manager who went back to Foot Locker didn’t.
DPWhite: Yup. Doormat.
Mercury: The funny thing is that I’ve been so dedicated to the company and, for a long time, I was making up to 60 cents less than several of the people I trained. When I found out, you better believe I bitched. Then I didn’t get my year raise because A) I had “already gotten a raise” (from when I got equalized to the trainees) and B) I was getting my keys anyway, which comes with a $1 raise. sigh should have quit right then.
In any event, everyone, I plan for the next week and a half to be hell, but I’ll be out of Rite Aid by finals, which means fun fun fun for me. :rolleyes:
Good for you, Ace! You handled yourself like a class act throughout. Loyalty flows both ways. It’s their job to retain and reward their good employees. By permitting an abusive working environment they blew their part of the compact.
Hey, you put in some good work and probably have some great references to show for it. The next few weeks may not be QUITE as bad as you think. Just knowing the shit’s gonna end soon can lighten things up amazingly. You’re almost outta there!