Forgive me if I’m being dense but why couldn’t you float between the remaining two stores until Celia leaves?
I hate to say this so bluntly but your boss is trying to be nice to you. He wants YOU fired and is trying to give you a way to “save face” on the way to the unemployment line.
So he’s making up a lame reason so you can go home blaming the “system” and not him
Of course I could be wrong, after all he wouldn’t be the first idiot boss, but…
How could this “uncomplicated” boss who’s not thinking through his employees’ economic value come to personally own three stores? Something’s not adding up. Maybe you’re underestimating his inability to lie. Did you pull any other pranks involving in-store displays? Did Celia ever seem like the type to cheat on her husband?
Because lissener is neither a female, nor the oldest employee of the company. Other than that, he’d be happy to do it.
The problem here is a boss who knows only enough of the law to be afraid of it. BTDT, got the pink slip.
And point out it is an at will state, and HER store is the one that is closing. He can fire her because the store is being closed with no other explaination.
Forget what I wrote earlier. **Markxxx **has it.
+2
I would; that was initially part of the expectations of that position after the fallout of the store closing. Her refusal means that my boss himself will have to work a couple days at the other store. Not his first choice, but it saves him two days of pay as well, so it almost balances out. He’ll get tired of it though and hire a part-timer, if past experience is any indication.
As I said, if you knew him you’d know this is not the case.
He started with an inherited store and then bought two more established stores. Before Netflix, when your local video store was an uncomplicated proposition, his stores did reasonably well. He’s not involved on a hands on, daily basis; when he is it messes things up and the stores’ respective managers have to step in and clean up after him. If he weren’t who he his, frankly, I think we’d have a better chance of riding out the Netflix tsunami: he’s unwilling to try any creative solutions, and just wants to “wait and see.” Hence the closing of one of his stores, IMO.
He frequently makes decisions based on his immediate emotional response which turn out to be very bad decisions in the long run. Hence, again, the closing of the store.
(I know I’m taking this too personally, but at what point will my judgment of the situation on the ground be taken at face value? Do I really have to educate you minutely on every conceivable detail and nuance of the situation before you won’t presume that your judgment, in the abstract, is probably better and clearer than mine, in the concrete?)
Sorry, ^^this^^ was not aimed at the general helpfulness of the thread; only at the people who insist on telling me that I’m reading my boss wrong, and that he really does want to fire me, he’s just trying to let me down easy. Just because you can picture this happening in a speculative situation does not mean that that abstract possibility trumps my experience in the actual real world. Sorry if that’s pissy. But well, you know.
His actions would indicate otherwise.
[QUOTE]
[li]It could of course have been coincidence, but sales dropped that month too[/li][/QUOTE]
Unlikely unless you are actively selling your stores services.
Your ‘need’ is irrelevant to your bosses decision. His obligation is to his business.
You can sign up for unemployment and begin looking for another job.
Ultimately, what your boss “should” do is lay off the employee who has the lowest performance. Since you work in a video store, short of lighting the place on fire or pissing on a customer, it is probably extremely difficult to differentiate between your performance. i.e. you aren’t billing hours or in direct sales or anything like that. Therefore, the employee with the least seniority is most likely to be let go and unfortunately that is you.
Based on our respective positions in the business world (well…when we are working. As of now they both happened to be “unemployed”), I think you should trust my advice on this one.
Presumably he’ll be keeping some of the other staff from the closing store, though.
lissener, you may as well move on. It sounds like your job will be eliminated soonish whether it’s because Celia takes it or not. Netflix Prevails.
The only way any of what you say makes sense is for you to strip the situation of all its actual, real-world truth and reduce to a total abstraction. I.e., while your assumptions about the situation may fit some kind of abstract average situation in a textbook universe, they are actually almost 100% incorrect here.
In other words, all you’ve demonstrated is how unfamiliar you are with this situation, and how irrelevant–however well meant–your advice is, being based entirely on false assumptions. But thanks.
[Moderating]
I think the legal questions have been pretty much addressed. Since we now seem to be drifting into advice, I think it may be better to move this to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Sadly, that’s exactly right. In the same way that Best Buy, Target, amazon.com, etc. killed the independent record store ten years ago, NetFlix will ultimately drive the independent video store into extinction. In a few years neither will be left. Here in Simi Valley, a city of over 100,000 people, there’s only one independent video store remaining, and no record stores.
Lissener, you don’t know me but I’ve read your threads in Cafe Society with pleasure. You Sir surely know your business.
So, no matter what happens in the following weeks disregard Msmith comment. We can always distinguis between someone who knows and care and someone who doesn’t: we tend to conduct business with the second type. If your boss doesn’t see that, his loss.
Good luck.
The flip side of this is that when you are personally involved in the situation sometimes it is very easy to lose sight of the overall picture.
In other words, you bust your ass and devote most of your waking life to your place of employment and you just can’t fathom that you boss doesn’t see that or respect the effort that you put forth. But it happens. Bottom line is that you are an expense line on a ledger.
Sometimes being outside of the personalities of the situation will give a person a clearer picture..
The OP has received some pretty good free legal advice from what I read. Here’s mine, but it’s more life advice:
Get out of retail.
I worked retail as stocker and manager and it sucks. You not only have no rights, you have no future. Working hard at retail (garden-variety, I don’t know about high end) is like working hard at being a furry, no matter how hard you work, no matter how much talent you pour into it, nobody respects you for it, they just wonder why you took a job you’re too good for.
The OP can write, at least, it was all bullet-pointed and important looking and shit. Get a haircut and get a real job might be the best advice. You want to be in show biz? Go to school, learn to work a TV camera, I hear there (used to be) a demand for that.
That’s how I read the situation too, until I read that his boss might have Asperger’s.
The legal situation has been explained, there’s little else here but echo the recommendations to start a new job search, which is a shame, but (sh)it happens.
And this is a good opportunity to remind people to always be your own best booster. You can be great at your job, and the customers can love you but if your boss doesn’t see that happening on a frequent basis, it’s worth nothing. For people who’s job it is to bring money into the company, you’re in the simplest position because your worth to the company in right there in black and white on the books every month. For people who add value in different ways, they have a harder time proving their worth, and to stay on top of that game is worth spending at least 10% of your working day on.
For lissener - best of luck. I’ve never had an aspie boss so I can’t offer any real counsel. The only thing I can say is that if you really want to keep this job, now is the time to get proactive. Sounds like your employer is between a rock and a hard place in that he has to close down one of the stores just to keep the other two afloat. You need to provide your boss with viable solutions to turning the business around. Actually, they don’t even have to be viable (in the short term) they just have to hit your boss’s switches. In the long term, they have to work if you want to stay employed there. Put on your thinking cap and don’t wallow in misery!!