Incredibly Frustrated with my Job! (long rant)
 

I started working at my job (retail) around October of last year. When I was first hired,everything was great; I got promoted within about a week, loved my job and my coworkers. My manager at the time ended up leaving to take a higher position in the company, and since then I've just become incredibly frustrated! I'm an incredibly hard worker, I'm on time, I've called into work only one time since I got hired (and that was due to an emergency), and I come in all the time on my off days to help out when they need me. For whatever reason though, my new manager just doesn't seem to notice/care how much work I put into my job! I keep hoping that if I continue to work hard, she'll finally notice and promote me. However, that doesn't seem to be the case! She ended up promoting 2 other people instead (one i think is doing a fabulous job, so no complaints here) and another one who I, along with my coworkers are just like "WTF were you thinking?!" He's on probation (assault), so he can't work certain hours, he's got a gambling problem (always slacking off at work, just basically playing scratchcards instead of doing his job) and he's incredibly irresponsible (Instead of just doing MY job, I end up having to do both his AND mine!) :mad: I think I'm just about to give up my hope of getting a promotion!

Now, on top of all of this, I'm having MAJOR trouble with our book keeper! Because of my position, Im in charge of ALOT of money (as much as 10,000 at a time); I never have trouble with our main bookkeeper, but our other one is killing me! My till has probably come up with a large shortage around 10-15 times since January. Now, it's ALWAYS been found-she loaned out the wrong amount of money to me, she picked up the wrong amount, forgot to put the right amount of money in my till, etc, so normally I don't really worry all that much. However, yesterday I was the first one there, and myself along with my other manager pulled all of the tills out of the safe. Well, somehow mine ended up being exactly 250$ short (exactly the amount of a bundle of 5's); I came into work today to find out that our main book keeper hadn't been able to find it! I'm incredibly frustrated at this because 1)it's just sad when it's gotten to the point that I have to audit my register when i pull it out of the safe (and furthermore, what does that say about the rest of the registers in our store?!) and 2) I;m pretty sure the other bookkeeper took it. This isn't the first time it's happened, and all of us "affectionately" refer to her as "______thethief". Even our other managers have tried to explain to my boss that she's been stealing, but she just won't believe it!


I just don't know what to do anymore.
I'm beyond frustrated!

get out of retail... it sucks, and chances are it's not going to lead anywhere but to grey hair and ridiciulously high stress levels for relatively low pay (i worked in retail for 3 years, my dad has worked in retail for his entire life)

I don't know who you work for, but do you have a loss prevention department? I worked for TJ Maxx, and we had a LP person that worked in our store, but we also had a 1800 number that we could call at any time, that was anonymous.

Who knows, your boss may be in on the stealing.

I actually agree with kddani, LOL.

Unless you really have a passion for it, get out of retail. I am burnt out on it. I am making a decent living and get good benefits, but it is devouring my soul. When I find something better, I'm out like a fat girl playing dodgeball. I am exploring other options now...particularly those don't involve so much customer ass-kissing, I mean service.

Yowzer. And I thought food service was bad?

Getting out of retail is not always as easy as it sounds. Unless, of course, you have a degree to fall back on. So many people major in artistic or philosophical studies and find that there are no real jobs out there for them. Hence, they end up in retail or teaching. Good luck on getting out.
Of course, you could always marry money........lol!!

I agree with kddani and JonInKC start looking for another job immediately. It's easier to switch jobs when you have one. Ask your former manager if you can use her as a reference. Why are you settling for a job where you are doing the work of two people and you're only getting the salary of one?

If you do work for a national chain, I highly recommend you go over your boss's head and contact your district manager confidentially if a 1800 number is not a option. I hope the other tills are consistently off for your sake. If not, it sounds like someone is trying to set you up to get fired for theft. It already sounds like your current boss might take the sticky fingered bookeeper's word over yours.

Everyone's given you good advice. I understand what you're going through as far as not being recognized for the hard work you put in, because I was in the exact same situation at my last retail job. It just seems like the harder you work, the more they expect, and they don't ever praise you for doing well. I could feel my brain cells dying every day from lack of use and finally I just got tired of kissing manager/customer butt, so I went back to school. Finding a way to get out of retail would be my advice, but if you really and truly love doing it then I would suggest just finding another job. It sounds like there's a little too much going on behind the scenes, and it isn't just the usual coworker drama--this could end up getting you in trouble, even though it's not your fault, so maybe it would be a good idea to get away from it. In the meantime, though, I agree that you should go over your boss' head and contact someone higher up about what's been going on.

even more importantly... if this money is missing from YOUR till, they could be framing you for the theft (especially if your complaints fall to silence from your boss). You could end up with a whole lot of criminal problems of your own that could affect you for the rest of your life.

Get out. If you really want to/absolutely must stay in retail, get another job. Retail jobs for good workers are NOT hard to find. Better yet would be to get an office job or something that will be better experience and have a brighter future...

Document EVERYTHING and have lots of witnesses. Your boss could easily go back and turn it against you, then it would be a higher up's word against yours, and you could be in a lot of shit.

ETA: looked through a few of your old posts, I guess you work at a grocery store. Get out. Now, while you can. You're not getting paid THAT well, and you're really not learning any real skills to be impressive on a resume. Even if you're head cashier or work the service desk or something, this experience is NOT worth your butt that is on the line. You're still in school (I think). I don't think it would kill you to quit and look for another job.

There's criminal activity going on. Get out, NOW.

Thanks guys. I'm starting school this fall, and I've got a new job starting this June, but I feel like I'm sorta stuck right now, because no one's going to hire me if I'm leaving in a few months. It's just frustrating because I know it's not me, my manager knows it's not me (she even said the last time it happened that she knew I hadn't taken it), but she doesn't seem to do anything about our other bookkeeper! This woman F's up like crazy, but she tries to blame it on everyone else *She's a senile bitch, and the only reason she's our bookkeeper is because that job is in the middle of the night, and no one wants to deal with her*. It's just sad honestly, especially since it's happened so MUCH! Like I said, it's always been found, but can you imagine what it's like to go and count down your money, and it's 800$ short(yep, I've had it happen!) It's definetely added more stress that just isn't needed at this point. I've thought about this all night (yeah, it's just sad when your job comes to this) and I think I'm going to sit down with my manager, express my concerns, and if she doesn't give me the feedback I want, then I'm not dealing with this bullsh*t anymore-If she needs a supervisor, not a problem, but no way am I going to do my current job anymore; even if that means I have to push carts and sack groceries, lol.

update: So i go into work today, planning on sitting down with my manager; but turns out she was off today and tomorrow, so I'll have to catch her Thursday. The good news is that my till ended up being straight; the silly little bookkeeper screwed up again (but for some reason, the main one lied and tried to tell me it was because of giftcards, which i dunno what's up with that(I found out from my supervisor); but oh well). Even though I'm only going to be here for a few more months, I've started looking at other jobs; not much better, but hopefully won't contain the same amount of incompetent people that I've dealt with at my current job! I mean, I can understand screwing up once or twice, but 15-20?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! How is that ok?!

At least with food service (and I am talking Micky D's, not waitressing) you give them what they want and they go away. Retail they hang around and ask tons of stupid questions.

This is true. Except when these kids (I work in campus dining) roll their eyes and make stupid faces at us when we tell them their fries/mozzarella sticks/whatever will take a few minutes because we have some down in the fryers and none up ready to serve. I hate that. Sometimes we have to cook while we are very busy and I think it's unreasonable of some people to expect fifteen second service when there's 10-15 people in line. Grrrrrrr. :mad:

Oh yeah, because teaching isn't a real job?:rolleyes:

pinkie- have you thought about trying to get work at a temp agency for the few months before you start your new job?

Crabtree and Evelyn are looking for part-time sales clerks at Willow Bend. I work part-time at Dillard's there. Totally worth checking out if you still want to stay in retail. Hope everything works for you. Feel free to pm me anytime if you want to vent

I'm getting frustrated with my job too, but I need to stick it out for a while longer (mainly because I get so much time off there now). Bottom line is, they hired someone to help me, because my co-worker was promoted to be the manager and has no time for his old job duties, so I was running myself ragged trying to do the job of two people. Problem is, the person they hired to help me has no experience and no previous knowledge. I am trying to do the job of two people and train this guy too, and I'm wiped out. It seems to me that he's not picking up anything. It's been three months that I've been doing intensive training, but there is still nothing he can do independently. It's very frustrating because I just can't do it all. My boss suggested that I give it a little more time and he thinks that the new guy will improve soon. I'm just not seeing it though. I'm actually thinking he is LD or has brain damage or something, because things I tell him 4, 5, 6 times, he still doesn't know.

Yes, very frustrated.

Of course it isn't. I mean, if you don't count the fact that teachers have to have a master's degree and work 100x harder than the vast majority of other professions, it's not a real job. I mean, c'mon...preparing our kids for life??? Sooooooooo not important. Teachers don't even get rich, so how can they be real professionals? :rolleyes:

I want to smack someone every time I hear that.

Teachers have to have a masters degree?

In some states it's now required. I have heard New York for sure.

In Ohio, you have 10 years (12 if you count your initial 2 year provisional license) to get your Masters (or the hours equivalent) or you cannot recieve another license. After the initial provisional 2 year license, Ohio gives out 5 year licenses and at the end of your second 5 year license, you have to have the Masters (or equivalent hours) or you lose your license to teach.

We do here in Kentucky. You can start teaching with just a bachelor's and they give you a little time to get your master's, but ultimately, you have to or you can't teach anymore.

In Michigan, you have 3 years to acquire 10 grad credits and another 3 to complete 18 (total). Once you're that close to a Master's, you might as well finish, especially since there is a great financial benefit in doing so.

Ditto in California. Here there are two kinds of credentials- Preliminary- for those right out of their credential and bachelor's programs, and Professional - which is at least 30 units in excess of your credential. You have 5 years after the preliminary to get your Professional. It's basically getting a Master's degree. Most districts highly encourage Master's degrees(plus your pay scale goes slightly higher) and the vast majority of the staff that I work with have them.

In addition to the 30 units, you also have to do 150 hours of professional development every 5 years. I also think California has some of the highest university requirements to get a credential. For me it was 30 units of coursework (now more I think since they just enacted a new credentialing process again) and 15 units of student teaching, plus in the district where I work there is a BTSA program where if a new teacher you must be in it for at least 2 years, and it's a lot of running around and conferences.

And yes, we get summers off, but we also don't get paid for 3 months. 9 paychecks a year if you're a bad budgeter can be scary.

Don't you have the option to have your paychecks cut and recieve 12 instead of 9??? I've seen a few districts give that option to teachers, but i can't think of which ones they are at the moment, lol.

Teaching isn't an easy job, to be sure, and masters degrees are required in many states, but I wouldn't necessarily make this statement.

Not in mine, nor the one I worked at before. Normally what people do is join the credit union and do a "summer saver" account where they do the math and put the equivalent into an account that you can't touch until summer(starting July 1st) meaning they charge ridiculous fees if you want to take out any money

It might come as a surprise, but teachers regularly pull 11- or 12-hour days, then go home and do more lesson plans and get materials ready for the next day, grade papers, go to lots of professional development, parent-teacher conferences, and staff meetings, and somehow find time to get together make-up work for absent students, sponsor an extracurricular activity or two, meet with students who are behind, and maintain a personal life--and that's after standing on their feet and running around all day. I'm sure there are teachers out there who hit the door as soon as the last bell rings and who do nothing with their whole summers off, but 99% of the ones I know are still doing work while all their friends in other jobs get to go home and sit on their butts.

Many other jobs have similar responsiblities and time commitments. What you stated does not make teaching "100x harder than the vast majority of other professions." Everyone's jobs have different requirements and different things that are difficult, there's nothing that particular to teaching that makes it 100x harder that most other professions.

As for the pay thing that's been mentioned in this thread.... that's not a problem with your profession, that's a problem with your ability to manage your money.

Sorry...I forgot to mention that we also have the responsibility of educating America's children. That's a lot of pressure! :p

"Pressure" and what profession is harder than another are all relative. What exactly is the measurement being used?

EXACTLY.

I respect what (most) educators do, but there comes a point where a lot of the arguments fall flat.

I have the pressure of making sure buildings don't fall down and kill people.

Personally I find that there are tons of other jobs that are difficult out there. I would never say my job is harder or more difficult than anyone elses because I don't do their job, just like I don't assume that my problems are any more difficult than anyone elses. Everyone has problems.

What is offensive is assuming that people don't know how to manage their money. No where in any of the posts did ANYONE say that they had a problem managing their money. I said "if "someone was a bad budgeter it might be scary. I know people that get paychecks every other week who are bad with money.

Maybe try not to be so judgemental.

Maybe try not to read into something that's not there. This seemed to have been a general discussion.

I didn't say anyone in particular didn't know how to manage their money. Don't read into things. It was a general "you", as no one here had said in particular that they had a problem. But it sure seemed like you were citing it as a reason in support of teaching being more difficult than other professions- or else why bring it up? What I said is true. Not being able to handle your money is a personal issue, and has nothing to do with teaching. If you know you only get a paycheck 9 months out of the year, you either get another job for those three months or budget your money. I don't feel sorry for someone who knows that upfront, and I don't feel pity for them for not being able to deal with it. Sorry.

While you didn't say that your job was harder than anyone else's, someone else did say that teaching was "100x harder that most other professions".

I must say, I am curious as to what in particular those professions are and how "harder" is measured.

Maybe that is the problem with English that I don't find to be a problem in French...the general and ubiquitous "you". It's much easier to understand a person's meaning in a language where the general "people" is expressed differently than "you". I say this with all respect, when you (and I mean you personally) used "you"(apparently in the general sense) in the statement that I quoted, it looked like an attack.

And no, I was not citing is as a reason why a lot of people find teaching to be a difficult profession, it was in addition to explaining the qualifications to become a teacher in the state where I reside, a quip really. Like I said, there are many difficult jobs out there. Teaching is just one of them. I'm sure dealing with criminals on a daily basis isn't easy, nor is picking up a gun and defending one's country, being a doctor or nurse, nor is being a good parent.

It might come as a surprise, but I worked as a preschool teacher during college, and did the job full-time for 6 months afterward.

It might come as a surprise, but both my mom and uncle were teachers. I also have quite a few friends in the profession. I have quite a bit of respect for those who do the job well, and am well-versed in the time commitments that teachers have on their plate.

It might come as a surprise, but plenty of other people (myself included) pull those days and longer at other jobs. Talk to construction workers, financial people, attorneys, journalists, publishing people, and people in many other professions. Long, hard hours, including time spent working at home, is not a characteristic unique to teachers.

It might come as a surprise, but nowhere in my post was an attack on teachers. I just think you were exaggerating quite a bit when you said that teachers work 100x harder than people at most professions.

*UPDATE*

Well, I recieved a call yesterday from a local bank looking for a teller, which really wouldn't be TERRIBLE, but I'm still trying to decide whether I want to quit since I'll be leaving in around 2 months. I've also been trying to figure out what I want to do since If i were to stay at my current job, I'll need to take a leave of absence for the summer/early fall; the company policy for personal leave of absences state that you can only have a leave for 30 days max; you can file for an extension,but that would be such a huge pain in the butt seeing as i'll be in MA; I ran into the woman that hired me for my current job and she said that if i ever need a job just to call her and she'll rehire me, which is great to have as a fall back. I'm really unsure right now as to what to do right now! I just don't want to quit, get another job, and then have to quit again ya know?! Oh well...I'll figure it out somehow.

I would vote for working as a teller over working in a grocery store any day. Looks much better on a resume, probably an overall better experience. If you're into banking or finance, a great way to potentially move up in the ranks of the bank.

Ooohhh YAY! Apparently Stephanie's pretty popular today, lol. I just got an interview lined up with Whole Foods for Thursday! I know it's still retail, but I llooveeee Whole foods! Plus, If i had to quit instead of taking a leave, i wouldnt feel THAT terrible about it.

Kddani has given you excellent advice.

If you want to work at Whole Foods for the rest of your life, then by all means... go for it. But, if you're looking to move onto a professional position in the future, she's right-- bank teller does look so much better on your resume.

I did a little research on Whole Foods (I shop there almost exclusively, btw) and did you know that the company pays its employees a pathetic average of $20,600 a year. Can you live on that? Is your time worth such poor wages?

Did you know that in one region-- the annual salary for full-time workers (ecept for meat cutters, bakers, buyers, and team leaders) ranges from $11,500 to $17,500! There are no cost of living increases, and no overtime.

They are not unionized except for one store in Madison, WI. Chances are, your local grocery chain pays much, much more if it's unionized.

Are you looking for a job or a career? That's the question you have to ask yourself.

I definetely think that kd has given me excellent advice, which i greatly appreciate! Right now I work almost full time (I'm pulling about 30ish hours a week) and if you were to add up my pay for a year, it would not even be 10k (and I am part of a Union). Since January, I've barely passed 2k. Keep in mind I'm going to school this fall, and I have an awesome job lined up for this summer (pay is much better, I can get certification in CPR, etc., plus, Im majoring in Ed, so It's good experience since it's camp counseling but is almost like a teaching position) so Im not looking for anything that's going to span more than a few months, and maybe if I'm able to keep it by just taking a leave, a weekend or two every month since the school I plan on attending is in a pretty small town (meaning not alot of job opportunities). I did call the woman from the bank and am going in for an interview, so who knows, but I would feel bad about taking a job and then having to quit in just a few months; that's why I think Retail is probably the better route, seeing as people tend to come and go and it really wouldn't be a big deal.

Oh well...I guess we'll see right???
Thanks for the help yall, and I'll keep yall updated!

ok...so basically, this was how my whole foods interview went: I go in, and she had just finished up with her previous interview. So she asks me all these fun questions (actually, she was a little rude, but whatever) and then she tells me that she's doing all these interviews for these positions, but there's no positions open! So I'm like, "wtf am i doing here?!"
Ah well. My current job has gotten a little better, plus I just got a raise, so I think I may try and stick it out a little bit longer. Working at a bank would be an excellent opportunity for me, and maybe once i come back from MA this summer it's something I'll consider doing, but for right now, I would just feel too bad getting a job, not even working there for 2 months, and then leaving.

Thanks for yall's help, and I'll keep ya updated!!!