Another Chance At This Employment Stuff!

Company #2 - A kid's gym. Yes, I went from working with contractors and executives in Corporate America to working in a small franchise with about five employees and teaching childrens classes at a gym. I attempted to take what I'd learned from my past and applied to jobs with male supervisors, at smaller businesses, and jobs that had some people interaction. It was only after accepting this position that I realized the company went about their hiring process slyly. Although interviewed by a male, I didn't have a male supervisor, I had a female supervisor. Also, upon starting my first day, I found out the business had only been open three weeks prior to hiring me! Within the first week of the job, I could smell the dysfunction. There were three full-timers at this point: the owner, the newbie (me), and one other lady. I eventually realized they hired me so the owner could fire the other full-timer! When she left, the dysfunction continued. My boss told me information about other employees, business and personal finances, and general running of the business that was never meant for my ears. All of the knowledge I had about the corrupt happenings made day to day work incredibly difficult! I even went so-far-as to call the franchise corporate headquarters to try to talk to them about what was going on. They would not talk to me because they said they only correspond with franchise business owners, not disgruntled employees. That was a dead-end. Months of constant tension ended in disaster.  I had been very clear about my expectations for my supervisor, for my hours, and for my roll as an employee. They started trying to challenge my hours and my responsibilities. While I tried to compromise, they would not give at all. In the end, since I wasn't the business owner, I had to choose to stay or leave. After many tearful nights and long discussions with my husband (somewhere in all of this we had gotten married), we decided it would be best to put in my two-weeks-notice. It's a little scary to do such things without another job lined up, but thankfully I have a wonderful father who runs a production plant and he had some extra work that allowed me to be a temporary worker. So, I did it. I handed in my two-weeks-notice letter. I spent the next week prepping my students - you have to be extra careful with kids you know, they get attached.  I had prepared all of my classes that "next week" would be my last week. And then, at the end of my first of two weeks, my boss dropped the bomb - she asked me to leave the gym that day. I was stunned. Not for myself (obviously I had chosen to leave the job in the first place), but for my students! I had let them down. It was now going to look like I had lied to them. I cried - a lot. Thankfully one of the other employees saved all of the little gifts, cards, and flowers the kids brought in for me the next week and she even got me their addresses so I could write them thank yous. Then, that was that. The gym was gone and the job-hunting began.  I found out later that the gym eventually closed its doors.

Lessons learned:
-I can’t work for women supervisors.
-I don’t like knowing more about a business than I should.
-Sometimes the right thing and the hardest thing are the same thing.
-It is important to compromise with an employer, but you can’t let them take advantage of you.

Stay tuned for Company #3