Two years and four months ago, I was desperately looking for a job in a piss poor economy (Still is, in fact. Technology isn’t catching up with Louisiana). I applied at a temp agency, took a typing test, went home, and figured I’d never hear from them again. A month later, they called me back with a job interview.
I was thrilled. It was the first time in my life that I’d ever had a job that didn’t involve physical labor. Best of all, it was a permanent job! During the interview, I was told that if I did a good job, I’d get hired on full time with benefits. They seemed pretty desperate to hire someone for my position, having gone through 11 temps in a year that either weren’t smart enough to hack it, or couldn’t deal with the late hours.
I assimilated quickly, easily learning all my duties. I was commended several times on my efforts and received 2 small raises during my first year. I was surprised at the responsibility the job entailed. It was a bizarre experience being able to make decisions for myself at a job instead of blindly following orders, but I adjusted and learned to like it. I was quiet and never said an unkind word to anyone. Why piss off somebody you’re going to have to see every day?
Early this year, my boss was promoted to the New Orleans branch of the company, and our super-prick salesman took his place. This is when things started to head south. He would hang around the office all night for no apparent reason, bugging the hell out of me and reminding me time and time again to do things I’d done every night since I’d been there and never forgot to do anyway.
About a month ago, he was hanging around the office as usual and I was my quiet self as usual. I’d had a bad day, though, and could feel the storm brewing inside me. He asked me if I’d been to any concerts lately.
“How can I go to any concerts when I can barely afford to pay my rent?,” I asked.
He had been working everyone else overtime which resulted in me getting off early every night and only making 35 hours a week (as opposed to the 45-50 hours a week I made at the same time last year).
He put on his pathetically transparent facade of concern and said he’d try his best to get me a raise.
“Well, what about hiring me on like I was promised instead of paying some company $10,000 a year to print paychecks for me?,” I asked.
“If we hired you on, we’d have to give you benefits, sick days, and workman’s comp if you got hurt,” he said in a tone that clearly indicated that I didn’t deserve any of those things.
So here I am a month later. He never again mentioned the raise he said he’d try to get me. Everyone I talk to thinks I’m getting royally screwed. I’m thinking about writing a polite letter explaining my situation to the Employee Relations director of the corporation. It’s a bit drastic and I wouldn’t have even considered it if the old manager hadn’t promised to hire me on when I initially got the job.
I’m really not sure if I’d suffer any repercussions if I wrote the letter. I honestly don’t think he’d fire me, but you never know. He’d have to spend a month training someone to fill my position, and I know he doesn’t want to do that.
Why do y’all think? Should I write the letter or do you think it would just be a waste of ink? (Sorry if this post was a bit long, but I’m pretty peeved over here. :()
