why am i such a sucker?

The BBQ Pit
1

i’m in my second year of college now. i’m majoring in computer science and humanities and minoring in math. i know that eventually i’m going to get a “real” job, but until then i have a part time job (two actually, along with a full-time class schedule) to be able to afford commuting to school.

i’ve worked at a gas station since the summer of 99. apparently a teenager keeping any job for more than 6 months is a rare thing, so the fact i’m staying at the same job i had in high school sounds like it’d show some loyalty, wouldn’t you think? especially since the only employees still there from when i started are the assistant mechanic and the 65 year-old coot who needs this job to get out of the house.

this is not a fun job. granted, most of the time it’s not horrid, because there are stretches of time where you don’t do anything because no one comes in for an oil change or tire rotation (yes, we’re a garage, not a convenience store). but my main function is a cashier, with full-serves and oil changes on the side. i am NOT a people person. i would pay to be a professional hermit, because interacting with customers sets my teeth on edge after five minutes.

i started this job before i had my driver’s license. i managed to find a ride home from school and walk the two miles to be at work on time. every other highschooler there drives, and yet somehow they’re a half-hour late every day. so don’t you think my effort to be on time counted for something? no.

i started closing up the place a year later. then rick (the old coot) had to go to arizona to take care of his dad that summer. i took over his evenings and my own. basically i worked every day. this was when gas prices were insanely high and customers would scream at me personally about it. i had a breakdown at work that ended up with a hole kicked in the wall and me in the bathroom crying for a half hour. the result? a day off. :rolleyes:

now the boss is looking to sell the place. does he tell anyone? no. he runs out of gas and doesn’t reorder (what does he care? he’ll be outta here soon), which means that my checks are a whole $40 a week. this is from the end of november to the end of january. now it’s starting up again. i can’t afford this shit!

did i mention that after 2.5 years of working, i’m making a whole $6 an hour?

so this is the third week he has no gas. i’m supposed to work fridays and saturdays. well not this week. he’s not going to be open during the evening this weekend, so i have NO HOURS this week. no check. no gas and car insurance money. (the last time this happened, the november-january time, the only reason i could make my insurance payment was because of christmas money. yay! i get to spend gifts on bills!).

everyone is telling me “GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE” and i know i should. yet i went to get an application at a borders, and i felt overwhelmed with guilt.

why the fuck should i feel guilty about leaving a place that has treated me like dirt, cut my hours without explanations about why we don’t have gas, have been repeatedly lied to, is home to the stingiest boss in the world, and where, if i worked FULL-TIME, i would get less than $200 a FUCKING WEEK?!?!

i know this rant isn’t as skillfully crafted as most here; but i’m shaking with anger now. i’m mostly angry with myself, but i’m also mightily pissed at my job. i haven’t even touched on most of the major issues of the place in this rant, since it’d take up another five pages or so.

2

That’s easy: because you haven’t lived long enough yet to learn when to shed your ethical standards. There are times when you need to look out for number one. I can state first-hand (being formerly employed at such places as you describe) that places that have high turnover think of and treat their employees as disposable. That’s WHY they have high turnover. I doubt your longevity there has even registered on the owner. He sounds like a really stupid businessman anyway, since he’s driving the place into the ground and trying to sell it at the same time. Why would anybody buy the place after they look at the books and see how business has dropped off because he bought no gas? The new owner will immediately have to replace all the customers he’s driven away. What a complete dumbass.

3

The only person who places a value on loyalty in this situation seems to be you. Your employer certainly isn’t displaying any loyalty to anyone but himself.

It might be a good time to rethink yourself as a free agent.

4

There’s no point in getting angry with yourself. You need to get the fuck out of there. The fact that you’ve been at this shithole for 11 years tells me that you’re going to be set at any other retail establishment. You could be managing that Borders in no time, but please remember that finishing school is probably your best bet.

Good luck, you deserve better than you’ve got.

5

Think of this as some tuition you’re paying in the school of hard knocks. It will help round out that college degree. I’m not even trying to be obnoxious here. You need to have the experience of a few crummy jobs to recognize the good ones. Should you ever become a manager or own your own business, you’ve already learned a lot of things not to do that they won’t teach you at business school. You will be a much better manager, employee, businessman, and better to yourself after the above experience. Hopefully, you won’t get into a repeat situation, and if you do you’ll probably extricate yourself faster.

6

** Lizard **, your opinion of my boss’ business skills is probably even much higher than necessary. :wink:

he’s owned the place since 1972 (i have NO idea how he’s stuck around this long). he used to really care about the place, which is what, i think, attributes to the longevity of the business. but he’s stingy. his idea of a raise is giving you $0.25 once a year (and when you start at $5.50, well, it’s not much). if a tool finally gives out on him, what does he replace it with? something cheap from walmart. HELLO? this is a business, not your home garage! then it only lasts for a couple months and he needs to buy another tool. the only computer we have is a gilbarco system for managing the pumps. work orders are written out by hand. if we need to check the price of a part or labour, we don’t use a computer program, we either consult the HUGE bookshelf or call one of the autoparts stores we deal with. when someone came in for an oil change once, he looked at how everything was run; he used to run a garage himself, and he said, “goddamn, this place looks like it’s 1983 all over again.” and he wasn’t joking. our technology et al is almost 20 years out of date. why? because he refuses to spend the money to update everything.

i won’t even get into how the assistant mechanic (who is [illegally] doing the work of a full mechanic at the boss’ request, because * we don’t even HAVE a full mechanic * since he doesn’t want to spend the money) is only making $7 after working there 6 years!

he used to co-own another shop with his friend bob (just a garage, no gas). bob was in charge of running the place and my boss was in charge of the finances. then the business started going down the tubes because he wasn’t willing to spend money when needed. bob finally said, “either you sell your share to me, or i’m leaving the whole thing to you and moving.” my boss sold his share (begrudgingly), and after someone else is in charge of finances, that business is hopping again. you’d think he’d make the connection, wouldn’t you?

and to you and doug, yes, employees are commodities to him. a friend of mine (he’s 27 now) worked there when he was in high school. he’s been at many other jobs, and now has :::gasp::: a “real” job. he has said “he will be the hardest and most frustrating boss you ever have to deal with.” you’d think that (besides the mechanic) a job at a garage doing oil changes is expected to be an after school job, not a career choice. but my boss will be FURIOUS if you decide to leave.

my brother started there junior year of high school (he’s how i got the job there in the first place), he even worked there through college, out of misguided loyalty. even after he graduated in mechanical engineering and got a great job (making $50K at age 25), he still worked there saturday mornings to help out. if you gave a hint of quitting, my boss heaps on a guilt trip (“y’know, it’s been pretty tough around here lately, and you’ve really been a big help on the days you work blahblah”, but still doesn’t give any incentive to stay). finally my brother said, “i’m sorry, but i already work 50 hours a week at my job, and honestly, the extra sleep on a saturday is worth more to me than $35 for 8 hours of work.” now you can’t even mention my brother around the boss, because he LEFT and my boss is PISSED (and this was two years ago!).

i think it’s time, like everyone has said, to look out for number one. say “fuck him” and realise that i need to place loyalty where it’s actually appreciated.

7

Don’t be angry with yourself. You have learned a valuable lesson a lot younger age than most people. :wink: When the chips are down your employer will always think of his/her own ass…Enron, Pan Am…etc. You get the idea.

Quit!! You went above and beyond a great employee and he didn’t even get the curtesy of starting to look for another job. Get that job at Border’s. What a better way to work through school than at a book store. All that reading at a discount and at your fingertips. All those girls/guys (I don’t want to assume that you are a guy) asking you questions…etc.

Bottom line…you have to do what is right for you. :slight_smile:

8

Most employers will take advantage of you in large or small ways if you let them. Many will think they’re doing nothing wrong, rationalizing it themselves as “that’s the way the world is”, or “I’ll reward him when things are better”, or “he doesn’t deserve better treatmet”, or “he thinks he’s got it tough? He should meet my first boss.”

Think of it as a business relationship. You’re a business, selling your labor; he’s a business, buying it. The business relationship sucks, you’re underpaid, and you have no one to blame but yourself because you’re the one who keeps selling to him.

His anger at your brother, and at you if you mention quitting, is a passive aggressive tactic to keep you in the business relationship when he knows that he’s treating you badly. He’s trying to guilt you into allowing him to take advantage of you.

Loyalty should extend as far as your trust in him to do right by you, given the history and the prospects of the business relationship. You have no trust in him; therefore, you should have no loyalty to him.

Loyalty does have a place in business, but it’s a reciprocal relationship built on what’s gone before. One-way loyalty is sucker’s game that con men play on to keep their marks around.

Your victimhood is your own fault until you correct the situation.

9

First, get another job. Then, experience the pleasure of saying, “I fucking quit, you cheap prick.”

Works wonders for the ol’ self esteem. :slight_smile:

10

Three years. But even that seems to have been too long. At any rate, it would indeed impress prospective employers.

11

zweisamkeit needs to get a new job. Meanwhile, I’ll work on my reading comprehension. :wink:

12

No sweat, Vic. Eleven years at this job doesn’t bear thinking of! Wonder how that “assistant” mechanic stands it.

13

the “assistant” mechanic has been going to school to be a pastry chef and finally left! i’m so happy for him! he has a job as a beginning pastry chef at a rather nice restaurant. :slight_smile:

and

UPDATE

i no longer work at that job! although i’ll be honest and say that it’s because he closed the place down. heh. but i have been filling out applications for the past couple weeks, and if i had a job offer, i would’ve left, so, uh, IT COUNTS! I LEFT! heh, or something. :smiley: i still have my tutoring job at school, and i saved up a couple car insurance payments in advance, so i’ll be okay for a couple weeks in between jobs.

and even though my boss can be a prick sometimes (sometimes?!), he almost made me cry when he was talking to me about closing the place. (roughly paraphrasing, since i didn’t record it or anything) he said, “i just wanted you to know that i really appreciate you working here. i know it wasn’t the most challenging or fun job to do and you’re more than capable of working somewhere higher up on the business chain. thank you for staying, and i know you’ll do well the rest of your life.” :frowning: he also made sure to say i could use him as a reference on any applications i fill out.

so that’s that. i’m a free woman. part of me is sad (i’m gonna miss my co-workers; we exchanged phone numbers though), but part of me is happy that i have choices of where to go now. wish me luck in finding a new job!

14

Classy. Maybe he was paying some attention all that time, eh?