The Day I Had Enough
Why I almost assaulted my manager, and how I kept my job.
My alarm clock snapped me awake at 4am. I stumbled through my house to make sure my brother was awake. We had to be at work in 30 min. In a sleep deprived daze, we quickly got ready and hopped in my car. The drive to work was less than 3 min. We pull into in a largely deserted strip mall parking lot. I stuff my hands in my pockets as I make the trek from the front parking lot to behind the strip mall. My brother and I cursed the cold, the time, and “this shit job”. Soon we were there staring at the tractor trailer backing up to our door. We were fashionably late as usual and the pallets were already off of the truck. Now the hard part begins. Our crew of six would go to work “slinging freight” two guys in the truck would throw boxes onto a series of metal rollers. Then the rest would sort them into the correct isles in the warehouse. This grueling process took about an hour and a half. When the truck was empty, the crew would head next door to the supermarket deli. We would all buy biscuits and energy drinks, go sit on the sidewalk and talk about how much the day would suck while we smoked. After our short break it was back to organizing the huge mess that was a truck day.
Around 8 the store manager would show up. We called him by his last name, Shopnic. He was a short, angry, unfulfilled man who lived exclusively off bananas and coffee. It was the strangest thing. He came into work everyday holding a drink carrier of Starbucks in one hand, and a bunch of bananas in the other. Shopnic was a perfectionist. Within minutes he would start ranting about how it was taking too long and things were not done right. Mind you the majority of us are making $7.25/hr. That being said, we all pulled our weight. In truth we were doing much better than the week before time wise. I was slightly irritated but this was normal behavior for him. I jokingly said “Easy for you to say we already got the heavy stuff.” “If I was here it would have been on time.” Shopnic responded curtly. I laughed it off and responded “Well then why the hell did I wake up so damn early.”
We had broken up into teams. My partner John was on the floor with a walkie, and I was in the back with the pile of new tools. “Hammer drills sku 689546.” I barked into the walkie “eight here hold on let me check the end caps……twelve total.” “Ok that should be a full cart come get it and I’ll start putting this shit up” I responded. John walked back for the cart and I started sorting and organizing all of the back stock. As the mass of boxes got smaller, I noticed I missed one. A smaller box full of drill bits lay on the ground. We always needed more of them so I grabbed them and walked them out to John. The store was not very large, and the whole thing took maybe one minute . When I returned to the back Shopic stopped me and told me that I should just stay in the back. I responded “I missed one and I was quicker to just run it out.” “That’s what John is for.” Shopnic said back. We briefly argued and he finally stopped with, I can’t talk about this right now and walked off.
That was the spark that started a fire inside of me. It might sound insignificant to you, but he had said the opposite to my brother a few weeks prior. I realized that nothing would ever be good enough for this guy. He always had to bitch about something. I had honestly never heard him say good job once. After the isle was squared away John and I went to work on the totes (boxes of smaller items to be stocked, not in individual boxes). During that time on the floor, I talked loudly about Shopnic. In truth I was trying to pick a fight. He was just an isle over and could hear me, as I questioned his managerial skills and called him an idiot. It made everyone around me uncomfortable, but I did not care.
The clock finally struck two, quitting time. As I walked to the time clock Shopnic and Rebecca walked up and asked if they could talk to me outside. I obliged them and headed through the large roll up door to the back lot. He looked me in the eye and said “Josh, why are you so angry.” I looked at Rebecca. “You want me to tell him!” I asked equal parts sarcasm and anger. “Go ahead and tell him.” she said calmly, and boy did I tell him. I started off by saying nothing is ever good enough, followed by how he said the opposite thing to my brother, then trailed off in a very loud curse filed rant. As the swears started flying Rebecca looked startled and slammed shut the large metal door to the ground with a crash. The most memorable thing from the rant was “YOU CAN NEVER GIVE US A FUCKING ATTA BOY NOT ONE FUCKING TIME. EVERY DAY, EEK EEK EEK EEK YOU THATS YOU BITCHING ABOUT LITTLE SHIT LIKE EEK EEK EEK EEK” I yelled, wildly pointing to my head. While he simultaneously yelled “IT’S MY JOB….IT’S MY JOB…..IT’S MY JOB” pleading with his hands low and outstretched palms open. I wish I could remember everything that was said but I don’t. I was so furious part of the memory is gone. I had four inches and at least one hundred pounds on the guy. As I advanced, he backed up. Until, his back was touching the metal rollers that we stored outside. He somehow got my attention and said, “I AM YOUR STORE MANAGER! TAKE A STEP BACK!” Thankfully I listened or this would be the part of the story were I went to jail. I calmed down and he mentioned firing me. To which I responded “I was going home and you drug this out of me. I would have come back tomorrow like nothing ever happened but you wanted to know.” Shopnic looked at me and said “Alright Josh, see you tomorrow” as he stretched out his hand for me to shake. I nodded, slightly less pissed, shook his hand, and headed off for my car. Although the door was shut, it was so loud you could hear everything inside. The sales manager had just arrived. She heard and saw it all on the cameras in the office. Even though I didn’t touch or threaten him she thought I should be arrested for “threating behavior”. Luckily Shopnic did not allow it.
The next day it would just be Shopnic and I opening the store. He pulled up right on time. Somehow, I beat him to work. I guess the barista took too long making his coffee. As he walked up, I was kicking the vending machine that ate my money. He said, “Good morning, Josh.” I responded in kind. He unlocked the door and we started counting money, opening registers, and all the other important things tool stores do in the morning. Fifteen min before opening. He said, “I’m headed next door to buy some bananas. What kind of drink to you want.” I pulled my wallet out and he stopped me. “I’m buying” He said “I drink yellow Redbull, and I want a four pack. It’s like $9.” I responded pulling a ten out of my wallet. “Shit Josh, fine.” He said walking away leaving me with my cash in my hand. When he returned a few minutes later he handed me the box of Redbull and said “You work your ass off here Josh, thank you.” I responded, “Thanks Shopnic. I really lost my temper and want to apologize” He smiled patted my shoulder and said “Atta boy.” Believe it or not after that he actually tried to make more of an effort to be positive. He was not perfect, but after all none of us are.
