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+--- Thread: What is the most toxic job you've ever had? (/showthread.php?tid=2638)
What is the most toxic job you've ever had? - Darth-Apple - October 24th, 2019
For me, it was a restaurant that I worked at for quite a while. I put in plenty of grit and gave that place as much energy as I had to give. I finally had had enough and quit. And once I quit, I realized I had my life back...
I was a line person, generally was the lead person on the weekends. That involved being in charge of basic things on the line, and I was the point of contact for anything that happened. Whether something needed to be remade, or a mistake was made, or an order was changed, or we were being too slow, I was the one that heard about it. I was the one who delegated the work, and more or less ran the line and opened the kitchen on the weekends.
I trained many people over the years on that job, and almost always got great reviews from my trainees. Another store opened up, and I trained several of the people who ended up opening the new store (INCLUDING the manager of that store, who ended up transferring and soon managed me.) So yes, I quite literally trained my own manager. I felt my performance was good, but I will explain why I ultimately left.
- It was an incredibly clique-ish environment. There were two primary cliques, and a few smaller ones in the mix.
- The cliques usually hated each other, and passionately so. If you were in one clique, the other one hated you.
- There was a manager that was very involved in the gossip and drama, and usually instigated it. This manager pretty much knew everything there was to know about anyone who worked there. If it happened, he'd know about it, and he'd gossip about it.
- The work parties were a BIG, BIG deal. You had to be in the in-group to be invited. If you weren't invited, you would generally not get hours at work or otherwise be treated poorly. Usually a manger would attend these parties, and would occasionally snitch on people they didn't like to the gm.
- Managers would make sexual jokes about female people on the job. If the guys on the line didn't join in, they were called many derogatory things. Usually they were called gay, whether they were or not, and yes, this was meant in a derogatory way. (Offensive, as there were people who were gay on the job, and should not have to be around having the term used in a derogatory way)
- If you were a relatively nice person, you were instantly a target. Neither group would really accept you. One group would tolerate you, but gossip about you behind your back. The other group would pretty much blatantly refuse to talk to you.
- If you were disliked by someone, they'd usually make up anything about you. People would believe it quickly. You'd be accused of cheating on your significant other (without any merit whatsoever), or of coming into work under the influence, or of other horrible things. Usually these were completely false, but people believed it regardless.
- Speaking of which, if someone was excluded by your clique and you talked to them, even to say hi, and interacted with them in any meaningful way, you would generally be pressured to stop. If you didn't, you'd be excluded yourself.
- One of the managers was very close friends with a couple of people in particular on the line. These people had their heads high in the air, and would be very entitled in general. If they wanted to date you and you didn't like them back, there went your hours. Because this manager was the scheduling manager, and would make sure you were retaliated against.
- The hours, speaking of which, were all over the place. They would promise you 30, give it to you one week, and then cut you to 15 the next week for no reason. Often you were scheduled against your availability. If you got a second job, they purposefully scheduled you against your availability, and would write you up if you called out for your other job.
- If the manager heard some gossip about you and wanted to retaliate, he'd completely remove you from the schedule after you were scheduled and give the hours to someone else. This actually happened, multiple times!
- I was the head person on the line for the weekends. The weakday line lead was extremely mean. I was far, far more liked than she was, and she was generally jealous if anyone was likeable. I had many, many people come up to me and thank me for being far more approachable, unlike her. She went and tried to tell the manager I was bad at my job and tried to get me fired for it.
- Anyone who quit would be fair game for gossip. And it'd be rather extreme. Generally, if you quit, you were not rehireable, no matter what. Many people would unfriend you on social media, and pretty much everyone would stop talking to you.
- It was basically a cult. They were convinced they were the best job ever, and that you were never going to find anything better. If you disagreed with them, they'd put pressure on you by excluding you. You were almost always passionately hated by at least three or four people in the store, all of whom would work vehemently to damage your reputation.
- I quit. Luckily, I was not unfriended by the entire staff. I did, however, unfriend the managers. I still talk to a few people, but by and large, I'm glad to be gone.
I used to sell cars. Even the sales floor wasn't as bad as the restaurant described above.
What's your most toxic work experience? Looking forward to seeing your guys' responses. I'm sure there will be some good ones.
RE: What is the most toxic job you've ever had? - Guardian - October 25th, 2019
Wow. That sounds terrible. I've had stressful jobs, but nothing on that level.
Worst I've had is 12 hour workdays, 6 days a week, for 6 months straight. That was stressful and everyone hated everyone. No one got along.