Work Rant.

Let's start off with my Orientation. Just like any, it promises a magical work experience, easter bunnies, unicorns and rainbows. I spent 2 hours listening to how this company treats employees like family and such. I actually was convinced by all the fuzzy warm things.

First few weeks were cool, I was settling in, getting to know other employees and learning my tasks. Hours were cut SHARPLY. I went from 20 hours to 4 hours a week for 2 weeks right after being hired.

Next few early weeks I don't mind the job, curious about long term security within the job being a "temp" and I was told "if we have the hours" this didn't make me feel comfortable, but regardless I decided to bust balls and prove that I'm a hard worker. I went out of my way to do more, work harder, faster, show up 5 minutes to work early every day, never complain, go to work even when I was sick.

Boss man decides to up my hours to 20, I'm like cool, every once in awhile he'd give me an additional 4 if the store needed me, then I get sent to different departments, areas outside of my usual duties. I didn't mind, it was a good thing. Then a few weeks after being ordered to do this/that in different areas I asked for additional training so I could cover more positions. I got chewed out and told to not ask again despite there's times when there's no cashier at the register and I'm nearby and customers are waiting.

This progressively brews into something foul. When I first hired on, temps were encouraged to share ideas and such -- well I had one. My duty was to water a lot with shrubs, trees and plants. I noted a lot of hoses were leaking and the fact my hours didn't allow me to finish the entire lot. I asked for more hours, got shot down.

The next day, I had spent 2 hours designing a relatively cheap irrigation system that would cover all the plants watered. Did some math on how many gallons of water was lost/wasted due to faulty hoses and pipes.

Just for my area? It cost the company THREE times what they pay me hourly. That's right. Anyways, the manager glances it for 6 seconds "oh that's a good idea, but it won't work" shoots me down. I feel slightly insulted and ask him why he didn't give it a better look. I had soil composition types, absorption rates, retention... everything. He argues "I worked here for 15 years we tried everything, just drop it." I ask him why my idea won't work. It's basic pvc pipes irrigation. It's cheap, mobile -- like lego bricks it would have solved the issue of needing all the plants watered before prime hours plus save them cash and pay for itself by fixing the leaks plus not waste excess water. Then he became frustrated and I gave up even trying.

It gets worse. I get a bad sinus infection to the point i was coughing horribly every 2 minutes, bring in a doctors note and when I recovered and came back to work, STILL somewhat sick I find out they dont accept doctors notes and excused only 2 days and put me absent for every single other day (7 total) and I was late once by 7 minutes which is a HUGE deal despite the fact I've been clocking in 5 minutes early for weeks.

and it continues to get worse... Whenever I need a tool IE: shop broom, screwdriver to tighten the brackets on the leaky hoses, even a socket wrench and I can't locate it I get accused of not working. I work in a freaking HOME IMPROVEMENT STORE! How can I even work if nobody knows where I can even find what I need to do my job properly and effectively -- especially when things get misplaced.

...and only recently, I've became so frustrated with how they handle things for once I actually did something wrong but for a good reason. The receiving area was BACKED up to the point you could barely walk around and we had more merchandise than we could stock before prime hours and I'm scheduled to do that. Supervisor comes up at me and tells me "Go water the plants" and I tell him "I'd rather do this --" before I can even tell him why (obvious reason is it needs focused and its on my schedule) he cuts me off.

I go to water the stupid trees, what do I find? My co-worker already did it all, I try to find other plants to water. They're all done. I go back to my manager and explain the situation and he tells me to go right back and water them with vague task instructions except "water the trees" borderline insubornation.

1. They're already done
2. Over watering kills
3. There was 3 people on it already which is more than adequate for the location.

He got frustrated and snapped when I asked for an explanation as to WHY.

Later I get dragged into the managers office and hear this from him -

"You do what I tell you to do it, do not question me if I want 10 people watering the trees I will put 10 people on. I don't work for you, you work for me. I tell you to do something, you do it."

Sure, I realize the point of doing what you're told for a job, but I don't understand the concept of vague tasks, scolding me when somethings redundant. Say you just waxed and washed a car -- your boss tells you to go wash and wax the car. You tell him it's done and you don't see why you should do it again...<-- thats pretty much what happened. Even after that happened I apologized and said I meant no disrespect, even though I had done nothing to warrant such arrogance.

So... I'm seriously on the verge of putting in my 2 weeks notice. Screw unemployment. I can't deal with this disrespect and uncertainty about long term. I'm not the only one they treat like this and it feels like they just want to find excuses to fire temps at the end of the season to not have to pay unemployment. Just build a rapport against them for ridiculous things, and I'm not even exaggerating. Spoke to 2 other temps -- also when I ask about last year's hires I get told they were made permanent but nobody seems to know their names yet they know nearly everyone else. Not to mention there's plenty of times I get done watering all the trees and they act like I didn't do my job.

Your guys thoughts?