Thursday, March 27, 2014

Something Fishy

One of Mama Kat’s Writing Prompts for this week is:  your least favourite job you’ve ever had….

This one is SO easy that the post practically writes itself!  I ended up in the worst job when I was twenty years old.  It was at a fish market where my brother-in-law was the manager.  He’s the one that got me the job as a cashier and, I think, felt a little bad for it for many years afterward. 

This place had a frozen and canned good sections as well as a store-wide counter of fresh fish.  Of course, in many cases, I’m using the word “fresh” very loosely.  My co-workers were a cool bunch, including both of my BIL’s.  The person that made this job a little piece of hell-on-earth was the owner of the store. 

He was a volatile bugger!  If you made a mistake, he would literally scream at you right there in the middle of the store in front of your coworkers and customers.  It wasn’t like you could learn what he liked and didn’t like to be able to navigate the minefield either.  You would do things a certain way for a while and then, one day, BOOM, you’re getting yelled at for it.  This guy would even make his own mother cry!  (she worked there a couple of days a week)  Looking back now, I realize that he was nothing but a big bully who desperately needed to get stomped on by somebody bigger and meaner than he was.

He would also screw literally Every. Single. Customer who walked into the store.  Either the numbers being entered into the scale when weighing the fish would be messed with or the fish was half-way bad.  A lot of customers were lucky enough to get both treatments.  Of course, this was back in the days before the scales all went digital with printed labels.  They would throw the fish on, punch in a few numbers and whisk that thing off all so quickly that half the customers had no idea what was happening.  As for the freshness factor…… to this day, I can’t even look as scallops without feeling a little nauseous. 

Being the shy, soft (perhaps a little naïve) young thing that I was at the time, I took his crap for two years before I found the “balls” to quit.  I knocked around in a couple of part-time and temporary gigs for almost two years before I ended up where I am now.  As a matter of fact, the end of May is my twenty year anniversary with this company.  Can you believe that?!  Thankfully, I have a much better boss in this job.

Mama’s Losin’ It
Kat

16 comments:

  1. This is why I am scared to buy "fresh" fish at a supermarket. Yikes. But I love your story, and glad you found a better path :)

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    1. I think that, as long as you go in armed with a bit of knowledge, you're fine. It's the same with any purchase, really.

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  2. Isn't that awful that a lot of people over others feel they can treat people that way! They need to be kicked to the curb! Glad you enjoy where you work now! Stopping by from Mama Kats!

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    1. I feel like people like that have a great big karma bullseye painted on their foreheads and take satisfaction from that. I'm so glad that I got out of there too!

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  3. It's a shame no one ever slapped him with a rotten fish!

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    1. I love the image that idea brings to mind! LOL

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  4. I'm surprised you lasted two years with the bully boss! Glad to hear you are having a much better experience.

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    1. Well, I was young and not nearly as pushy as I am now. If anyone tried that now, they would regret it! :)

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  5. Bad jobs are the worse! having to be around almost-bad fish all the time probably didn't make things much better-- I bet the smell was horrible!

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    1. Well, it wasn't all bad or he couldn't have stayed in business but he had no problem selling off the ones that were past their prime. My clothes always had a certain odour to them though….

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  6. I worked in a seafood restaurant for awhile and to this day can't stand blue cheese dressing because I had to make it there.

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  7. There really is such a thing as "too much of a good thing" ;)

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  8. I like to adventure out end of each month to visit new blogs. I found your though Facebook.
    I've had some crappy jobs and soon as you get your car you start just crying or head to bar and start drinking.
    Some employers are just jerks. But now I work at place which has consideration for others.

    Coffee is on

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    1. It's so nice to find a place that is the right fit. Sadly, most of us go through a few duds first. Thanks for stopping by and discovering me :)

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  9. I'm so glad you left the fish market. It's so miserable working with people you don't like....especially if they're in the position to boss you around!

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    1. It was definitely a stressful job at times! Every workplace has its downside but I'm certainly in a better place now.

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