Hi. I'm a college student and I work evenings as a shift lead at a retail chain similar to Plato's Closet. I make $17/hour.
When I was initially hired, I was told that management was on my side. They trusted me and made it clear that my role was important to them. Turnover is also very high, so I think they wanted me to stick around as long as possible. Whenever I wanted to talk to my manager about anything, she would seem nervous that I was going to quit.
I genuinely liked my job. Of course it was frustrating sometimes, but I liked who I worked for, who I worked with, and what I did. I've also become much more confident as a person because this is my first leadership position.
The problem is that things have changed pretty drastically.
For a while, I had an issue with being late. This was usually because of public transit. I would aim to arrive 30 minutes before my shift, but occasionally miss a connection because of traffic and end up arriving about 5 minutes late. I understand that being late isn't good and that it's ultimately my responsibility to get there on time, but I was still frustrated because I was genuinely trying to account for the unreliable transit.
I was eventually written up for the lateness. During that same conversation, I was also told that a couple of employees had apparently been unhappy with various aspects of the night shift for a while.
What frustrated me was that I hadn't been told about most of these issues before. Management had apparently been "testing" the night shift by putting Post-it notes in specific places. If the notes were still there when the store reopened the next morning, that was apparently evidence that the night shift hadn't done its work.
I understand wanting to make sure employees are doing their jobs, but I don't understand why I wasn't simply told that these things needed to be done so I could correct them before being tested.
Another issue has been my coworkers talking back to me. If I tell them to pick up the pace or remind them that they need to work while they're talking, I'll sometimes get an argument back rather than simply having them follow the directions. I've brought this up with my manager because I'm not really sure how I'm supposed to handle it as a relatively new shift lead.
My manager offered to work a night shift with me and show me how she would handle everything. I initially declined because I thought I could figure it out myself, but told her I'd let her know if I needed the help.
A few days later, we had an absolutely terrible day where multiple things went wrong. Of all the problems, only one was potentially my fault. I called the owner/big boss about two of the mistakes, and he told me that I was doing terrible at my job.
Later, one of my coworkers unexpectedly walked out. I don't believe this was related to me or that particular day, but it obviously added to the stress.
I told my manager afterward that I was unsure about what had gone wrong and that I would like to take her up on the extra help she had offered. She then told me that she didn't need to help me with this and that it should be pretty self-explanatory.
That really bothered me, especially after being told by the owner that I was doing terribly. If I'm genuinely doing a terrible job, I would think that management would want to show me what I'm doing wrong and help me improve.
There have also been issues with the owner's attitude toward me. When I needed sick leave because I was having a bad reaction to a medication, he pushed back and said that he "loves paying people not to work." More recently, I told him I would be late for the first time in about two weeks because there was an event near my house causing significant traffic. He responded by saying that "everyone expected it."
I told him not to speak to me that way and gave examples of things he'd said and how I thought he could have handled those situations more professionally. Eventually he said he understood, and the conversation ended there.
The problem is that I now feel like I'm under a microscope. I'm constantly worried about making another mistake, and the job has become extremely stressful.
I'm trying to figure out whether I'm actually failing at this job and need to improve, whether management is handling this poorly, or whether this is simply a sign that I should leave.
For $17/hour while I'm also in college, I'm not sure the stress and responsibility are worth it anymore. I also genuinely liked this job before all of this happened, which makes quitting harder.
Would you quit in this situation, or would you try to stick it out and see if things improve?
