'I had the misfortune of working for the laziest manager I've ever known': Overworked auto parts store assistant manager quits at the worst possible time

Author image for Remy Millisky
Remy Millisky • Writer and Editor
Aug 8, 2024 3:00 PM EDT

This retail merchandiser fell right into her manager's trap. No matter how hardworking an employee is, it just won't be enough for some bosses. But that won't stop that boss from trying to work that employee to the bone anyway! 

When you're trying your hardest at work, it's tempting to take both successes and failures personally. You want to do your best, and if your manager criticizes you, it can sting. This manager realized that he could push this retail merchandiser to take on way, way more than her intended workload. She had a lengthy list of things to do each day, but she was working with almost no days off. This poor person only got three days off in three months! There's just no way to work that hard without quickly burning out or snapping. If all you do is work, you never have any time to just enjoy your actual life. An employee with nothing to lose and everything to gain from quitting will tell the truth to her boss… just check out the story below, as well as some interesting additional insights from the original poster. 

Next, this fed-up gardener picked the worst possible day to quit their job: the day of the owner's daughter's big expensive wedding. 

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    'I was full-on doing the Assistant Manager job with nothing to show for it'
    via Imthaz Ahamed on Unsplash
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    Lazy Manager learns how NOT to treat a Dependable Employee Working in retail most of my life, I have encountered some really bad managers. As such, I know I became a pretty petty employee and I've served up some sweet malicious compliance in my
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    day. This is by far my favorite story though because it even has a touch of pettyrevenge. TL:DR @ bottom. Years ago when I was just a newlywed, I worked for an auto parts retailer. We serviced professional garages as well as walk-in customers. My job was as a "Merchandiser". This meant it was my duty to keep up
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    with displays and inventory. I checked in shipments and put them away every day. I put up the sales images in the windows and when areas needed to be changed, stock moved, new price labels put up etc,..that was my job. Those tasks didn't usually take all day, I could get them done in a few hours. The rest of my day was spent working the counter, answering calls,
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    helping customers, cleaning and getting to take the delivery truck out to deliver parts to the garages. Driving deliveries was the best! I could listen to the radio, have a soda and visit with the clients. Buuuut,.. I had the misfortune of working for the laziest manager I've ever known. We'll call him LM for short. Seeing a
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    trustworthy worker who had a good relationship with the clients, LM began putting more responsibilities on me. Time wore on and my job description was forgotten. I started having to answer his emails, deal with the inter-store and corporate memos that came in, and running deposits to the bank when the Assistant
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    Manager wasn't there. Meh, this wasn't a big deal. It took maybe 45 minutes at most each day and I wasn't having to deal with the often mysogynistic walk-in customers. So I didn't mind. Then came the day our assistant manager left. I can't remember if he quit or got a transfer or what, long time ago doesn't matter. LM decides, since I'm so
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    dependable, to give me keys to the store and start scheduling ME to close so he can go home to his wife and kids. Hey, it's more hours so I don't mind at first. And he dangles that lovely promotion over my head. Oooh, the thought of a raise had me jumping because as I said, I was a newlywed and we were saving to buy a house.
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    The promotion never came. According to LM, I didn't have the required ASE certification to be an Assistant Manager. So, I was still on payroll as a "Merchandiser" despite the fact that I was now Opening the store (6:30 am) Closing the store (there till after 10 pm some nights) making deposits
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    making sure all the drawers had proper change handling e-mails answering inter-store and corporate memos checking in stock & controlling inventory making sure the store looked as it should still handling the counter to cover lunch breaks for
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    everyone else still making deliveries handling the majority of the professional client accounts Handling employment applications and interviews for new hires Entering the schedule and adjusting payroll for all the other employees!
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    I was full-on doing the Assistant Manager job with nothing to show for it except circles under my eyes because LM was constantly changing my schedule to suit HIS needs. Anytime I tried to tweak the schedule to give myself even two days off in a row, he'd come in behind me and change it! All he basically did was cover for me on my rare days off and spent most of
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    his day bullshitting with customers or going out for "professional visits" with a couple of clients who were friends of his. LM's attitude nearly cost us some of our big accounts but since I was constantly driving a delivery truck on top of everything else, I had a better relationship with most of the clients. We're in the South, even grease
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    monkeys won't be to a lady. I was able to get them to keep their business with us. It helped that I was a slightly plump and sweet faced young woman. My calming manner and reasonable politeness could always calm them down. But you're waiting for malicious compliance. Here it comes. Our store got a MAJOR revamp! We're
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    talking overtime, new displays, grand re-opening! It was huge. This also occurred around the same time as the big yearly week long management conference. Sooo,.. my hours skyrocketed. After LM got back from the management conference, he took off for another week to spend time with his family, leaving me in charge again! It was pure
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    For two months, I worked practically non-stop. I think in a 90 day period after that grand-reopening I had 3 days off. The last straw came when I opened a corporate memo reminding LM that his ASE certification had never been completed and he needed to contact them about setting up a time for the test.
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    What? All this time and he wasn't even certified either?! I was done. It was time to lay it on the line. After a late night close where I didn't get home until 11 pm, I was back in the store at 6:30 am to open. I hadn't had a full day off in three weeks at this point. I was doing my usual duties, getting ready for the other employees to show up when in walks LM. (You
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    know how this goes, I won't insult your intelligence.) LM - Oh hey, I just wanted to drop in and remind you to make sure you do the payroll today. Me - Of course I'm going to do payroll today, it's on my list. (note, I'm speaking in a sleep-deprived depressed tone because I was completely exhausted.)
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    LM - Good, and I saw there's some new display materials still back here. You should have gotten that done already. Me - We were slammed yesterday and had two guys. call in sick, I didn't have time. I'll get it done. Hey, listen, I've been meaning to ask you..I know we don't have anyone else asking for time off right now. I've got
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    time saved up and I could really use a vacation. LM - (cuts me off) No. Me - What? LM - No way, I need you here. My anniversary is next week and I promised my wife.. Me - (I cut him off) Seriously? Everybody else here gets to take long
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    weekends or full weeks of vacation and I'm burning out. I've been working near solid for the last 3 months, including the whole weekend of my husband's birthday! LM - Well, I'm the boss and I get to say who gets vacation. You can have Sunday off or something. (it was Tuesday I think, can't remember but Sunday was
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    several days away) Me - (so done with his I start raising my voice) No. That's not good enough. I'm tired, I'm worked to the bone, I'm answering calls at my own house with our business name! You go home every night to your wife and kids and a clean house and supper waiting and your laundry done and there's no one at my house.
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    doing that while I'm here 60 hours a week! I want my vacation and you're going to approve it. Either that or you sit down here right now and put in for my raise and a promotion. LM - You can't just make demands like that. You don't have the ASE certification anyway, I can't just hand you a promotion. You need to calm down.
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    Me - (gritting my teeth at this point and ready to shove that corporate memo down his throat) Just give me a set schedule and a long weekend then. I need more than one day off a month. LM - (laughs at me) Ha! That's not how this works. I need you here, and I'll schedule you when I need you. If you want a set
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    schedule and a raise, you might as well look for another job. Now, little note, I kept my keys to the store on a special little keychain that I always clipped to my belt loop. When he said that, it was malicious compliance time. I jerked the keys off my belt loop and threw them at him.
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    Me - Fine. I will. Run it your self. I turn and start walking to the back door. LM - Hey! Get back here, you're scheduled to work today! I'm not even supposed to be here! He probably should have thought of that before he decided to drop in on me on his day off. I'm out the
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    door and heading to my car, fuming. He's at the door with my keys in his hand. LM - What are you doing? Me - What does it look like I'm doing? I'm Quitting! You told me to look for another job, so that's EXACTLY what I'm going to do! I drove off, leaving him in the parking lot gaping at me like a goldfish. When I
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    got home, he was already calling and my husband had picked up. The idiot was actually asking my husband if I'd really quit and if I'd come back in to work maybe once I had calmed down. I ended up being contacted at home by the district manager. I told him EVERYTHING. He admitted that ASE certification was
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    only really required for managers and there was no reason I shouldn't have been promoted to Assistant. I brought up that I should really just lawyer up and sue them for gender discrimination. He offered me a generous severance package if I promised not to sue. I was so tired and done with the whole company that I agreed. I got my last 60+ hour paycheck mailed
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    to me, and then also got a second check for 80 hours of paid vacation. The LM had to run the place by himself for a couple days until the district manager got him help, he didn't last with the company very long after that.
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    TL:DR - Extremely over- worked Me asks for vacation, or promotion to compensate for the hard work. Lazy Manager refuses, tells Me if I want better hours or pay to look for another job. I quit on the spot to go look for another job.
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    Edit: For those wondering why I didn't get the ASE certification - It requires a certain amount and type of work experience that I did not have. I couldn't have qualified for it, or tested for it even if he'd allowed me the time off to go and sit for the test. Google it sometime.
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    Dr_thri11 got my last 60+ hour paycheck mailed to me, and then also got a second check for 80 hours of paid vacation. I hope this isn't the generous severance package and you got something in addition
    via u/Dr_thri11
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    to that. That's all pretty standard with not terrible employers. TrxBunny79 OP In a "right to work state", if you don't give notice they don't have to give you anything. More
    via u/Dr_thri11
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    often you get nothing but a bad reference to future employers. I was satisfied with what I was given at the time and the rest isn't really anyone's concern. The most satisfying thing for
    via u/Dr_thri11
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    me was seeing LM's stupid face gaping at me like a goldfish as I drove away and left him hanging. Cause he was an . :)
    via u/Dr_thri11
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    perrinoia You should have gotten the ASE certification, told the district manager to promote you to manage and demote LM to assistant manager so you could personally fire him yourself.
    via u/perrinoia
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    Bfab227 You know what I think, if your boss says GO FIND ANOTHER JOB. You just go find another job. If your manager is treating you like then just quit.
    via u/Bfab227
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    TrxBunny79 OP As stated in the post, I was a young newlywed. I enjoyed the job, just the hours became overwhelming and LM's treatment just kept getting steadily worse until it wasn't worth it anymore.
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    When you're young and broke and saving to better yourself, you'll put up with a lot of But yeah, he picked the wrong words that day and I happily, maliciously, complied.
    via u/TrxBunny79
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    Cracky4 gender discrimination? TrxBunny79 OP Yeah a bit. Seeing as I was one of only two women working there at the time.
    via u/Cracky4
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    The other was a part- time delivery driver I'd hired. Sucky bit that I left out was that LM and the District M would hire Guys to be "Assistant Managers" from outside with no
    via u/TrxBunny79
  • 43
    experience in a part store. There was a string of them, who I had to train. They never lasted long.
    via u/TrxBunny79

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