Incredibly Frustrated with my Job! (long rant)

[pinkiebell1001]

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!) 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!

[kddani]

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.

[JonInKC]

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.

[I_Love_Penguins]

Yowzer. And I thought food service was bad?

[Hamptonhottie]

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!!

[wrigley]

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.

[AchtungBaby80]

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.

[kddani]

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.

[pinkiebell1001]

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.

[pinkiebell1001]

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?!

[33girl]

Originally posted by I_Love_Penguins
Yowzer. And I thought food service was bad?

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.

[I_Love_Penguins]

Originally posted by 33girl
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.

[AOII_LB93]

Originally posted by Hamptonhottie
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.

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

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

[tnxbutterfly]

Originally posted by pinkiebell1001
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.

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

[AGDee]

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.