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I think I am completely insane, but maybe not?

Tell me the worst job experience you have had. I just had something I have never experienced before happen with my new job, and I wonder if I am alone.

I want to hear stories.. maybe to boost my self doubt or just to say, damn I thought I had it bad.

***** So the story goes I had a few coworkers at this place who are miserable people. I found out that they are non degree holding so they make just barely over minimum wage and I was hired new making more than they do. The rely on OT to make up for their ignorance. They don't take breaks, or drink water or have other forms of self care during the day. 1/2 mandatory lunch so they can't work through that.
One of this small group of women decided it was her place to scare the crap out of me by requesting that I shadow her to know what was in store for the busier period that was coming.
NOTE: this place has a high turn over and is severely short staffed.
As part of shadowing her, she pulled nearly all the samples we had in the cooler, leaving not much for the other employees. Then she started to process the samples all over the lab without letting any other employees know to monitor them. She had about 7 or 8 samples going at once. I know there is a degree of multitasking involved but come on.
At first I started to ask about the job, question about the machines and what they do. She could not answer much and when she did, it was curt at best. Most of the day was spent in silence.
She proceeded for hours to not allow me to help in any way. I couldn't even toss the recycling. She wanted to show me what the job was really like.
We started at 6 am. At around 3 (second break of the day) which she did not take, I talked to the supervisor and told him this was the worst work day of my life. That the only thing she was teaching me was who was in charge around that place and obviously it was not him. I was told I would be working with someone else the next day.
When I got back from break, the passive aggressive behavior continued with her telling me that I was going to have to do the same amount of samples the next day, on my own. Even without her really showing me much. I lost it, told her she wins. That I was out of there and was she proud that she got me to quit? That I do not play this power trip crap and when I work it is as a team.
She was smiling. It was her whole mission to get me to quit and when I told the supervisor that it was the most unprofessional place I have ever worked, he just asked for my badge.
I knew what she was doing and I let it get to me.

Akfishlady 8 June 6
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36 comments

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13

I nearly got written up for not doing my job on my day off once. I was working @wholefoods and my job was cutting up fruit & veg, making soup kits etc. The assistant manager kept complaining that my wall was only full on days that I worked and that they were running out of product on my day off. Another employee worked that section on my days off but wasn't producing much.
He tried to issue me a write up once. Told the store manager that I wasn't performing adequately. When we sat down to discuss the issue I explained to the store manager that the days the assistant were referring to were in fact, my days off. The store manager just sat there astounded for a minute and finally asked the assistant "You want to write her up because she's not there to do her job on her days off?!!" "Well yes, she should be making enough product to last while she's gone" the assistant replied. Store manager sent me to lunch and proceeded to rip the assistant a new one for extreme stupidity.

What a great story! When you get past the unfairness of it, it's hilarious, and it has a happy ending!

@OldWiseAss most of the weird stuff that happens to me at least has the virtue of being pretty funny.

11

Digging post holes in southern summer heat.

I've had some bosses who were completely bonkers.

of course there's a possibility I made them that way.

@hankster Snort!

9

I was fired from a bartending job because the till was coming up short on busy nights when the owner's son was working with me. He found out soon that it was his son who was taking the money.

9

I'm so sorry it's been rough, @akfishlady. I've had two verbally abusive and aggressive bosses. One of them was a catholic bishop. I think the other one was an alcoholic.

9

Does getting canned 2 separate times on April fool's day count?
Lol

8

25+ years ago I was sitting in my office working (my back was to the door...and my boss walked in and stood behind me...he commented a few things on what I was working on and then told me he "had a surprise" for me. I turned around in my chair (swivel chair) and was face to face with his dick. I immediately pushed the chair back away from him, stood up, and ordered him to go put his damn pants on. I was fired a week later. Honestly, men really have no idea what women have been going through for decades in the workplace and since the beginning of time in general. I have always worked in male dominated professions....I have at least 20 more stories that would leave you shaking your head in utter disbelief. This is why I love cell phones with their cameras and video recorders....

stapler might have come in handy in that moment.

8

I was working at an animal hospital. I got attacked by a dog. One of the attack zones was my breast. It was possible that I would need plastic surgery. To make light of the situation, I joked to my boss that I would need a boob job (I'm well endowed and definitely don't need a boob job). She told the insurance company I was scamming them for a boob job. She almost cost me coverage. I complained to the owner about it and they fired me. Yes, I took them to court and settled.

Holy shit!

That's terrible. The US is under-unionised.

8

Two incidents compete for first place:

  1. I was fired from a major car dealership in the 1990s (I was an administrative assistant) because I refused to have sex with one of the partners.

  2. Working in my current profession, I had an attorney try to get me to sign another attorney’s name to court pleading, because the other attorney had gone to Florida for the Super Bowl and the pleading he left to be filed was missing a signature. I refused. A month later I was fired for a bogus reason stating I missed a deadline in a case I wasn’t even working on. It was an eye opener, for certain.

8

I had a boss who whenever I asked what I could do for her would reply: "poke my eyes out with daggers." She would sing show tunes at the top of her lungs when she was nervous which was everyday. Her husband would attend events I helped plan for the company and would tell raceist jokes and get drunk.

8

I got fired from a job once for being too intelligent and ambitious. Taught me.

8

You are definitely not alone because I think everybody has experienced something they have never had happen before in every new job.

8

Being shipped into a new job in another town and told I was to manage the team there, only to discover that no one knew I was coming in to be their manager and they were outraged that a non-graduate could be given a superior position to them. So they promptly set about petitioning to have me demoted... And succeeded, as I was too stressed to compete against their campaign of constant undermining.

7

I didn't quit over it, but being punched, kicked, bit, and spit on by a 12-year-old girl while trying to prevent her from biting chunks out of herself during a psychotic break was probably the most memorable/traumatizing couple hours of work.

Otherwise, a few months of doing credit card collections was more psychologically erosive

7

Let's see, I had two jobs when I was 16 and 17 that had me working 50 hour weeks into 2 and 3 am on school nights. One never paid me and 'accidentally' posted my copy of my social security card and drivers license on the bathroom door and fired me when I was sick with pneumonia and couldn't cover the bosses flake drug addict daughters shift for the 16th time that month. The one I had before this one the district manager came in and was telling me how poor people choose to be poor while paying me minimum wage while I was assistant manager. I disagreed, while off the clock, on my day off. He fired me so I told him to eat a dick and the next week the roof collapsed on the business. Hah.

Oh and I had a boss tell me I had quit once. I told her I never quit and she said "well I'm not hiring you back cause you quit"

7

I used to work Hotel maintenance for my mother who was the hotel manager. My jobs were greens keeping, pool maintenance, and running baggage for Florida tours for retired people... Which included the room maintenance like plunging toilets as soon as they get off the bus and that sort of thing. I worked for minimum wage plus gratuity...?

Wow, that's some hard work. Just curious, but were they generous in their tipping? (Edited for grammar)

@Lauren no. Rarely did anyone tip, because they "tipped" as part of their tour package. It was agreed that the tour company paid for my hourly rate, plus a buck per bag both ways. And nothing extra for all the toilets I plunged from them sitting on a bus all bunged up for hours or mattresses that i had to swap because "Irving" couldn't sleep on something so soft...

6

I worked in a shop,that was,the equivalent of a pound or dollar store,wether you are from the US or the UK.
The store was run,by a tyrant of a man,who belittled you,saying you were useless and you won't last long,he did this,on a daily basis,to other staff aswell,why we did not know,power I think,in a pound store,in the end,we all walked out on the same day,we had our testimonies taken,he was sacked, and we were offered our old jobs back,out of principle,we all said know,the very next day I took a choice step,in a new job,support worker,where I have worked for 16 years so far,with physical needs and people with learning difficulties.

6

Mine is nothing like these in that the company, in this case the US Air Force, did nothing wrong.

In 1975 at age 20 I went on a mission from Clark AFB in the Philippines to Hong Kong. The flight was on one of a small group of specially marked C-130 transport planes. Specially marked in that they had no markings, nothing to indicate country of origin. We all joked that if the crew told you where they were going, they had to kill you. And your family. Military humor....

So we take off and the mission is revealed. There are several "suits" with us, turns out they are from the State Department. There are also four coffins, and I notice, four folded flags. The government has negotiated with the North Vietnamese and Chinese to recover the cremated remains of four American pilots. We are to transport the remains to Thailand where they will be taken to the Army identification lab.The mission is a secret, I'd only been briefed after takeoff, and we're told that if we see press when we get off the plane, get back on and let the State Department guys takeover. Say nothing.

So we land and off go the State Department guys. They return the next day.

After we took off, the four sets of remains were removed from the box that held them and been loaded on the plane. As one was removed, it was handed to me. I held it in my lap while the coffins were opened and the flags unfolded.

Each set of remains was ceremoniously placed in the coffins, and then each was covered with a flag. When we landed in Thailand, the coffins were removed from the plane by an honor guard, one at a time.

It was the moment I first held the remains that is my "worst" experience. Worst in that it brought home the reality that war, at its core, is about killing people. Good war (few), bad war (most), whatever. Death is not a video game.

Nothing else compares.

I'm not gonna like this, but I feel you. Thanks for sharing this.

6

In a job, I did a good few years ago we ie about 4-5 of us had to drive a fair way to before we started earning money. this bloke younger than me was given the car to drive there and back. on the way there he drove like a fucking idiot sitting really close up other cars bumpers/fenders while driving really fast and laughed when we asked him to slow down. at the end of working, I made a point of cleaning myself up quicker than him. the keys were always left in the car on the different farms so no problem there. I went straight to the car and sat in the driving seat and waited for the others. when the designated driver and my boss got there he kicked up a right old stink about it being his job, he said I would get fired and much more. my so-called comrades said fuck all to his face either. I told him I don't give a fuck what happens when we get back but there is no way he is driving me ever again and if he doesn't like it he can walk or climb in but he isn't driving. he even said he would drag me out of the seat to which I replied: "I will fight like fuck to stay in the driver's seat but if you can get me out ill fucking hitch" he kind of mumbled and moaned but buckled and I drove. he was bitching on the way home too but I just ignored the twat. it turned out I didn't get the sack and I was the driver if he was there.

6

I had a regional manager who liked to intimidate people due to his size, he was a large fellow who worked out at the gym quite often. I refused to be pushed around by him and one day he asked me if I thought I was a tough guy. I told him I would show him tomorrow. The next day I showed him some excerpts from my 201 file, which is an Army personnel file. He looked at them, handed them back and never tried that again. I am no badass and I'll rather be peaceful but I do know some things.

5

My worst experience was the time when a peer manager pointedly told me that she had a hand gun in her car and knew how to use it.

And that's when I would have called the police. OMG?

5

My first job, detasseling corn in a Nebraska summer. Hot, dirty, and teenaged crap. That was my first encounter with how really mean teenaged girls were. I was one, I just didn't hang out with them, and no one from my school bothered me.

5

Can you give details?

@Akfishlady I am so sorry. That is truly awful and I'm sad that bad behaviour ran you out of your new job.

@Akfishlady

I don't know what you could have done differently.

There is a problem with management style if there is such a high turnover. You shouldn't berate yourself. You can't be responsible for vindictive head cases.

4

Managing a new retail store for a large and distant corporation. Unrelenting pressure to perform from despicable roving know-nothing "supervisors" requiring me to write reports, explain $ales and profit figure$, improve the numbers for the stockholders. Ended-up in hospital with stress-related issues 2x on 2 different Xmas-Eves. Being replaced was a relief! New guy crashed the store in short-order. Been successfully self-employed for 40-years since then. Nothing better than being your own boss!

Well, maybe not having to work is better?

3

The time I had a revolver pointed at me by a 10 yo kid I was babysitting? He thought it was funny. That still gives me the shivers.

The boss who said "Oh I have her sit on my lap taking dictation whenever I can". I worked security FFS....

The time I was telling a new guy about the big black snake that hung out by the cooling pool at the power plant - and we both looked down and it was about 1 inch from the toe of his boot... we broke some speed records that day. 😉

The boss who was making me tell his wife he wasn't in the office (I confronted him on that and won).

Working at a factory over the Summers away from college and being branded "Because I was a college kid". (Later hearing "you work really hard for a college kid" ). Sigh....

Too many things to count!

But this is particularly heinous dear! ((((Akfishlady)))))

3

I used to work product support at Microsoft in the OLDEN DAYS when Windows for Workbooks was still a thing. I got a call from a lady in Atlanta, already pissed for having to sit so long on the phone. She didn’t want to give me her name, her product number, even product she was calling about. But she called in on our Microsoft Office—so I asked her…

“Are you calling regarding Microsoft Office?”

[Pause] “I’m in Atlanta!”

“I understand,” I responded. “But what product are you asking help for? Is it Microsoft Office?”

“I just told you, I’m in Atlanta, I don’t work for Microsoft…”

“The…software…package! Microsoft…Office…Suite: Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint…”

[Pause] “Oh! Is there someone else there I can talk to?”

I could have transferred her, and I was so pissed that I thought about it. But then I thought… ‘I’m going to make her deal with me despite her attitude.’

So I told her, “You’re welcome to hang up and call back in, but I’ll be happy to help you with your issues if you wish to continue.”

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