So Long, Nordstrom!
I debated on posting this update, partly because I was still processing events at the time. I also talked about it extensively on Mastodon and with my partner...but those posts have since been long buried, and people who come across this blog in the future won't have access to them at all. Doubly so since my posts are set to auto-delete.
Last week was especially taxing. Lisa Marie, my manager, kept hounding me and my coworkers over the smallest thing. She's a real control freak, and wanted us to do certain things to her satisfaction. Such as highlighting scanned boxes, sorting discardable cardboard from the returnables, marking off audited packages, and labeling the mens' and womens' shoe carts. Most of these I didn't care about and could do, but I objected to the BS of highlighting scanned boxes. I know for sure what I do and don't scan, but can't say what goes on when we aren't here on weekends. Other people work the pallets on those days, so any missing scans likely come from them.
Things really amped up on Tuesday, when Lisa threw a fit over a few mixed boxes. I spoke up to say that we briefly loss access to one of our bins while the cardboard was being fed into the baler. Lisa got upset again, when she spotted an unlabeled shoe cart. She harassed first the new guy, then me, and I wasted no time in correcting her. That shoe cart was being worked by a member of the floor team. And then she blew a gasket when she saw the audit page was flipped to a new sheet. I pointed out that another coworker did that, so Lisa went after her.
What a fucking pain!
I was so over her shit by the end of the day, but figured I could keep with it until I found a new job. Or, much sooner, talk to the store manager and maybe convince her to get Lisa to tone it down. But to my horror, the store manager was off two days in a row, and by the time she returned, it was already too late.
You see, I snapped at Lisa on Wednesday, telling her to leave me alone when she once again questioned me over fucking highlighters. Lisa took this and made up a sob story to our store manager. They sat me down Thursday afternoon, where a smug Lisa got to tell her side, and continued to talk at me and ignore my complaints. To make matters worse, the store manager seemed to be on her side, and even gave me a canned spiel about customer satisfaction. Lisa insisting she wouldn't back down, that she'd continue to relentlessly ask me the same stale fucking questions until I "got with the program," really got under my skin.
I was screwed either way, all for a failing system. We never should've stopped scanning and sorting packages en masse. This latest system was screwing us over, but everyone was content to let it run its course before regrouping.
This was also around the time I realized that several managers that were here when I first started were either gone or leaving. And that I would be without allies soon.
And so I said fuck it, and decided to make Thursday my last day on the job. I told two of my coworkers minutes before I clocked out an hour early (I wanted to beat the dark because the roads were icy). To my surprise, and without prompting, one coworker mentioned Lisa's habit of micromanaging. I didn't know she felt the same, but it felt so nice to know I wasn't alone or crazy. I felt the same way when the new guy thanked me for speaking up on Tuesday. He's been frustrated and wanting to leave since day one, and I can't blame him at all. I hope he finds a new job soon...
Wouldn't it be funny if management realized their mistakes, when three employees quit within a month? The other guy quit on my day off, presumably cause he was tired of Lisa's shit. And he's an older guy, in his late forties or early fifties. I'm sure he's found a new and better job by now.
I'm taking it easy before I dive into the job hunt, but I'm still casually glancing at jobs. I know now that I was experiencing burnout, on top of being sick of Lisa's shit. Plus, I don't know if I'll need to leave this country soon. No point in getting too settled in, ya know? But I'm still in school, so this needed break gives me additional time for studying and such. I'm also taking time to upload my books on other platforms, and even offer print copies of my books through my shop (thanks to Bookvault).
I even got a map made for my Last Train Home series! I still need to properly share it on my main blog, but that can come later. It's a really cool map and I can't wait to show it off. Any new readers will see the new map, but everyone else will need to refresh their files. I plan on commissioning more maps in the future, once I have the funds...
Anyway, this post has gotten very long in the tooth, far longer than my average and what I expected. My upcoming posts will hopefully be more cheerful. Getting the jeers out is a huge boon for my mental health, but I want to celebrate the good, too.