Religious Freak Coworker From Hell: The Angel of Death

From Incognito:

Well, everyone, I haven't posted in about 3/4 of a year, but it looks like I'm back. I left my crappy job in the banking world this past spring to rejoin the ranks of retail hell, but this time selling engagement rings and other sparkly things at a national retail chain. I can honestly say, I really do love my job. I'm good at it, most of my customers are awesome, and I have the best manager in the entire universe. However... it can't be *perfect*, or it wouldn't be retail.

I have a few quick rants regarding the new job. First of all, let me say this to any man out there who ever hopes to get married: Unless you're a stock size 10 (and no most places don't carry any sizes other than 10, except for one small tray of plain bands in various sizes) you will be special ordering your ring, or having it sized. It will be anywhere from a few days to a few weeks from the time you pay for it until you have it in your hands. Do not postpone getting your ring until a day before the wedding, and do not get impatient with me for not being able to have the elves in the back room cast the tungsten carbide in your size tonight before you  leave. I have placed the order, put a rush on it,  and given you a reasonable estimate of how long it will be. I have done everything in my power. It is now in someone else's hands. If I have done my best for you, and it still isn't enough, kindly take your condescension elsewhere. If you don't want to do that, you're more than welcome to gain or lose the appropriate amount of weight to fit the stock size 10, though I will say the special ordering will probably still be faster.

The only other thing about this job that gets my blood boiling is a certain coworker. We'll call this coworker Angel Of Death. (A few months ago, a friend texted me that her grandpa was in the hospital and looked like he wasn't going to make it. I got the message at lunch, Angel Of Death was being snoopy and wanted to know what was going on. Since we're both Christians, I the un-crazy, un-pushy and normal kind, and Angel the insane Jesus Freak judgmental kind who preaches to customers on the clock, I mentioned what was going on. A prayer was said, not "please let grandpa pull through this time" but "let grandpa get off this terrible planet!"Guess what... grandpa died. I'm not presuming to know the mind of a higher deity, or what was best in the situation, but it kind of makes me mad that Angel would pray for death instead of life.)

Now, Angel of Death is a higher position in the company than me, not the awesome manager, but somewhere below that. Angel has been doing this job longer than me. Angel has held a management position elsewhere once upon a time. And yet, Angel is constantly asking me how to do her job. How to get stuff into our inventory. How to order things. How to make sure we have enough supplies. When she's not asking me how to do her job, she's forgetting to take care of customers that need to be called for various issues, or "reading her emails" for hours on end.

She's very manipulative and very careful to only do things "by the book" and use the "book" as an excuse to be lazy.

"We can't use hours when the store is open but without customers to put up new displays! The book forbids it!"

"The book says I have to check my email every day, it doesn't say I have to restrict how much time I spend checking my email."  

"The book doesn't say I have to help you log these customers, so it's not in my job description, so I'm not going to do it."

I get preached to, I get debated with, and Angel has told me that I'm a terrible Christian because I don't do things the way she would do them. I'm careful to do what's right and take my faith seriously and, most importantly of all, I don't answer to her. You know it's bad when the Jesus Freak starts playing Moral Police to other Christians.

Anyway. I'm done ranting for now, and here's to hoping I don't have anything else to rant about for another very long time. :) Peace, love, and many pleasant, wealthy customers to everyone, and have a happy new year!!

--Incognito

 

Comments

[RetailTrollSlayer]

You do realize, you could complain to HR about her prostilization? Using religion, creed, or any sort of personal "culture" against another employee constitutes religious persicution, and/or discrimination and therefore can be UP to a terminable offense.

[Nick]

I really dislike those who use religion like that. (And the ones who try to "convert" others. Seriously, God wants those to come willingly, not because we push it on people)

It makes the rest of us look bad.

[Hellbound Alleee]

I think the bible says to pray in the closet. It also says to sing and rejoice and not hide your light.

I don't blame you Christians for squabbling.

[Queer Geek]

Man I would love to see what happens if they hire someone who is an atheist.

[NC Tony]

I forget who said it, either here or on the FB page, but the phrase "Religion is like a penis, it's great if you have one, but please don't wave it in my face". I think that applies to AOD here.

[Incognito]

@ NC Tony... OMG that is fantastic! I love it! Several of us had pending complaints with the company, but it doesn't matter, because Angel of Death has decided to go Grim Reaper another company. Hooray!

@Hellbound Alleee... yeah lol, I get what you're saying, it does make sense when you take it in context, but a lot of "christians" don't bother with context. They apparently don't get that there's a difference between not hiding light and being obnoxious or pushy about it. This one is definitely obnoxious! :)

[Chicajojobe]

NC Tony beat me to it.

My dad once told me a variation of that quote. "Fine to have and fine to be proud of, but not to around in public or shove down stranger's throats."

I would file a complaint about the preaching to customers, because, unless you advertise yourself as a Christian company like Life Way (http://www.lifeway.com/) you could alienate any customer who is another religion or not religious. That could add up to a lot of business being turned off by her proselytizing.

About the wedding rings. I agree only an idiot goes shopping for his wedding ring the day of his wedding. However, in the age of bridezillas and matching ring sets, I'm surprised any guy is left responsible for picking out his ring by himself. Isn't going shopping for your wedding rings something you do as a couple?

[Durango Deli Slave]

Oh sweetie, it's not just the Christians who judge others of their following, as a Pagan I can attest that other Pagans LOVE to judge me (and each other). Just keep doing what you're doing, you seem to be getting along just fine, lol.

Oh and, RetailTrollSlayer is correct, I would let HR in on your plight.

:)

[WMDKitty]

"A prayer was said, not "please let grandpa pull through this time" but "let grandpa get off this terrible planet!"Guess what... grandpa died. I'm not presuming to know the mind of a higher deity, or what was best in the situation, but it kind of makes me mad that Angel would pray for death instead of life."

Your co-worker might want to stop and think about doing stuff like that -- praying is nothing more than witchcraft, something the Bible is very clear about NOT doing.

In addition, there's the little issue of Matthew 6:5 -- "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full." Your co-worker is a hypocrite.

[WMDKitty]

@Durango -- Oh, Bast's breasts, the Witch Wars.

[TechDeath]

At pagan events where various different pagans gather I'm half tempted to haul a bucket of water around and throw it on the ones who are preaching. (Especially if they say something like "I CAN TURN INVISIBLE...only when nobody's watching")

But yeah, religion doesn't have a place in retail unless you're buying from a plainly religious organisation

[Wreckerator]

Religion, sex, and politics have very, very, very little place in the workplace. I agree with the "penis" quote, and have used it myself.

And I think I hear some people who go to a summer festival in Maryland, as well...

[Ted the 'Flayer]

Ug, don't get me started on other Pagans. Me and my roommate got into it one day because he insisted that all Indo-European cultures were Celtic (He's Celtic, I'm Germanic).

I don't even mention it around other Pagans most of the time...

[Bitch Boy]

@NC Tony: The version I heard was "Religion is like a penis, good to have but don't go waving it around in public, and don't go forcing it upon other people, especially children."

[Joi Cardinal]

NC Tony
I really like your style!

[trekkiebabe31]

I have to say something, and I may get banned but that's fine. I'm a Christian, and while I do agree that the above co-worker should have prayed for recovery, I am really getting tired of the Christian bashing! Not all of us force our beliefs on others, but you know what? The Bible says we're supposed to share our faith with others, even if we don't quite know how to go about it. So maybe next time you can say "Would you pray for so-and-so, that they would make it through this?"

[Incognito]

@Alvis... nope, there's only stock size 7 for women and 10 for men. It's just because that's about the average size for each, some people have to size theirs up or down as much as 3 sizes. It's much easier for a store to resize a stock size than try to carry each ring in 6 different sizes (not including half sizes lol). Plus resizing usually takes less time than trying to order it in the customer's size. There usually is a small little tray of plain gold bands that come in different sizes, but that's just a plain, simple, diamondless band.

@trekkiebabe31...I'm certainly not offended and I don't think your comment is ban-worthy, haha. I agree about sharing faith, but I don't think work is the place to be forward about it. (If someone else notices and wants to know and asks, then great, I'll answer questions all day long, but I would never bring it up first at work, or ever be sales-y about it.) What I don't like to see is when well-meaning (or ignorant) Christians give Christianity a bad name by behaving in an off-putting way. As soon as we use our faith to imagine we're better than someone, we've missed the point and we're flat out wrong. My rant really isn't about bashing Christians, my rant is about those few goobers out there who give us the stereotype of being stuck-up, pushy, judgmental assholes. Because not all of us are that way. Pretty much everyone else at my store is a great example of a Christian, that genuinely loves people whether they agree with us or not. :) Didn't mean to offend, but situations like this one with Angel drive me crazy lol.

[Bethany D]

Thank you, Incognito. I'm so glad someone else out there is like myself, the "non-pushy, normal" type of Christian.

As for your co-worker, oooh. See, okay. I have an issue with religion in the work place being used as a way to bash others or make someone else feel unworthy of calling themselves a follower just because someone else who is "better" (or so they think, anyways)thinks that the person they are calling out isn't performing to their standards. In respect to Christianity, we follow Jesus, not someone else. I would talk to your superiors and mention how uncomfortable is it for you because the way you sound, it sound like harassment.

Also.. about the rings.. who seriously orders their rings the day before the wedding? My boyfriend and I are thinking about a ring soon (happy me!) and he's already started planning... and this is at least a year in advance. No telling what he'll be like when we actually order proper wedding rings...

Grace and peace, my sister/brother.

-FutureLiteratureSlave