Reading the posts from the past year – you’ll certainly notice that I mentioned my second job a lot, the one where I kept time and scores for hockey.
As you’ll read in those posts, I loved that job, I really did.
Then, things changed.
You probably wouldn’t be surprised if I told you that I was the only woman who worked there. Hockey is filled mainly with men, and the staff was pulled from people who frequented there often, so it was more than likely that it would be male dominated. That’s cool though- I didn’t hate that. Except for having the saltiest of saltiest mouths, hockey players are generally awesome people to be around.
The hours were… okay. Friday nights were no trouble at all since my day job is a M-F 9-5er. I also worked Monday nights, which were a little tougher. I started working Monday nights because there is a singular full time employee- the rest of us were part time- and he would work more than 40 hours a week. So I would come in and work most of Monday night – but I couldn’t work past 11pm since I have to get up at 5am for work the next day. I always made it very clear – my day job pays twice as much an hour as the hockey job; the hockey job was always just for a little extra pocket money. So the full time employee would leave when I got there – take most of the night off and then come back for the last hour, after which he would stay later in to the night doing projects he thought up.
This is how it worked for a while.
Part of the job of the time keepers is to keep stats for the games (attendance of players, points, assists, empty netters, penalties, etc) and enter them in to the computer which then gets posted to the site. You don’t get trophies or awards for singular stats at this rink, only “winner” t shirts if your team wins the season, but people like showing off their stats and knowing where they stand with other players and divisions. Entering in the stats doesn’t take long, per se, but it does take time. I was told when I was hired that you MUST enter in the time sheets for the games you work, so I always did because it was part of the job.
That’s where we get to the sticky bit.
There was a Monday when I came in and the Full Time Employee (we’ll just call him FTE) asked if I could enter stats for him from the weekend since it was really busy and he couldn’t get to them. I said sure. Understand though that he works the WHOLE weekend so that is anywhere from 20 to more games that he did not enter the stats for. It takes me 30 minutes to do my usual four games for an evening, to give you some time frame. So I did it, I entered the stats because I like to think I am a nice person and wanted to help out.
Then he started leaving me ALL of his stat sheets… every Monday.
What started as a helpful favor became an expected duty from someone who is not my manager. So I contacted the Boss and I mentioned it. It stopped for a bit, but then he started leaving me the score sheets again. I would move them to the side and leave them in a pile- not touching them- because they are not mine. Then I would find the pile left for me at my next shift. So I contacted the Boss again, and once more it stopped-
-then the FTE decided to stop coming in on Mondays for that last hour so that I would end up leaving at 1am to get up the next day at 5am for my real day job.
So I complained once more to the Boss, and there was a meeting. Boss decided since FTE is the main employee (and claims he is super busy) I would have to enter his weekend games… but only for Saturday- one of the other employees would take Sunday’s score sheets (we’ll call him G).
When I started there, there were 8 employees (not including refs). Now there were 3- me, FTE, and G. The other five employees quit, and I was starting to see the reasons why. I started talking to the people who used to work there (since they still played there) and am informed that most of them quit because they were tired of working with the FTE. It figures.
Then Christmas came, and the rink throws a holiday employee party. It’s the FTE’s job to make sure that everyone knows about the party- so naturally, I did not get invited. People who used to work there years before were invited, but I was not, and I even saw him that day at the rink.
I brought this up to the Boss as well, and got an apology- but it was already heading downhill from there.
G, the other employee there, was fired for allegedly stealing wheels from the proshop (that you are also expected to work while there). A few days after he was fired, the wheels he supposedly took reappeared in the sales case. They weren’t even wheels he uses. So now the rink was down to two employees- FTE and me.
So then things went back to me being left the entirety of the weekend’s games to enter in to the score system on Mondays. Here’s the thing… the FTE sits at the time keeping desk WITH A LAPTOP CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET while he is working- reading articles, watching YouTube videos, and reading facebook. When I am time keeping I use the wifi to enter the stats in to the rink’s system… on my phone. I am finding it hard to believe that he can’t do it with his laptop- RIGHT THERE. Then FTE starts not doing his half of the cleaning duties – he’s supposed to get inside the glass and I the outside. However, if you wash the outside and the inside is still gross it looks like you did nothing. I got in trouble with the Boss- I started doing both.
Then I started to get really really resentful. G was never treated this way, until he was fired. Neither were the Ks (there were two of them) or S or M. G never had to enter FTE’s stats, because once Boss had decided it would be split up between me and G, FTE just entered his own stats. The difference being with all those other letters and me – they were male, and I was not.
Then, one day, Boss texts and asks if I can work one of FTE’s nights. I text back “No”. Then explain that since FTE stopped coming in on Monday nights that I only get 4 hours of sleep before my day job the next day, then I’d be working my day job where I need to super alert to catch mistakes -BECAUSE THAT IS MY ACTUAL JOB… MISTAKE CATCHING – only to come back to work second job again until 1am and get another 4 hours of sleep before the next day of my mistake catching job. I wouldn’t be getting a whole night’s worth of sleep in 3 days. Boss has trouble understanding this through text so I call- better communication for everyone.
Then begins the argument.
Boss tries to convince me to work. I restate why I cannot. I mention to Boss that computer in office is no longer connecting to the internet so that I can enter scores – and that is hasn’t been working for some time, so I’ve been using my phone. Boss then switches up topics to just score sheets. I reiterate that the arrangement is unfair because FTE has a laptop with him and I am using my phone and that it is unreasonable to expect me to enter all those score sheets on my phone when he is perfectly capable of entering his stats right there… on his laptop. Then Boss says that I am to do what I am told to do because Boss is the Boss and I am the employee.
So I quit.
I quit, this job was always just a pocket money job for me- I don’t need it and now I don’t want it. Boss starts yelling, I yell back my goodbyes and hang up.
Listen… I was told there was an expectation of every employee there to do their jobs, but not everyone was. I was told that these were the expected duties, but it was really only expected from me. If everyone was expected to do this or that, then everyone should- not just me. Because for all of this, FTE was making a little less than what I make at my day job – while I was getting $9 an hour- and the FTE (who was making more than me) was leaving me, the lesser paid employee, all of his work to do so that he could just hang out and do nothing for $$$ while I did everything for $. That is not okay. If Boss had offered more $$$ then I would have stopped complaining- but no, Boss does not want to spend more money, not on me anyway. That is fine, that is Boss’ right as Boss- just as it is my right as employee to decide not to work there anymore… which I decided.
I really did like that job, and I would have liked it a lot more if I had been treated fairly. However, if you know you aren’t being treated as you should… you leave because no one will care about you- like you will.