The boss sounds standard retail to me. Throwing off a diagnosis like “Oh, you have a depressed boss? Well, you should…” or “Ah well, with an autistic boss you should…” sounds like bullshit. For one thing, just as there’s more than one kind of depressed person, I’m sure there’s more than one kind of Asperger’s victim. For another thing, odd does not equal Asperger’s. Seems like that’s a rare condition that gets laid on every socially inept person since 2003, often voluntarially. “Oh, I have a touch of Asperger’s,” they say, as if that accounts for their BO or impersonating you online.
I have no advice, just sympathy and optimism. Hang in there!
Jeez, lissener. That blows. Do you have an emergency backup plan in case you do wind up getting let go? Any friends you can crash with temporarily or something along those lines?
lissener, it’s not exactly a complex business problem. Let me break down the actual, real-world truth to you, as you have described it to us:
- Your boss is such a simpleton you believe he is mentally ill
- His business is failing
- His business is in a declining industry (retail video) and he believes he will be able to “ride it out” (he can’t)
- He has an irrational fear of the law and is completely ignorant of it
- You are the employee with least seniority
- Your boss doesn’t seem to track “performance” (even if he did, how does one video store employee stand out over another?)
- Photoshopping joke displays isn’t exactly a “value add”.
- Your personal hardships are (and should be) irrelevant to your employer
Now assuming you want to keep this job, there are really only two arguments that are relevant to your boss:
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Sexual descrimination does not mean you can’t terminate women, blacks, mexicans, gays, or any other minority. It means you can’t fire someone based on their race, sex, or other protected category. So if he terminates you because you aren’t a woman, you have just as much right to sue. Of course, the way around this is basing it on straight seniority so this doesn’t help you.
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Point out that you are willing to float between both stores and ask what he plans to do if the other employees don’t want to do that.
Understand that once your boss has made his decision to terminate an employee he probably isn’t and shouldn’t change his mind just because you talk him out of it. It just makes him look stupid and indecisive.
But basically, I would start looking for other work.
Does Photoshopping stupid cover art on the displays indicate someone who cares about their job?
Anytime I had somebody gushing how great I’d been, I told them it helps if they tell the manager. Most of the time they did and it does help in situations like this.
Yeah, I actually think that’s why he brought me back after laying me off; there was something of a customer uproar. There were letters, and I was even lamented on a local blog! In fact, I think that explains why he’s basically put this problem in my lap to solve. Last time, here’s the notice I got: “Lissener, I’m gonna need your key.” This time, he tells me that in a week or two, when they finish selling off the other store’s stock and closing it down, he was going to have to bring Celia to this store because of her seniority, and let me go for the same reason. I’m not sure he’s even consciously aware of it, but by giving me notice and explaining the situation, he’s making it possible for me to “save him” from having to make that decision. Well, at least to attempt to, by oh let’s say starting a discussion at the Dope looking for alternatives. I think he’ll be happy if I can come up with a solution that still feels like a path of less resistance to him that will allow him to keep his pet graphic-designer/ad-writer/newsletter-editor for a retail salary.
Yes, together with making good recommendations to your clients, remembering their tastes, and lots of little things.
Again indicating how far outside on-the-ground-reality **msmith537 **is; yes, there actually is a great deal of value in doing those little things that make us, in our customers’ eyes, not-Blockbuster, and not-Netflix. We’re the store that has hidden jokes on some of the covers.
Not really. I’m already homeless, and was counting on the next couple paychecks to get me a place in September. It’ll be harder to talk a landlord into renting me a place if I’m unemployed, of course. And I’m pretty much out of backup plans. I think I’m gonna write my boss a long email laying out what his options really are, and putting the ball back into his court. Will report back of course.
I don’t have a lot of advice to off you, Lissner, but if you want to keep your job you should definitely fight for it laying out all of the reasons you gave here. It worked for Creed Bratton after all!
Are all of the stores in Seattle? In the rest of the state, discrimination laws appear to only kick in at 8 employees, and federally at 15.
If I were you, I would threaten to sue your boss. He doesn’t seem to have a decent knowledge of the law, so you could probably afford to have a lawyer send him a scary letter. Your boss doesn’t seem to like confrontation, so he might back down if you put up a fight.
I would start looking for another job even if you do get hired back. I know you like movies and you feel really comfortable at a video store, but you know it isn’t stable. It’s a dying industry and your boss doesn’t seem willing to fight Netflix. You might have the feeling that you can change things from your managerial position, but I would give up hope. I was a retail manager once for a liquor store and thought I could overcome the faults of the owner. I didn’t work out. She just wasn’t willing to do anything creative or risky, or even educate herself in her trade. If you’re thinking you can turn the store around, stop. It won’t work. Go find a new job. It’s probably not a decent option now, but something to consider in the future.
It’s also depressing to have a lot of creative ideas and to work at a job where you can’t use them.
If you’re that good and have a client following I can’t see why you wouldn’t open a store.
I mean how hard could it be to compete against these people that just don’t get it?
Hell, you could even live there.
Maybe you, Jack Black and Mos Def can raise enough money to keep your store open then.
If you can convince your boss to keep you based on your contributions, more power to you. Personally, I think your boss is an imbecile for holding this up to discussion. He should make a business decision and stick to it. From what you have described though, I think it’s only a matter of time before the capitalist forces of creative destruction separate that fool from his money.
Nobody’s suggested you talk to Celia yet? She may dislike you, but maybe she’d have some sympathy if you explained your situation to her
I’m not an attorney, I have made decisions like this before.
Celia can sue - she probably wouldn’t win, but she can sue. And defending that suit can cost your boss a lot in legal fees depending on how far she chooses to push it. So while he has every right to choose you over her, you can’t assure him that this means it won’t cost him any money exercising that right. And if it were me, and I though Celia was a real suit risk, I’d pick her over you even if you could walk on water.
When I managed a retail environment years ago, it was much more effective to have our employees do the passive aggressive quit thing. Keep both of you on the payroll, make life hell for whomever you don’t want to keep (have them cover both stores, lousy shifts, not enough hours). Sucks (and its part of the reason retail sucks), but it kept our liability really low and made it a lot easier for managers (who, in small store retail, are rarely good managers - I was managing a store at the ripe old age of 17 - and if you think I had the experience and maturity to terminate someone - you’d be overestimating my abilities at 17 - that didn’t come for a LONG time). Anyway, half that proposal would be the one I’d make your boss if I were you “keep me on payroll, and I’ll cover your bad shifts and cover the two stores for you as much as I can” You’ll need another job to make ends meet, so start filling out applications now. If you are as valuable as you believe, and Celia is as bad as you believe, and the business is maintained as you believe, eventually you’ll get more scheduled shifts than she does. If not, you’ll have a second job to prove yourself at and will be able to keep feeding yourself.
You can be sued for that as well. It’s called “constructive discharge”. Basically it’s making someone’s work environment so unpleasent that they quit on their own.
Well considering he is borderline homeless, I don’t think he has the resources to open up a new store right now.
Also while lissener may have a small following at the video store, are these customers going to go out of their way to follow him to a new store and are there enough of them to matter? At the end of the day, the product these stores are selling are DVDs and games and whatnot. 90% of the customers don’t care if they get them from lissener, in the mail, from some generic guy in a blue Blockbuster polo shirt and other than a minor diversion, they probably don’t care about the cute little custom displays.
That’s the difference between making a business decision based on an actual analysis vs your own perceptions and gut instinct and such. You know the ole “lots of customers like my [xyz]” arguement. Sure they do. But do enough of them like it enough to actually change stores?
Someone that humorless will probably be equally lacking in sympathy.
It’s worth a shot
What do you expect her to do? Quit her job?