I need real professional advice. Please read through!
Around May I was hired (with no recommendation) into my local Costco specifically the food court. I was told my specific hire was eligible for a permanent position with the company rather than the usual seasonal.
Everything through this 1-3 month probation was solid, except for the departments shift supervisor, we’ll refer to him as Nancy.
Also what comes in later to this story is that I needed to receive an accommodation for bathroom usage when needed. For the past 2-3 years I’ve experienced gastrointestinal issues that comes in waves every so often maybe monthly then they disappear. In which I had received a doctors accommodation note for a previous job. I communicated to my direct manager, my food court manager which we’ll refer to as Henry, of this issue I had and let him know I am already in contact with my doctor to receive a written letter of accommodation. He told me that I should just use the restroom when needed obviously not during busy periods of time(which I never did during those periods of time). I let Henry know that my last job needed the doctors note, in which he said “ok I’ll ask HR and see if it’s needed”. Which he later told me it WOULD be needed. A bit later in my doctor required a physical visit. So I told Henry, I’d wait to see if my symptoms at this time truly required me to make the appointment and that for now I’d just track and see if it was necessary, he said “ok”. This will reappear later in the story.
Throughout my learning and time in the food department, nothing from Nancy was ever positive. I rarely received any positive feedback from Nancy, yet received positive feedback from everyone else in the food court department. Nancy is know to be angry, negative, and is constantly disappointed with everyone’s work other than our actual food court manager, and some of “the boys” in which he’d laugh, joke, and get distracted in conversation with fairly often, aswell as some of the adult ladies who had been there for months to years. Nancy constantly filled the environment with negative comments, rude interactions, and deliberately negatively directed comments towards me over the time being. Calling me slow, when I worked at the same pace or faster than others. Calling me wrong, when he asked me to count and make sure the amount of pizzas I needed up front were the correct number, when they were right. And many other negative comments that were work related. To this day he still is like this with workers that still work there. (I know this from being in a group chat with the workers).
It was my SECOND time doing skins(stretching dough to the pan and rolling out (docking) with the roller. I thought to myself “wow I must be getting better I’m completing them much faster that I was last week when I FIRST learned how to do it”. Turns out I was wrong.
Nancy picked up a skin, showed it to me and angrily asked “What is this?”… I asked quietly confused, “sorry… did I do it bad?”, in which he followed up raising his voice again, angrily, saying “There’s no holes in it!”.
By now I’d been used to Nancy’s angry and rude remarks. But I feel like this could’ve been a teaching moment for me, a way to kindly reshow me what went wrong. But he just annoyingly exhaled after and let me refigure it out in my own.
One day I was closing with 2 other people. My first time closing on dishes. I went as fast as possible and even had help from a coworker, despite another coworker throwing their work into me. Yet I did not finish on time. All dishes were done despite the pumps for the condiments and the cleaning of the 3 compartment sink itself. I was later taken to the office by Nancy for a written coaching. While being coached I told him I understood why I was being coach, and signed the coaching document with no hassle.
Another day I was pulled in for another written coaching. This time Nancy told me it’s because I didn’t clean the drain under the soda fountain machine. I verbalized to Nancy, that I never knew there was a drain there, no one had ever informed me of it, all he had to say was “well yeah there is a drain there”, and I again, accepted the coaching with no hassle.
There was a time when I approached Henry, asking when I would be learning how to make the pizzas and do prep like the other trainees who were hired at the same time as me. He said Nancy should be teaching my the following week, which never happened.
There was a time when I approached Nancy, asking how I could do my job better, where there could be improvement, and things such as that. He told me my main focus should be working on speed and awareness. Which I understood and said I’d get that worked on.
It’s not like I never communicated or at least tried to communicate with my progress or what I was doing wrong or right.
Then the day came.
I was working as normal when a higher up asked me to come with them to the main office, where I was sat with them, another higher up which I had interviewed with for my second interview initially we’ll refer to him as Seth.
Seth told me pretty much right off the bat that I was being terminated. Then he went over why. He started off asking “do you -care-, when you’re being coached?”……… it came off extremely condescending and sarcastic.. no doubt about it, it had to have been. I responded hesitantly, “well umm yeah I care? I usually just respond with yes or no if I’m asked any questions, and I ask questions if I don’t understand what I’m being coached for.” I remember him just condescendingly smirking. Then he followed up with “I heard you leave the department quite often.” In which I responded, “yes for the bathroom, I spoked to Henry about an accommodation I was gonna get from my doctor for the more than usual usage of it”.
He responded saying “but did u tell -me- about that accommodation?”…. I told him I thought telling my immediate manager was enough and that I figured it had already been communicated with higher ups? And that I didn’t know I was supposed to also let him know.
I assume when Nancy gave the feedback and reasoning over to Seth, that he twisted the story, to his negative outlook on everything, and that it could possibly be why Seth was incredibly rude and condescending when I was pulled into the office for the termination.
The conversation basically ended there, there was clearly nothing I can say or do to save my job since he already decided before I sat down that this day I was going to be terminated. He also read my separation info, most importantly that only after one year, I’m eligible to be rehired. After that I pretty much cried and left the warehouse as soon as possible.
The experience was extremely odd, the way he sarcastically asked the questions and responded with things I wouldn’t have been capable of defending myself of, like telling him instead of my own direct manager about the accommodation.
I have texted Henry before which I’ll attach the messages here.
And a fellow coworker had their own story to tell which I’ll also attach here. However I heard that she was then confronted about the complaint she made against Nancy and was told she was a liar.
And a befriended coworkers who’s fairly trusted by Henry and Nancy told me that the head of the store I assume or head or hiring I assume, someone we’ll call Moses, doesn’t rehire people who initially didn’t pass their 3 month probation back into the warehouse.
The reason I’m telling this story is because I have an urge to email someone, anyone, who would take care of a case like this at the warehouse, because despite 3 month probation being the time frame where they can fire you/ decide not to keep you for any reason, I feel my termination was unfair. And I still want an opportunity with the warehouse either soon or in the future possibly after my one year of waiting for eligibility is up, I don’t want the bias of Nancy(someone who isn’t even head of the department) to have determined my worth in the department when everyone else thought I was a good worker.
Should I even write an email?
Who should I write it to?
Should I mention Nancy at all or just the want for an opportunity back?
How do I exactly go about this?