Got to add on to my red/black outfit with my new hat from Masquerade!
I need better walking shoes that go with this outfit if anyone has any suggestions! I had plaid platforms that have no ankle backing so they kept slipping off.
I started in my junior year of high school and I worked in customer service for 4 and a half years. I was always overworked, shunned, and mistreated. I made the mistake of showing 100% from the getgo because it was my first job and I wanted to make a good impression.
I went full-time as soon as I graduated high school and remained full-time while double majoring in college. As much as I wanted to quit, I told myself to tolerate the mistreatment until I graduate so I could have my degree and have no scheduling restrictions. That was the nice thing about working in my store was that we had enough people that they could work with my school schedule and let me stay full-time.
Things were okay for the first 2 years. Got the full raise. Felt somewhat appreciated. Even to the end, I was always helping other stores and I was cross-trained in almost every department. I even did overnight grocery for a month at another store while juggling school and my regular 40 hours. I was working 80 hour weeks and getting no sleep.
But where it all really started going wrong was one day last April. I had a breakdown on the register while my coworker with down syndrome was coming in for me. I'm autistic and while I have gotten a lot better at controlling my emotions, sometimes I get extremely overwhelmed. This was one of those moments. I told him "I don't give a shit" while storming off crying, and apologized to him after my break. But while I was gone was when he reported me to our leadership, and I was later called upstairs being accused of calling him a piece of shit. I told them exactly how that scenario happened, and that I was misheard and that I would never call him a POS. Up until this point, I considered him a friend. But I still got corrective action and they banned me from my boothie role for those 6 months, which turned into permanently.
After that, I felt hurt and also stopped putting 100% in because being a boothie was really my only motivation at that point for being at my best. And from here on out, I was always nit picked for things everyone else did wrong. No open drinks at the register but the supervisors always sent us down to coffee bar every morning. People wouldn't even hide them, just leave them on the counter and no one said anything. But god forbid they see me with a drink and then I get told I'm a veteran and should know better. Okay, then why aren't you saying anything to the people who have been here for years longer than me?
Or claiming we don't bag for each other but everyone does it, and once again no one says anything unless it's me bagging when there's no other customers, and suddenly I'm the worst because I didn't call a customer over to my lane mid-bagging because there's 3 other open lanes.
I expressed countless times to the supervisors about them just making every new person a boothie and how everyone thinks being a boothie is this great lazy position, because for them, it literally is. When I was a boothie, I didn't get to catch a break for two seconds. Always expected to do something. Pull customers to the service desk. Be on carts. Do a basket run. Work on spoilage. Open up if needed (if there's more than 2 customers per lane). And I was told I couldn't bag, so I didn't. Now today's boothies just stand around at the desk, staring blankly at the computer. And I know damn well they have nothing to check on the computer because we don't even have emails anymore. They just stand and watch, sipping their water bottle while the rest of us drown.
The day I got fired, I was put on carts when I got in. Within 20 minutes, I found myself having to voluntarily open up on a register multiple times in between cart rounds, while observing the boothie just standing and watching. At the time, we only had 2 open registers and at one point there were 5 customers in each lane, and still she was just staring. My patience dried at this point and I walked up to her and demanded her to open up. I was tired of being nice about these things anymore, because how is it fair to us when we're getting fucked and 3 people in our team are doing bumblefuck. Boothies just watch, supervisors go back and forth from the break chart and the desk, and leadership always hides upstairs on the computer until all hands on deck gets called.
I went up to the supervisors after I shut down and told them I'm sick and tired of leadership always giving me shit but then everyone else gets to stand around and look pretty. That they preach standards to me while none of these "standards" get upheld to anyone else. I told the supervisors that they also have a role to play in this too because they're letting the boothies stand around also. They told one of my ASTLs that I had feedback and he sat me down.
I told him everyone thinks it but nobody speaks up about this particular boothie that she legit does nothing. He told me he has heard similar feedback from multiple other team members and claims that they're holding TMs accountable. How are you going to look me in the eyes and claim that when obviously there has been no change? I told him I felt like I couldn't speak up because I was demoted from boothie--which mind you, they still used me and made me answer the phone and handle returns while there was a scheduled boothie doing jackshit. They told me I wasn't allowed at the desk while also going back on their word whenever it was convenient for them. But by this point, me and everyone else have been grinding our teeth for too long. I told him I'm constantly being nitpicked about "standards" this "standards" that, and said "It's not standards when I'm the only one who gets held to them. It's targeting. It's discrimination." He told me they don't want me to feel like I'm targeted, but spare me the bullshit.
Fast forward an hour later as I was on my way out for the day, and I get called upstairs, being informed I'm sEpArAteD (just fucking say fired) at the end of my shift for oversleeping a shift from two weeks prior. God forbid I had a 6:45 shift and called at 7:18 informing them I overslept and I was on my way, but it violated attendance policy because I didn't call at 5:45 to let them know, "Hey! I'm going to be late later because I'm in the middle of sleeping!" They said it took this long to finalize their decision because they had to investigate. Investigate what? That I was late? Like what are you even talking about. They were capable of firing a supervisor same-day mid-shift two weeks before me because she came in late, so what are we even saying for my situation?
And during my separation meeting, my TL brought up my conversation with the ATL and told me, "You said you feel like you're targeted but we were coaching you because we care about you and we were trying to prevent this situation from happening. You may never realize this but we put a lot of energy into you." Yea okay. Even to the end, it's just more bullshit lol.
Unfortunately being on a final is like walking on egg shells and any little thing will get you fired. I was sad at first, and it was really bad timing as I still have a year of college left. But being fired was the best thing to happen to me and I am so fucking happy I'm free from this bullshit. My coworkers were the only thing keeping me sane and I do miss them, but it's not worth bending over for this company for another year. I'm sure I will find another job soon and get my life in order again.
Fuck you, Whole Foods.
tldr; It was my first job during high school and for 4 and a half years. Put 100% in and got mistreated. Overworked, nitpicked, micro-managed. Under-appreciated for everything I do. Picking up overtime, working overnight shifts, helping every store and department, all while double majoring in college. Ironically got fired same-day after expressing to my ATL about being targeted because their "standards" were only towards me and no one else, and that the people who get promoted to boothie/supervisor are the laziest people in the team and no one says shit. Got told during my separation meeting that me feeling "targeted" is them coaching and dumping a lot of energy into me to prevent me getting fired. Always excuses and I'm finally fucking free from the bullshit.
To everyone else who's still with the company, I wish you all the best. It's falling apart with every passing year.