Burning Your Bridges With Midnight Oil
Pharmacy | Working | September 28, 2015
(When I was hired at this store, it was under the condition that I will not have to work midnight shifts because the last bus I can take home leaves at nine. I am not the only special case when it comes to scheduling, but I am the only one in the store who takes the bus. About six months later, the store goes through a change in management. Throughout the change and the holiday season that year, the majority of the store employees realize the new manager is not so great and is firing people for arbitrary and possibly illegal reasons. After the holiday season he stops scheduling me entirely unless it is to cover sick call outs. Then I get this phone call.)
Manager: “Hi, [My Name], this is [Manager]. I’m calling because you never filled out this paperwork.”
Me: “I didn’t know I had any paperwork to fill out. I’m sorry.”
Manager: “Well, you have to do it on the store computer and it was due three weeks ago. Everyone had to do it, but you didn’t.”
Me: “So, you do know you haven’t scheduled me in the last two months, right? I call every week.”
Manager: “Right, but this was due three weeks ago.”
Me: “How was I supposed to do it on the store computer if you never have me in the store? Why didn’t anyone tell me about it when I called to see if I was on the schedule?”
Manager: “Yeah, it was due three weeks ago.”
Me: “I didn’t know about it and you haven’t scheduled me in months. Why are you calling me now if it was due three weeks ago?”
Manager: “Well, you should just come in sometime and we’ll talk in person.”
(A couple days later, I go in to talk to him. After repeating that I should have known about something I had no way of knowing, I ask why I haven’t been scheduled.)
Manager: “Well, can you work midnight shifts?”
Me: “No. I take the bus and the last bus home for me leaves at nine.”
Manager: “Everyone has to work at least one midnight shift a week. You can get someone to give you a ride home.”
Me: “I’m not really comfortable with that. I don’t want to have to ask a different person for a ride home every night and have the entire store know where I live. I take the bus. When I was hired, I was told I did not have to work until midnight because of the bus schedule.”
Manager: “Everyone has to do it.”
(At this point I ask if several employees who have only ever worked one specific shift in the ten-plus years they had been there were now working midnights. He says no to each one.)
Manager: “Everyone has to work until midnight at least once a week, so you’ll just have to get a ride home or get a car.”
Me: “I would love to get a car, but I don’t have enough money for one. It’s hard to make money when you’re not on the schedule.”
Manager: “What about the people you live with?”
Me: “They have a newborn and jobs they wake up early for. I can’t ask them to pick me up. As for the people here, I am not comfortable asking perpetual strangers to take me home. When I was hired [Old Manager] promised I would not be forced to work beyond the bus schedule.”
Manager: “Well, if you won’t work midnights, I’ll have to fire you.”
Me: “Let me get this straight. You’re firing me for not having a car?”
Manager: “For refusing to work.”
Me: “I can’t work midnights. I was hired on the condition I would never have to work midnights. There are no buses past nine. I can work any other shift up to 8:50 pm. I want to work. I need a paycheck.”
Manager: “Okay, well, I’m just going to have to let you go. If you want, I can put a note in your file that this was a mutual decision so you can work for the company again in the future.”
Me: “Absolutely not. This is NOT a mutual agreement. You are FIRING me. And don’t worry. After my experience in the last year with you, I would never try to work for the company again. They clearly do not care about their employees!”
(I was friends with several of the shift managers and heard that over the next year, more than half the store had either quit because of his policies or had been fired for similarly flimsy reasons.)
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