Happy Holidays

The company I worked for was growing fast. It was started almost 8
years ago and by 2010 we had 1,000 employees. We had several departments
throughout the company. We did a lot of international work along with
work inside the states.

Our owner always pushed us to donate to charities
in the community. He always presented himself as a strong
Christian and always having his employees and their families in mind.
That being said, we were supposed to have the 23rd and the 26th of December
off for recognizing the holidays. Well, four hours before we were
supposed to leave for the holidays, the VP of Human Resources came to
our building and told us that effective immediately they were closing our dept.
No severence packages, no holiday pay, nothing at all. Even though we
have donated thousands of dollars to charites of his choice out of our
pockets.

Thank you, Mr. C.

Tell Them To Eat Some Meat

I work in the deli of a very small, locally owned grocery store, the
type of place that sells only organic fruits and vegetables, fair
trade coffee, unpasteurized cheeses, and the like. The type of place
that you walk into and immediately your sinuses are bombarded with the
scent of patchouli oil. At our weekly staff meetings there is always
time for comments and suggestions, when we are encouraged to speak our
minds and pass on the concerns and comments we hear from customers. We
recently got a new manager who doesn’t seem to understand our customer
base at all (mostly hippies, hipsters, and various levels of
vegetarian). She’s been phasing out vegan dishes and has rid the place
of anything gluten-free. I’ve been hearing soooo many complaints from
customers and noticing a drop in sales. At our meeting yesterday I
mentioned this and suggested having one gluten-free vegan entree and
one gluten-free vegan pastry available every day. In the most
condescending voice I’ve ever heard in my life, she advised me that no
one is gluten intolerant and they will never know the difference if we
sell cupcakes that are not gluten free. She says if anyone asks if
something is gluten free, it’s ok to tell them maybe or probably. I’m
looking for work elsewhere, but I’d like to see her fired before I go.

FOX News

I work for a boss whom, up until very recently, I thought was a very
nice individual. I work as a barista inside of a small franchise
coffee shop, which often requires a lot from the staff, due to severe
limitations on hourly availability, calling people in when we need
back-up, and training new people in unfamiliar territory (our drinks
are very different from our competitors).

My boss and I never talked much- I knew she’d been a teacher and
worked her way up to $85K a year where she was, and then she started
the coffee shop. When we had spoken, we got along very well- we spoke
about how we think the educational system is broken, the possibility
of college degrees becoming the next “bubble” for our society, and
what should/should not be taught in schools (granted, we never got
into controversial subjects such as evolution… just in case.)

Earlier in the week, we’d been indulging ourselves in a bit of
conversation while it was slow and our duties were done at that time,
talking about the value of Wikipedia as a reputable source. We’d
expressed dissenting views, but this somehow shifted over to news
networks, in which she referenced the “Communist News Network”, which
was a new name for CNN for myself, and she expressed her fondness for
Fox News.

Immediately I saw a pigeon hole opening, and it was soon inundated
with pigeons as she began raving about how our society needs more
people like Glen Beck and Sean Hannity and without warning, this
springboards her into morality and religion in general.
She goes off into a long-winded tirade about how homosexuals are an
abomination; about how states that legalized gay marriage are
destroying our nation (despite us being nowhere near these states) and
generally how she feels the moral fabric of our society is eroding
into a “secular abyss”.

I’ll admit, it was particularly stupid on my part, (considering I’m
not full time, and therefore not liable to receive unemployment) to
mumble out to her that I was not only bisexual, but I’m an Atheist. I
didn’t try to argue with her views, nor debate theology- I simply
informed her of my stance, hoping she would get the idea that I was
incredibly uncomfortable.

Well, I’m not quite sure which part of that made her face contort into
shock and surprise. I can only assume she didn’t expect it of me
because I was a reliable, efficient employee, and all of that
(obviously) was then washed away by unrelated facts.

Needless to say, I don’t imagine I have long at this job.

Coming Up Roses

In 1997 I was in my senior year of high school and was looking to make
some extra money. I went to work for a landscaping company because I
thought it would get me in shape for the summer.

For the first few weeks it was great but the first hint of a problem
appeared when my boss (not the owner, just supervisor) went from
being pleasant to hitting on me openly. He was an out and out swish
and must have thought I would be receptive to his advances….which I
was not!

I wanted to keep the job so I didn’t hit him, but I made it clear I
had a girlfriend and was not “that way”.

One day about the middle of summer, I was trenching for a retaining
wall drain tube and turned around to get the sun out of my eyes when I
noticed something moving around in a bunch of roses that had been
delivered, shaking them violently. I went over and parted them and
there was dude, with his pants around his ankles, a glassy look in his
eyes and pleasuring himself furiously at, I assumed, my sweating form.

I turned in my gear and quit the job that very day and never went
back.