The boss who can't make them stay
APRIL 09, 2019
Driving your car, listening to music and dropping off some pizza to strangers is a great job. It pays well enough to keep my home warm, feed my family, and have a few pets. In my mind, its a rich life, I have what I need. Unlucky for me, the guy in charge of my hours has the mental and social mind of a 14 year old. Most of the things I mentioned above can be hard to support or balance without money. I’m not an expert at writing, so apologies in advanced.
First of all, let me just say the job is great. I genuinely have almost no complaints about the job or the workers. We all have a great time together, which is rare in my experience. I am NOT setting this up to make the boss look bad in comparison, its just how it is. In my experience as a delivery driver, I make 40% of my monthly income through tips. People are nice, they tip, me and my family have fun. That’s how it goes. I put in between 30-40 hours a week, and make more than enough to pay my bills. However, my last 3 weeks have been less than 15 hour weeks. Why you ask? I have this great boss who, if you cross, will silently kill your hours. As soon as the schedule is posted, everyone can see his next "target", as everyone has an average of 30-40 hours, but the targets column on the Monday-Friday section will be mostly empty. Your total hours even go in the single digits if he really doesn’t like you because he is cool like that. "What did you do?", is the question you'll get first thing Monday. Until now, I hadn’t experienced this treatment from the man-baby, but I’ve been around it so I know how it goes.
Your name stands out like the only working street light in a dark street. If I had to guess, the small team is made up of no more than 30 employees. So yeah, you stand out and not in a good way. But that is the least of my worries.
You get no warning, you just wake up, look at the schedule, and feel your stomach drop. What the hell did I do? I guess I'm not taking my wife to that fancy restaurant. Its OK, this is south Texas, she’ll settle for tacos. They are inexpensive(6-7 for a hearty order) and actually amazing.
I've been a driver for 2 years, and never had this happen to me. I assume he wants to make you quit so that that the company doesn't have to payout the unemployment check, and he can skip the dirty work altogether as his courage-less little heart has no desire to confront anyone. Otherwise, they might argue with reason, and we all know unreasonable people don’t want to compromise, they want to win. Anyway, I have no clue how unemployment works so don't quote me.
Most quit, the ones who stay get their hours back, but only after about a month of basically 25% of your regular monthly income. I'm lucky my savings can save my ass.
As the first week slowly and painfully ends, I'm hopeful and confident my hours will return. After all, I have no clue what I did, and I haven’t done anything out of the ordinary to my knowledge. No ones told me of any sins I’ve committed against the your majesty, the he-baby, and I’ve never been written up. I have no reason to believe, I will be punished for the second time for no good reason.
I look up the schedule, even less hours. I won't go into detail explaining what kind of shit I CAN'T do without a good week of tips, but you don't have to be creative to guess. Lets just say when we go get our groceries, I'll have only the "essentials" as I check out from the store. My dogs eating scraps because his dog food isn't cheap. He walks around with less fat on him, makes me kinda angry. Mostly at myself, I failed my family. This is my fault, even if it wasn't I'd blame myself because that’s how you fix shit. My boss would be so happy reading this, knowing that he managed to ruin a couple of my weeks. But really, I can live off coffee and scraps. I just wish I can spoil my wife and daughter, but not this month.
Fuck this, I'll ask for my hours back, 2 weeks is enough for a guy who has no clue what the hell went wrong in the first place and has mouths to feed. Hes an idiot, but he isn’t heartless right?
I walk up to the bastard and say calmly, "Hey boss, if you have extra room next week for some hours, I would really like to work." I try not to be pushy, I try to be polite. He stays silent, never making eye contact. Then he asks, "You know WHY I gave you those hours right?".
"I was thirty minutes late on Saturday, you sent me home that day. It won't happen again." I admit to him. I was late, because I mixed up my schedule hours as its different everyday. I admit I should have been more aware, this was entirely my fault.
I'm looking right at him, I want him to know I have nothing to hide and I'll own up to my mistakes, but two weeks is enough punishment for my family, for a shit mistake that I did. The coward still doesn't look me straight, "Its because your taking too long on the deliveries, and your taking to long in the restroom. It seems you don't want to work here." For a moment I struggle to believe this idiot. Why didn't he address this before? If he'd ask, I would have told him, I was sick and still coming in. I spent lots of time in the restroom, which most of the drivers do anyway. My deliveries?? They are always slow, I'm a slow driver, its been like that since day 1... I go under the speed limit, judge me all you want. I don't drive slow, I drive slow ONLY in comparison to all the other 19 year old drivers who drive 15 miles over the limit. I'm 27, not that it has anything to do with fuck all. I explained to him my stomach issues, and how I had unwanted, unscheduled shits for about a week. The problem has been fixed. My craps are on schedule, and have been since my hours were cut to nothing. The slow driving, well that is something I can't help. I acknowledge its not the best quality in a driver to be slow, but I have a clean record. I have been driving for 11 years and I’m not risking my money. I made up my mind long ago I'll quit if they really REALLY want me driving faster, because I just can't do it. I won’t even hold a grudge, I admit it will may be my own pride, stubbornness, or whatever you want to call it. I just drive slow. Its not worth the time, money, injury, stress and all the other BS that comes with it. Thankfully my slow driving never got me in trouble, until now, 2 years in. Seems a bit odd. He doesn’t reply to me, instead he walks away. Must be so hard being the boss when the employees are trying to negotiate reasonably and calmly I guess.
Ok problem fixed right? I mean he didn’t say anything, I assume if I was still trouble or something I did a couple of weeks ago, he’ll be a man and talk to me. Third week rolls in and my hours are still empty. Never underestimate someone petty. They have no life of their own, his job now is make my life shit apparently. I can fix this. I can walk up to him and talk about programming, since we have that experience in common, among other things. If he likes you, he’ll give you a different treatment. I just have to put my pride aside and kneel.
Fuck that and fuck him. I don't want a brown nose. I'll talk to HIS boss. I'm certain he'll side with me. I set up a meeting, on the same day we were suppose to meet, one of my tires decides to make my life easy. I SHOW up to work, and hear a distinct whistling sound. Its my tire. I tell the manager, do NOT send me on a delivery, let me patch my tire up. It will be quick, 6 bucks, no problem. Actually there is a problem, its 7 at night. The guy tells me the tire is done, the hole is big, I need a new tire, that’s 45 bucks, they don’t take cards. I don't have the money, I have no cash on me because my boss likes to exercise his power to make himself feel good about his girlfriend-less self. The place is closed anyway, they weren’t waiting on me to find an ATM. Fair enough.
Oh did I mention he gets moody when his girlfriends leave him? He takes it out on his employees. Its so fun to have a miserable, petty, single boss deciding how your work days will play out.
Why do I mention this? This guy spends 80% of his woken hours at the store. How do you think he is going to de-stress? He lives at work, everyone he knows is at work. He needs to let off steam? Its going to be the place he spends 10 hours daily, probably.
Anyway, some of the employees talk to the higher ups, and they force him to give the hours back. That was my plan until my tire popped. So I have to reschedule. Am I a good employee? I have no clue. Others tell me I'm great to work with, but my numbers suck. I don't up sell because who the hell cares, I'm a slow driver, and I'm late sometimes. But have I really fucked up enough to warrant my bills not getting paid? I don't believe so. Especially since you consider the fact that THIS PIECE OF CRAP DIDN'T TELL ME WHAT I DID WRONG. He lacks communication, maybe some of the employees will work better when you, the damn boss, tells them how to be better. Since you know, you've been there your whole damn life. I'm going on the fourth week, no money, bills unpaid, and my boss with a huge smile. Did I mention I've never received a write up? I'm not going to throat punch him, but if he was throat punched by an angry customer, I may or may not pay them a compliment on their throat punching skills before faking my concern for the guy who, without warning, took my hours away.
I have a savings, I'm not entirely irresponsible. So I show up to work with a smile. I'm looking for another job sadly. Maybe blogging or maybe teaching kids how to throat punch managers. I'm not entirely sure whats next. What I do know, is that this guy hasn't said one word to me, and I don't think he'll bother telling me anything about whats going on, or what my latest mistake may be. One thing is for sure though, he is moody as hell, and I have to give credit to the other drivers. We can care less about who has what hours. When I get to work its fun talking to everyone, we laugh out loud, make dumb jokes, compliment each others haircuts, and my boss could not be angrier with me(due to my apparent happiness). He unnecessarily slams random objects he has in hand, walks around aggressively as if to say, "Don't get in my way or else I'll use my (probably really powerful) grip on you.". If I'm not miserable, hes not happy. Well if your agenda is focused on anyone but yourself, I have bad news buddy, you'll never win. So I'm not going to engage on a petty war. I'll write my thoughts, explore solutions, ponder options, all in the interest of self improvement.
Here’s the short story. Do I deserve to be punished? Yes, absolutely probably. Should you tell me what I've done? Yes, absolutely. Here’s a thought, maybe if you address an issue to someone, just maybe, they'll FIX it. Don't wait 2 weeks to talk about it. I had to bring it up, like we’re in damn high school. The workers are great, the pay is good, the work is easy. I love this job, I really do. Its shit managers like these that ruin it. The best part is that I'm not even a horrible employee, if I was so bad then I'd be written up which they rarely do. Or I would have been fired. People don’t quit because of the job, people quit because of guys like him.
These thoughts are old, I'm over it now. I have what I need, I have a rich life. He is not worth my energy. I have a damn game to program, stocks to trade, a wife to make love to, a dog to play with, and a child to teach. I'm not perfect, but me and my family don't deserve to be at the end of this overgrown child’s petty payback plot.
Driving your car, listening to music and dropping off some pizza to strangers is a great job. It pays well enough to keep my home warm, feed my family, and have a few pets. In my mind, its a rich life, I have what I need. Unlucky for me, the guy in charge of my hours has the mental and social mind of a 14 year old. Most of the things I mentioned above can be hard to support or balance without money. I’m not an expert at writing, so apologies in advanced.
First of all, let me just say the job is great. I genuinely have almost no complaints about the job or the workers. We all have a great time together, which is rare in my experience. I am NOT setting this up to make the boss look bad in comparison, its just how it is. In my experience as a delivery driver, I make 40% of my monthly income through tips. People are nice, they tip, me and my family have fun. That’s how it goes. I put in between 30-40 hours a week, and make more than enough to pay my bills. However, my last 3 weeks have been less than 15 hour weeks. Why you ask? I have this great boss who, if you cross, will silently kill your hours. As soon as the schedule is posted, everyone can see his next "target", as everyone has an average of 30-40 hours, but the targets column on the Monday-Friday section will be mostly empty. Your total hours even go in the single digits if he really doesn’t like you because he is cool like that. "What did you do?", is the question you'll get first thing Monday. Until now, I hadn’t experienced this treatment from the man-baby, but I’ve been around it so I know how it goes.
Your name stands out like the only working street light in a dark street. If I had to guess, the small team is made up of no more than 30 employees. So yeah, you stand out and not in a good way. But that is the least of my worries.
You get no warning, you just wake up, look at the schedule, and feel your stomach drop. What the hell did I do? I guess I'm not taking my wife to that fancy restaurant. Its OK, this is south Texas, she’ll settle for tacos. They are inexpensive(6-7 for a hearty order) and actually amazing.
I've been a driver for 2 years, and never had this happen to me. I assume he wants to make you quit so that that the company doesn't have to payout the unemployment check, and he can skip the dirty work altogether as his courage-less little heart has no desire to confront anyone. Otherwise, they might argue with reason, and we all know unreasonable people don’t want to compromise, they want to win. Anyway, I have no clue how unemployment works so don't quote me.
Most quit, the ones who stay get their hours back, but only after about a month of basically 25% of your regular monthly income. I'm lucky my savings can save my ass.
As the first week slowly and painfully ends, I'm hopeful and confident my hours will return. After all, I have no clue what I did, and I haven’t done anything out of the ordinary to my knowledge. No ones told me of any sins I’ve committed against the your majesty, the he-baby, and I’ve never been written up. I have no reason to believe, I will be punished for the second time for no good reason.
I look up the schedule, even less hours. I won't go into detail explaining what kind of shit I CAN'T do without a good week of tips, but you don't have to be creative to guess. Lets just say when we go get our groceries, I'll have only the "essentials" as I check out from the store. My dogs eating scraps because his dog food isn't cheap. He walks around with less fat on him, makes me kinda angry. Mostly at myself, I failed my family. This is my fault, even if it wasn't I'd blame myself because that’s how you fix shit. My boss would be so happy reading this, knowing that he managed to ruin a couple of my weeks. But really, I can live off coffee and scraps. I just wish I can spoil my wife and daughter, but not this month.
Fuck this, I'll ask for my hours back, 2 weeks is enough for a guy who has no clue what the hell went wrong in the first place and has mouths to feed. Hes an idiot, but he isn’t heartless right?
I walk up to the bastard and say calmly, "Hey boss, if you have extra room next week for some hours, I would really like to work." I try not to be pushy, I try to be polite. He stays silent, never making eye contact. Then he asks, "You know WHY I gave you those hours right?".
"I was thirty minutes late on Saturday, you sent me home that day. It won't happen again." I admit to him. I was late, because I mixed up my schedule hours as its different everyday. I admit I should have been more aware, this was entirely my fault.
I'm looking right at him, I want him to know I have nothing to hide and I'll own up to my mistakes, but two weeks is enough punishment for my family, for a shit mistake that I did. The coward still doesn't look me straight, "Its because your taking too long on the deliveries, and your taking to long in the restroom. It seems you don't want to work here." For a moment I struggle to believe this idiot. Why didn't he address this before? If he'd ask, I would have told him, I was sick and still coming in. I spent lots of time in the restroom, which most of the drivers do anyway. My deliveries?? They are always slow, I'm a slow driver, its been like that since day 1... I go under the speed limit, judge me all you want. I don't drive slow, I drive slow ONLY in comparison to all the other 19 year old drivers who drive 15 miles over the limit. I'm 27, not that it has anything to do with fuck all. I explained to him my stomach issues, and how I had unwanted, unscheduled shits for about a week. The problem has been fixed. My craps are on schedule, and have been since my hours were cut to nothing. The slow driving, well that is something I can't help. I acknowledge its not the best quality in a driver to be slow, but I have a clean record. I have been driving for 11 years and I’m not risking my money. I made up my mind long ago I'll quit if they really REALLY want me driving faster, because I just can't do it. I won’t even hold a grudge, I admit it will may be my own pride, stubbornness, or whatever you want to call it. I just drive slow. Its not worth the time, money, injury, stress and all the other BS that comes with it. Thankfully my slow driving never got me in trouble, until now, 2 years in. Seems a bit odd. He doesn’t reply to me, instead he walks away. Must be so hard being the boss when the employees are trying to negotiate reasonably and calmly I guess.
Ok problem fixed right? I mean he didn’t say anything, I assume if I was still trouble or something I did a couple of weeks ago, he’ll be a man and talk to me. Third week rolls in and my hours are still empty. Never underestimate someone petty. They have no life of their own, his job now is make my life shit apparently. I can fix this. I can walk up to him and talk about programming, since we have that experience in common, among other things. If he likes you, he’ll give you a different treatment. I just have to put my pride aside and kneel.
Fuck that and fuck him. I don't want a brown nose. I'll talk to HIS boss. I'm certain he'll side with me. I set up a meeting, on the same day we were suppose to meet, one of my tires decides to make my life easy. I SHOW up to work, and hear a distinct whistling sound. Its my tire. I tell the manager, do NOT send me on a delivery, let me patch my tire up. It will be quick, 6 bucks, no problem. Actually there is a problem, its 7 at night. The guy tells me the tire is done, the hole is big, I need a new tire, that’s 45 bucks, they don’t take cards. I don't have the money, I have no cash on me because my boss likes to exercise his power to make himself feel good about his girlfriend-less self. The place is closed anyway, they weren’t waiting on me to find an ATM. Fair enough.
Oh did I mention he gets moody when his girlfriends leave him? He takes it out on his employees. Its so fun to have a miserable, petty, single boss deciding how your work days will play out.
Why do I mention this? This guy spends 80% of his woken hours at the store. How do you think he is going to de-stress? He lives at work, everyone he knows is at work. He needs to let off steam? Its going to be the place he spends 10 hours daily, probably.
Anyway, some of the employees talk to the higher ups, and they force him to give the hours back. That was my plan until my tire popped. So I have to reschedule. Am I a good employee? I have no clue. Others tell me I'm great to work with, but my numbers suck. I don't up sell because who the hell cares, I'm a slow driver, and I'm late sometimes. But have I really fucked up enough to warrant my bills not getting paid? I don't believe so. Especially since you consider the fact that THIS PIECE OF CRAP DIDN'T TELL ME WHAT I DID WRONG. He lacks communication, maybe some of the employees will work better when you, the damn boss, tells them how to be better. Since you know, you've been there your whole damn life. I'm going on the fourth week, no money, bills unpaid, and my boss with a huge smile. Did I mention I've never received a write up? I'm not going to throat punch him, but if he was throat punched by an angry customer, I may or may not pay them a compliment on their throat punching skills before faking my concern for the guy who, without warning, took my hours away.
I have a savings, I'm not entirely irresponsible. So I show up to work with a smile. I'm looking for another job sadly. Maybe blogging or maybe teaching kids how to throat punch managers. I'm not entirely sure whats next. What I do know, is that this guy hasn't said one word to me, and I don't think he'll bother telling me anything about whats going on, or what my latest mistake may be. One thing is for sure though, he is moody as hell, and I have to give credit to the other drivers. We can care less about who has what hours. When I get to work its fun talking to everyone, we laugh out loud, make dumb jokes, compliment each others haircuts, and my boss could not be angrier with me(due to my apparent happiness). He unnecessarily slams random objects he has in hand, walks around aggressively as if to say, "Don't get in my way or else I'll use my (probably really powerful) grip on you.". If I'm not miserable, hes not happy. Well if your agenda is focused on anyone but yourself, I have bad news buddy, you'll never win. So I'm not going to engage on a petty war. I'll write my thoughts, explore solutions, ponder options, all in the interest of self improvement.
Here’s the short story. Do I deserve to be punished? Yes, absolutely probably. Should you tell me what I've done? Yes, absolutely. Here’s a thought, maybe if you address an issue to someone, just maybe, they'll FIX it. Don't wait 2 weeks to talk about it. I had to bring it up, like we’re in damn high school. The workers are great, the pay is good, the work is easy. I love this job, I really do. Its shit managers like these that ruin it. The best part is that I'm not even a horrible employee, if I was so bad then I'd be written up which they rarely do. Or I would have been fired. People don’t quit because of the job, people quit because of guys like him.
These thoughts are old, I'm over it now. I have what I need, I have a rich life. He is not worth my energy. I have a damn game to program, stocks to trade, a wife to make love to, a dog to play with, and a child to teach. I'm not perfect, but me and my family don't deserve to be at the end of this overgrown child’s petty payback plot.
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