Texting Pet Store Manager Is Douchebag of The Year

Polo-Necked Strip Mall Monkey here, still doing hard time at the pet store. I worked 6 days straight into Christmas Eve, the only slave to do so - all the other slaves got days off this week. It was quite exhausting, plus I came  in on Christmas to tend the animals.

Our manager, the unpredictable passive-aggressive yet spineless "Miasma" uses texting as her preferred mode of communication - probably because it is most likely to cause misunderstandings, and she can vent without seeing the pain on the face of the person she is inflicting it upon. I do not have a smart phone - I can do texts, but can only have 25 in my inbox at a time, or the inbox will not accept new messages - so, when she is shooting them off a dozen in a minute, I can't keep up.

So, in a few minutes I am getting messages like - Why aren't you responding? when I can't physically do so. At such times I have phoned her, and it goes to voice mail, and she doesn't return my calls. When I text her to say I can't keep up, and would she please call because there seems to be a misunderstanding and perhaps texting is adequate for complex discussions, she will refuse, saying she's said all she has to say.

Her evil minion, the newly hired self-appointed Queen of Cashiers also using texting as a main mode of communication, with backstabbing gossip a close second, which is why they have become such good friends.

I had a conflict with cashier Dislexa involving her sending me - a supervisor - absurdly micromanaging texts on my time off, and that she spends hours of her shifts standing at the register and texting, then waits till closing time to begin to face (to pad her hours), and demand that we both stay behind - I told her she should have been facing earlier instead of texting - and set off a firestorm, which I wrote about a few days ago.

Miasma sent me a barrage of texts that evening regarding her darling Dislexa, and it was extremely difficult to deal with any of them because of my inbox issue, but she was still texting me at 11:45pm asking me why I had not responded to her texts, and I said it was too complicated for me to do via text, and I would respond asap in another mode of communication.

That night - my elderly dog started to get ill - crying out in pain. Mind you, I lost another one of my elderly dogs to cancer just 6 days ago and am still grieving her. We had a frightening, sleepless night together.

I was not supervisor on Christmas Eve, therefore it was not my duty to send out the final financial reports, and I went home when the store closed. Arriving home, my dog did not greet me, and when I went to investigate, he was lying on the bed and crying. I rushed to examine him and offer him comfort and offer him another pain med. Ding! Ding! Ding!

Miasma was texting me. "What was the total? /HELLLO?/LOL/ ARE YOU THERE! /YOU FORGOT TO SEND ME THE TOTA/LOL." I texted back that I didn't know I was supposed to, and she texted back, "YOU KNOW B**** can't text me!  So you should have!" I said I didn't have the number in my head, sorry. She texted back she was angry, and I texted back that I couldn't help her with this, and that my dog was very sick and I (and I was running out of characters plus my hands were shaking) needed some rest.

She texted back - "OH! WHOA! EXcuse me!/ Goodbye!" and then for emphasis - "Don't worry I will NEVER text you again. "

So that was my Christmas Eve, after handing her the biggest Christmas week sales in stores history while she sat her on fat ass with her family and enjoyed the holiday.

(Polo-Neck Strip Mall Monkey is crying) Pain meds have helped my dog, thank God, and got us through fucking Christmas. A massive storm is about to hit, his usual vet is away, and I am scrambling trying to find a vet who will see him - and clinics are closing due to weather emergency - but I got an appt for Friday, my day off - and in all likelihood, I will be saying goodbye to my best friend.

So, today, Day AFTER Fucking CHristmas - she calls me to tell me she is running late. No problem. Then she texts to say she will be in at 10:30 because she has a headache. PARTY ON GIRL! She finally showed up at 11:30, and I'd had a very busy morning running the store on my own as people rushed in to get supplies before the massive storm. She didn't say hello, doesn't speak to me, and was storming around, growling, "The store is a DISASTER!" The Main Office phone, asked me if she was doing her order. I paged her to come to the phone. She told the Main Office that she didn't complete the order because her employees left the store in a total mess, and she was too busy fixing it to do the order, and that they could thank her lazy employees. She left out the part that she was 3 hours late and hungover as a motherfucker.

I just stayed out of her way. 

At one point she overheard me telling one of our nice customers that I have to put my dog to sleep Friday. Didn't change her mood, and she thrashed around for another 2 hours, and I stayed out of her way as best as I could.  Her Evil Minion Dislexa arrived for her shift. 

Miasma finally angrily confronted me and said, what the hell is going on? What's with the attitude? You haven't spoken to me. I said, well, actually, I thought you were the one who was not speaking to me and were angry at me, because you are acting very upset today, and since you said you weren't feeling well, I thought it best to give you space.

She said, "well, I'm sorry to hear about your dog, but that is totally irrelevant to the real matter at hand. The main thing is the disrespect you showed me in your text telling me about your dog. It was abrupt and insulting."

I said I had already told her that my phone cannot process the numbers of texts she sends me, and that one of the reasons I do not like to have complex exchanges via text is because misunderstandings arise very easily.

I said I had to give my dog priority, and intended to deal with misunderstandings later. She said, "I don't understand what your dog has to do with this at all. Imagine how hurt I feel by your disrespect."

I said that was unintentional - that texts do not always effectively communicate. which is why I don't like them except for very short, simple messages.

Hours later, she offered to let me go home early because the store was dead. Yeah, bitch - the big rush happened before the storm hit when you were at home puking up your fucking eggnog, leaving me to handle it by myself. I bet that's as close to a fucking apology as I can hope for.

What a fucking douchebag.

The supervisor who closed Christmas Eve is coming in later, and no doubt she will ream him for leaving the store in a disastrous state on Christmas Eve (It was not) and blame us for her not getting her order done - and I know she will leave out the part about showing up 3 hours late, hung over as a mother fucker.

--Polo-Necked Strip Mall Monkey

 

Comments

[Bebinn]

change your phone number and don't tell them what it is. no one texts me like that. if they want communication, they can talk to me. texting is not appropriate for the workplace. even if it is done by supervisors. any calls not on company time will be ignored unless the place is burning down or some other similar emergency.

[Doug]

If they want to communicate with me by text, they can pay for my phone.

[JayStrang]

Texting is not for workplace communication. You should just be ignoring them all together.

[The Last Archimedean]

Go over their heads to the DM and explain they're being a problem and need to be fired... AFTER you gather the evidence. They're already being very unprofessional by using texting as a method of communication. I've actually disabled my used-for-work cell phone's texting feature. If you need to talk to me, CALL.

[Kat]

I'm sorry to hear about your dogs, I hope that you'll heal with time. As for your manager, you need to grow a backbone. Go over her head ASAP. Document everything, make sure to mention that your manager was 3 hours late and hung over, etc. Do it without telling your manager, so she won't have time to alter any evidence against her (lose video?). Also, I'm in CA, and we have a law that if we are non-exempt (paid hourly, and can do overtime), then anytime we are contacted outside our work hours regarding work issue, etc., that is an automatic 15 minutes added on to our timesheet. Granted, you have to prove it, but still. Research your laws. It's time you stop being a pushover.

[Becky]

Oy, I'd change my number and tell them I either didn't have a phone anymore, or that I didn't have a texting plan. It sounds like these people are a pain enough as it it, you shouldn't have to deal with it outside of work.

[The Worst]

I agree with the folks who said to change your number and not tell them, and/or tell them you don't have a texting plan.

Also, I'm so sorry about your dog. I would be so lost without my dog, and I can only imagine what you're going through losing one and being on the verge of losing another. How can a woman who works in a pet store not understand the value and significance of pets?? That woman is a grade-A cunt. Take care of your pup, and don't let her tarnish the time you have together.

[Minidoc]

I am so sorry to hear about your dogs. I know how bad it is to come home and find an animal severely ill; I have been there. Internet hugs to you.

[Polo-Necked Strip Mall Monkey]

Thanks to all of you most of all for your sympathy and support. Losing my best friend is breaking my heart. Thanks for the support and hugs.

Thanks for the good advice. You're right - there are boundaries regarding workplace communications. If it's not an emergency, they should leave me the hell alone on my precious hours off. The new hire texting me micromanaging instructions was bad enough, but the manager's douche-baggery during my few hours off on Christmas Eve when I was tending a seriously ill dog was a real game changer, and forced this into the open.

She hasn't let this go. She has sent two hostile emails via company email to me and the other supervisors furious that we have objections to her voluminous texts, which is her preferred communication because she's SUCH a busy person. We've all been matter of fact about it, but she is emotionally out of control and accusing us of hostility and ganging up on her. etc - paranoia....

She is not all right in the head and has anger control issues. But I think something in her personal life has pushed her over the edge and that this is temporary insanity. I am hoping it will blow over. In the meantime, I am documenting all this bullshit, because if it doesn't settle down, and she retaliates by cutting my hours as I have seen her do to punish employees before, I will have to take action to protect myself.

This is not a corporation, just a small local chain, and my only recourse will be to go to the owner. This is hazardous. I may be able to raise the issue of whether her demand for texting and texting after hours to our personal phones is over-all company policy, but she is extremely oversensitive to criticism and if he corrects her on this, this is going to blow up in my face.

I think my best course of action is ignore the texts and after hour texts and calls. And document stuff in case it does turn retaliatory.

Thanks again.

[BookAce]

I just want to add to the hugs about your dog. I lost my cat this year to cancer and was completely crushed. It's still painful now, and I know that feeling of terror and wondering how soon good-bye may be. I'm so sorry that this bitch is harassing you while you're going through something so hard. My thoughts are with you. *hugs*

[Jami]

*hugs* I'm very sorry about your dogs.

Your manager sounds so psycho that I wish I lived near you so I could be a customer - that way I could complain to the owner about her as such. Nothing gets the big people to move like an upset customer.

[Damn Yankee]

First, I'm terribly, terribly sorry about your dog. You've got my support, even over the ferret-tubes of the internet.

And as for texts being inappropriate for work, as a boss, I do most of my communication over text. I have 12 employees over six locations, and I can handle three things at once over text, whereas over the phone, I can only handle one at a time. I can also text my employees non-vital information without risking waking anyone up, as we all sleep at different times, being a third shift job.

It all depends on how it's handled. I never handle serious matters over text, unless it requires me to deal with two groups (such as our oven maintenance company and the baker) at once. Disciplinary action, call ins, and payroll are all handled face-to-face, or verbally over the phone. I don't need a call for someone to say they're out of egg wash, and can I bring them some.

In your situation, I'd block that specific number from texting you, and tell your boss you disabled texting. Changing your number would work as well, but some carriers charge to do that. Either way, you don't need to take abuse at all, let alone split up over text.

[CoG]

Much love to you, PNSMM. I lost my kitty of 13 years to some unknown illness a few months ago, and it has been crippling trying to deal with that on top of Life. Screw that woman and her rude-ass texts. You don't deserve to be treated that way. I say block her number, because Damn Yankee is right - some carriers charge to change your number. You shouldn't have to deal with her BS in your off time. My supervisor, who I only see about once a month, asks that I text her updates, but I only do this on my off-time because I'm not allowed to have my phone on me during working hours. It's annoying, but it's my choice. Sending and receiving texts on your own time should be your choice as well.

[Skittles]

Seriusly if you can't safely go over her head find a new job ASAP. Seriously it sounds like there is something between your boss and new co-worker that is majorly hinky. I would definitely start looking for alternate employment if I were in your place.

[Daisy]

I am so sorry about your dogs and everything you're going through :( Lots of love and virtual hugs! <3

[NC Tony]

I was going to suggest the 3D's of RHU, but it sounds like you're already doing that. You should also get others to document her shitty behavior, that way it won't be just you "picking on her" (because it sounds like that's how she'd spin it, making her look like the victim).

And I don't know how you kept your cool when she said "I'm sorry to hear about your dog, but that is totally irrelevant to the real matter at hand. The main thing is the disrespect you showed me in your text telling me about your dog. It was abrupt and insulting." and "I don't understand what your dog has to do with this at all. Imagine how hurt I feel by your disrespect." (or cat in my case) I would have told her that my cat means more to me than her and her hurt feelings (under my breath "I didn't know you had any"). and considering the lack of respect she shows to you, I'm surprised she had the nerve to say that to you. Then again, like I said before it sounds like she always turns things around and makes herself look like the victim.

Maybe you could also get a friend to come in while she's working and then have your friend file a complaint about her unprofessional behavior, because we all know corporate will respond to a customer complaint faster than they will an employee complaint.