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pauraque_bkCross-posted from my personal journal.
Summary for the tl;dr impaired: I got laid off. However, congratulations are probably more appropriate than condolences.
A Timeline
May 2002: I quit my job at Petco to work for a beleaguered independent art supply store suffering from heavy corporate competition. It's "just temporary". The Boss of this store, I will soon learn, is Evil.
May 2003: I acquire a LiveJournal. Not for the purpose of detailing the TOTAL INSANITY into which my working life has descended in the past year, but I write about that too.
August 2003: A police standoff outside our building ends with Evil Boss sending one of his employees and his only son unknowingly into the line of fire. Why? So that he can try to open the store, against the orders of the police. No one is hurt, but it's a turning point. Evil Boss is not simply evil, he is clinically insane.
May 2004: For two years, I have been working for a crazy man. I don't know what it says about me that I've been promoted to management. I've stopped listening to the constant rumors about the place going under, because it's been dangling by a thread for even longer than I've worked there myself.
February 2005: Evil Boss hires a drug-addicted prostitute, who is shortly fired.
March 2005: Evil Boss hires ANOTHER drug-addicted prostitute, who is shortly fired.
May 2005: Three years.
This month: Evil Boss has kept more things in stock. People have mostly stopped asking if we're going out of business.
Saturday: Evil Boss calls in the morning telling us to put everything on sale for half off. No advertising. Mrs Evil Boss shows up during the day and buys a bunch of stuff.
Sunday: At the end of the day Evil Boss and Evil Boss's Friend show up, and he encourages her to buy as much junk as possible, and gives her cut rates on all of it. She still buys $3000 of stuff, even at a discount. We are at the store an extra HOUR ringing it up and putting it in her car.
Over drinks that night, my co-worker and I decide that Evil Boss's behavior can only mean he's selling the store, but that he'll most likely hang on through the holidays since we have so much stock. I confide in him that I've been thinking about quitting anyway due to some health issues that I really need to take care of.
Today: I come in late. Before I can do anything, the GM beckons me over desperately. He says, "Today is our last day. He announced it at the meeting when you weren't here. We've all been laid off."
I quickly get the scoop, which is that Evil Boss is selling off all the stock to our competitor tomorrow, but he wants all the employees to stay today and act normal. He wants us not to tell the customers that this is the last day. We laugh, and eat the chocolate cake that somebody brought, and tell them almost gleefully that YES, we are finally going out of business. I've never been happier to be laid off -- I would have left anyway in a month or two, and this way I'm eligible for unemployment.
As the day wears on, employees grow restless and start looting the store. First the store use drawer, yes. Then just taking shit off the shelves, and hell if we're going to stop them. "This is my severance package," says Midwestern Purchaser with a smile as she picks out the transfer type pages she wants. At this point, the GM is tagging (i.e. graffiti-ing) the signs.
Bored of this, employees begin taking their loot home. Hell if we're stopping them. It's around 4pm. I'm in a good mood, so I take over the register when the cashier decides to leave. I'm having a good time giving people discounts and accepting checks left and right.
Then Evil Boss's Friend shows up and starts putting a whole new pile of stuff on the counter. My good mood evaporates. There's a line of people buying one or two things, and we have only one register (because Evil Boss refused to fix the other ones). I call the GM over and tell him that what we did last night was to write down all her item numbers and do her transaction when there was no one else waiting.
He grumblingly agrees to do this, muttering that it's a waste of time. He's getting tired and antsy, and wants to go home. Evil Boss's Friend then DEMANDS that I just start ringing her huge pile of shit ahead of all these other people who have one thing. I turn to the GM and say, "If this is what's going to happen, I'm going to walk out of here."
Evil Boss's Friend says: "You should ask [Evil Boss] what he wants you to do, I'm sure he wants you to ring me up first."
The GM laughs and says: "What's he gonna do, fire us?"
I say: "What do I care what [Evil Boss] wants? He just laid us all off with no notice." And as I'm talking, there's this anger flooding up that's not about this specific situation at all, and I say: "I'm leaving now. I'm walking out of here." And I start to walk away.
Evil Boss's Friend snarls: "I'm sorry, but I have to have this rung up now! You're being very unprofessional!"
I say: "We don't work here anymore, do you understand that? What's unprofessional is [Evil Boss] laying off his staff with no notice, people who live paycheck to paycheck and haven't had time to find another job. What's unprofessional is the shitty way he's always treated us, and is continuing to do even on our last day." I'm yelling, and everyone's looking at me, but I don't care.
Evil Boss's Friend yells back: "You don't have to take it out on the customers. I'm sorry--"
I say: "You're not sorry, and I'm not taking it out on the customers, YOU are taking it out on these people who have been waiting and just want to buy one thing. And these are mine--" I'm taking my paintings down from the wall. "--and now I'm leaving."
And I take my paintings and I take my bike and I start to leave, and as I'm walking out the door one of my (ex) co-workers says that [Evil Boss] is buying pizza and beer for people who stay.
And I hear myself say: "I can't break bread with him." And I go home.
The end.
Summary for the tl;dr impaired: I got laid off. However, congratulations are probably more appropriate than condolences.
A Timeline
May 2002: I quit my job at Petco to work for a beleaguered independent art supply store suffering from heavy corporate competition. It's "just temporary". The Boss of this store, I will soon learn, is Evil.
May 2003: I acquire a LiveJournal. Not for the purpose of detailing the TOTAL INSANITY into which my working life has descended in the past year, but I write about that too.
August 2003: A police standoff outside our building ends with Evil Boss sending one of his employees and his only son unknowingly into the line of fire. Why? So that he can try to open the store, against the orders of the police. No one is hurt, but it's a turning point. Evil Boss is not simply evil, he is clinically insane.
May 2004: For two years, I have been working for a crazy man. I don't know what it says about me that I've been promoted to management. I've stopped listening to the constant rumors about the place going under, because it's been dangling by a thread for even longer than I've worked there myself.
February 2005: Evil Boss hires a drug-addicted prostitute, who is shortly fired.
March 2005: Evil Boss hires ANOTHER drug-addicted prostitute, who is shortly fired.
May 2005: Three years.
This month: Evil Boss has kept more things in stock. People have mostly stopped asking if we're going out of business.
Saturday: Evil Boss calls in the morning telling us to put everything on sale for half off. No advertising. Mrs Evil Boss shows up during the day and buys a bunch of stuff.
Sunday: At the end of the day Evil Boss and Evil Boss's Friend show up, and he encourages her to buy as much junk as possible, and gives her cut rates on all of it. She still buys $3000 of stuff, even at a discount. We are at the store an extra HOUR ringing it up and putting it in her car.
Over drinks that night, my co-worker and I decide that Evil Boss's behavior can only mean he's selling the store, but that he'll most likely hang on through the holidays since we have so much stock. I confide in him that I've been thinking about quitting anyway due to some health issues that I really need to take care of.
Today: I come in late. Before I can do anything, the GM beckons me over desperately. He says, "Today is our last day. He announced it at the meeting when you weren't here. We've all been laid off."
I quickly get the scoop, which is that Evil Boss is selling off all the stock to our competitor tomorrow, but he wants all the employees to stay today and act normal. He wants us not to tell the customers that this is the last day. We laugh, and eat the chocolate cake that somebody brought, and tell them almost gleefully that YES, we are finally going out of business. I've never been happier to be laid off -- I would have left anyway in a month or two, and this way I'm eligible for unemployment.
As the day wears on, employees grow restless and start looting the store. First the store use drawer, yes. Then just taking shit off the shelves, and hell if we're going to stop them. "This is my severance package," says Midwestern Purchaser with a smile as she picks out the transfer type pages she wants. At this point, the GM is tagging (i.e. graffiti-ing) the signs.
Bored of this, employees begin taking their loot home. Hell if we're stopping them. It's around 4pm. I'm in a good mood, so I take over the register when the cashier decides to leave. I'm having a good time giving people discounts and accepting checks left and right.
Then Evil Boss's Friend shows up and starts putting a whole new pile of stuff on the counter. My good mood evaporates. There's a line of people buying one or two things, and we have only one register (because Evil Boss refused to fix the other ones). I call the GM over and tell him that what we did last night was to write down all her item numbers and do her transaction when there was no one else waiting.
He grumblingly agrees to do this, muttering that it's a waste of time. He's getting tired and antsy, and wants to go home. Evil Boss's Friend then DEMANDS that I just start ringing her huge pile of shit ahead of all these other people who have one thing. I turn to the GM and say, "If this is what's going to happen, I'm going to walk out of here."
Evil Boss's Friend says: "You should ask [Evil Boss] what he wants you to do, I'm sure he wants you to ring me up first."
The GM laughs and says: "What's he gonna do, fire us?"
I say: "What do I care what [Evil Boss] wants? He just laid us all off with no notice." And as I'm talking, there's this anger flooding up that's not about this specific situation at all, and I say: "I'm leaving now. I'm walking out of here." And I start to walk away.
Evil Boss's Friend snarls: "I'm sorry, but I have to have this rung up now! You're being very unprofessional!"
I say: "We don't work here anymore, do you understand that? What's unprofessional is [Evil Boss] laying off his staff with no notice, people who live paycheck to paycheck and haven't had time to find another job. What's unprofessional is the shitty way he's always treated us, and is continuing to do even on our last day." I'm yelling, and everyone's looking at me, but I don't care.
Evil Boss's Friend yells back: "You don't have to take it out on the customers. I'm sorry--"
I say: "You're not sorry, and I'm not taking it out on the customers, YOU are taking it out on these people who have been waiting and just want to buy one thing. And these are mine--" I'm taking my paintings down from the wall. "--and now I'm leaving."
And I take my paintings and I take my bike and I start to leave, and as I'm walking out the door one of my (ex) co-workers says that [Evil Boss] is buying pizza and beer for people who stay.
And I hear myself say: "I can't break bread with him." And I go home.
The end.
