Quarter Life Crises

I turned in my notice today in the form of a beautifully sculpted fuck you letter to my bosses. Much in the same way you buy a lottery ticket more for the ability to dream about winning, I wrote this letter so I could dream about what their faces would look like when they read it. For your reading pleasure (names have been changed to protect the stupid):

Dear Tweedle dum and Tweedle dee,

I wish to hand in my notice as of today.

My reasons for this resignation are entirely due to the working conditions, lack of support, business practices, and unreasonable expectations I have experienced whilst working here. Having worked here for over a year now, I feel I can accurately reflect on my experience here. The final slap in the face was yesterday when you, Tweedle dee, wouldn’t walk over 2 minutes to witness for yourself the state of your own store.

From my initial interview I was led to believe that this company is there to support their staff. I remember being told to run the business as I would see fit, if I needed any help or advice you would all be there. I was told in the beginning that a bonus structure was in place based on sales targets, labour costs, food costs, and mystery shoppers. I was also told there was room to advance. Unfortunately, in the year or so I’ve been at here none of these things have come true.

I also remember you, Tweedle dee, refering to my writing career as a ‘blip on the radar.’ I have never forgotten that comment. I have never forgiven that comment. That blip has been my dream since I was a child. Through clenched teeth I responded that yes, of course catering has always been my dream, why on earth would I want to write for a living when I could make sandwiches for you? I can’t wait for the day you are merely a blip on my radar.

From the beginning, I was confused to whom I directly answered to. It seemed that Asst Man was my direct contact for any issues I was having with the store, even though at the time he was simply a field consultant. I was put in the middle of office politics many, many times: Tweedle dum telling me to write an email to Asst Man acting as though I was upset by his tone and actions towards me though I had no issue. Being told to go behind Asst Man’s back in regards to store maintenance issues and other issues. Sound confusing? It was. I even brought this issue up at our last manager’s meeting. Who is my direct boss? I still don’t know.

I appreciate people who are upfront with me and don’t dance around the issues. Apparently I’m ‘bad’ at paperwork. Has anyone ever called me up and explained what I’m doing wrong? No. Apparently my store is filthy. Why is it never mentioned on any evaluation, inspection, or safety check? A few months ago Dickhead took photos around my store as ‘evidence’ and again this weekend, Tweedle dum did the same. Will these ever be directly addressed? No.

On a side note, the staff room does have clothes strewn about because my staff have to share uniforms. That’s right. I can’t even get enough uniforms for my staff so we have to swap them after each shift. How’s that for health and safety?

What has frustrated me to no end is the lack of communication. If you ever had a problem with me, pick up the phone and speak to me. If you ever had a problem with the way I was running your store, you just had to talk to me. If you wanted to know how taking away XY or Z might affect sales, you simply had to ask me. Instead, gossip reigns supreme and I only hear of your disappointment 3rd or 4th hand.

Going along with this lack of communication issue, I understand you’ve been having money issues. I would understand this better if you could tell this to me straight. Instead, I find out when my microwave breaks and I’m told we don’t have enough money for a callout. I find out when I ask to promote someone to team leader and am told we don’t have enough money for a 10 pence pay increase. Here is how the situation has gone several times in the past:

1. Something breaks
2. I call to get it fixed, find I have to pay a call out charge.
3. Call Asst Man to pay for it.
4. Find out that we don’t have enough money to fix it.
5. At some point one of you comes into the store and is surprised to see something broken, you then tell me to fix it.
6. I call Asst Man and am told again we don’t have enough money.

A bad situation, wouldn’t you agree?

My sales have decreased because of constant price changes and a lack of external marketing in response to [a better store] opening down the street. You can blame me all you want. You can get a brand new manager in there and you will still have the same issues. Your store is not highly regarded by the public because it has proven to be untrustworthy and inconsistent. A lot of work will have to go into rebuilding their trust, good luck with that.

Tweedle dum has been a very inconsistent person to work for. On several occasions he made references to my appearance saying that I wasn’t ‘looking pretty enough’ or my hair or makeup wasn’t as nice as usual. I’m sorry, but this is sexual harassment. He has used vulgar language around my staff and even referred to one of them as being a ‘Russian spy.’ Beyond making her feel uncomfortable, she’s not even Russian! He has been unprofessional and made my staff feel uncomfortable. The constant price changes, translite orders, and marketing material changes have resulted in confusion in both staff and customers. We don’t know what promotion is on, how much a meal deal is, or what price a sandwich is (if we’re even selling it). During our Christmas lunch when asked what we hoped to achieve over the next year, Tweedle dum interrupted with, “Other than keeping your jobs.’ This job is not worth all this.

While I know a manager’s position is filled with more responsibility, it’s ludicrous to expect someone to be on call all of the time. I need time off. I need the ability to call in ill. I need a support structure in place that will allow me to take holiday that I am perfectly entitled to take. I should not have to take phone calls on days off, nor should I have to come in when I’m ill because I have no one else to cover me. This is not poor management. This is a lack of structure that could be fixed if pay increases were approved. Every other operation has these systems in place.

For the record, it’s hard to remain motivated when bonuses are never delivered, promotions are dangled like unattainable carrots, and new staff are brought in on higher salaries and I continue to be told there’s no money for me. It’s hard to remain positive when there is no support in place to assist me. It’s hard to remain positive when all I feel is that you would rather see me fail and hire another manager than attempt to help the problem. Perhaps heading development and running your own franchises is too much work and the stores are suffering.

I have experienced nothing but a lack of support on almost all levels. I feel I haven’t had any support or communication from both head office and from my store’s owners. An example of this would be electing to go to a 24hour operation, or even extending the store hours, without consulting me. I respect you are the owners and ultimately all decisions are yours, but when you first hired me you told me to run the store as if it were my own. I have not been allowed to do that nor will I ever be if decisions are made over my head without my input.

I feel the staff here are overworked, underappreciated, and asked to do far too much in order to save money. I have only been able to hang on as a manager here because my staff pick up the extra slack that an assistant manager, supervisor, or team leader should be doing. They do this without extra pay, without extra thanks. The fact that our store might be a little cluttered or not in the cleanest of states is because we are simply understaffed and not able to keep up. I have problems with this because I refuse to break the law and operate my store illegally, unlike the manager before me. My staff get one 5 minute break to sit down and eat every 8 hours. Sound like EU regulation?

The only person who has helped me tirelessly through my time here has been Asst Man. He has worked so hard to keep me motivated and driven and I’m sure I wouldn’t have survived this long without his help. My only regret in turning in my notice is knowing that I’m doubling his already ridiculous workload. If there were some way to avoid that, I would. I think he is the only thing holding these stores together right now, at a detriment to his own health.

I’m quite a laidback person. I have been quite flexible in regards to working hours, being ‘on call’ 24/7 and the huge amount of stress running a store like this involves. I’m also a very straight forward person. I have tried to speak with both of you on several occasions about these issues and more. It has become very obvious that there is no way to get my point across to either of you and I refuse to try any more. This letter is mostly for my benefit, so I can leave knowing that I tried once more to tell you what has been happening.

I have watched as you place the blame at the foot of your own staff and I refuse to allow you to do that to me. I have worked tirelessly for you for over a year now and I can see the eye of blame pointing towards me now that Manager 1 has left and Manager 2 has been fired. Go ahead and blame me for the failings of your store. Go ahead and condemn me for this letter. I tell you what though, I’m the only one in this organisation to actually say what everyone else is thinking. Consider what blame you hold in this situation. I quit.

Regards,

Outta Here