STOP WASTING EVERYBODY’S TIME.
Now, I’m sure there are a handful of you who are trustworthy and ethical. But for those who’ve scammed me and my friends and their friends and so on . . . fuck you.
This summer, my typical job experience has been as follows: I get an interview, I get the job, I go in for the first day, and it’s great. He says he’ll contact me about my next shift. Awesome! So three days go by. Three turns into four, and four turns into a week.
That’s when the panic starts to set in. I can’t shut off the internal dialogue — “Why hasn’t he contacted me? Does he not like me? What is it? WHAT?!” Eventually he responds to my calls and texts . . .
By thanking me for reminding him to give me shifts.
I’m sorry . . . what? You mean . . . I have to worry about you FORGETTING to give me hours? Didn’t you become a manager because you had competent organizational skills?
I can’t even move on to another (probably unstable) job until I’m CERTAIN Shitty Manager is Shitty. And also, here’s the thing: I get that running a business is stressful, and busy, and unpredictable. But if things aren’t going well, the right thing to do would be to give your workers a heads up! Let them know what’s going on so THEY don’t have to worry about YOU doing YOUR job! Because what’s worse than being unemployed is having a job that makes you feel unemployed.
I’ve also had managers use the excuse, “Sorry, it’s just been so busy, you know?” No. It’s not so busy that I have to wait a week (or more) to hear about my next shift. In case you didn’t notice or care, my financial security is dependent on you. So if you’re not contacting me because you have a problem with me and want to fire me, TELL ME. Don’t leave me in the dark so I can’t move on.
When I’m worried about an unstable income, I can’t focus on anything else. I spend half my time trying to fix the damned problem and the other half trying to distract myself from stress.
So, Victoria’s employers. What’s my message to you? Let your employees know what’s going on. If shit goes wrong, that’s fine! That’s life. But to consistently leave people in the dark about something their well-being and peace of mind are dependent on is just plain indecent.
Thanks,
Jess
