Some managers are annoying, but they make sure things get done, so it is at least understandable.

The manager in this story was not only mean and rude, but she also actively worked to keep her employees from getting their job done.

So one grocery store employee eventually stood up to the manager.

Let’s see how the story plays out.

The Time I Walked Out Because Of My Incompetent Manager

My brief stint in retail was at a grocery store with a blue logo, only sold groceries and the things that went with them.

I worked there for about six months, I started as a bagger, went to produce; got passed over by the produce manager, went back to bagging, moved to the deli, quit for a job at my university’s helpdesk.

Somehow the store viewed me as a “good employee”, even though by the time I was about done with the place my hatred was so great that I would actively avoid all work if possible.

Bad managers can ruin a job.

This story is about a particular customer service manager who was probably the most unpleasant woman I’ve ever dealt with.

She was perpetually hung over. Coworkers who were there longer than I tell me she’s an alcoholic and they’ve never seen her not hung over, so I’ll take their word for it.

Anyways, She treated the baggers poorly, sucked up to the store managers, was rude to customers and ignored them multiple times to do something “more important”, which I assume can only mean go to the break room for an hour and play on her phone, which she did. A lot.

This employee has one foot out the door already.

This takes place about two weeks before I left, and a month after I just couldn’t take it anymore and stopped caring. So if I seem like a brash jerk, it’s probably because I was being one. Not the best thing to do in hindsight, but I wasn’t having any of their attitude anymore.

On to the actual story,

It was Sunday, our busiest day of the week, still upset about being passed over for working in the best department (produce, least amount of work for the night shift, really chill coworkers who I still talk to).

It’s safe to say I wasn’t in the best of moods.

Did I let my emotions get the better of me? Yeah, there’s no denying that one.

Was it worth it? Very much so, I think I left her speechless.

Being shorthanded hurts everyone.

Now, we were shorthanded on baggers, meaning some hadn’t shown up for work when they were supposed to or were off doing who knows what in some corner of the store. So there… two or three of us covering nine registers.

A familiar and obnoxious buzzer starts going off. One of the bottle machines is full and the bin needs to be swapped out.

Having just finished bagging for a customer, I tell my fellow baggers “I’ve got this” and make my way towards the bottle room, which involves walking past the Customer Service counter and the bad manager (who will be abbreviated as BM henceforth).

It should be pretty clear where she is going.

BM: “Where do you think you’re going?”

Me: “Bottle room to swap out one of the bins.”

BM: “Oh no you’re not. You stay up front and bag.”

I guess the manager doesn’t want the buzzer to stop.

Utterly confused, I turned around and resumed bagging.

Now, by this point, it wasn’t super busy and the relief cashiers had returned to their departments.

Yet the buzzer kept going. And going. And going. I already knew the other baggers wouldn’t do it because they really were far too lazy to bother with it.

Suddenly, a shrill voice pierces the air, coming to us via the intercom.

BM: “I need a bagger (she spit out the word like it was moldy burnt food) to go to the bottle room.”

Once again, I make my way over. Once again, she stops me.

BM: “Not you. One of the other ones can do it.”

Huh?

Me: “They’re not going to do it and it’ll keep buzzing until someone goes. Even if you tell them to they won’t.”

It seems like she is the only one who CAN be trusted.

BM: “You can’t be trusted. Go back and bag.”

At this point I should mention that we’ve got an overflowing shelf of go-backs that need to get put away, she wouldn’t let me do that either. And we’re still only an hour into my shift.

BM: Seeing me with a basket of go-backs “I SAID STAY UP FRONT.” (It wasn’t exactly yelling but she was pretty close.)

Me: “Nothing is going to get done then! And these are all frozen so they need to go back before they’re no good!”

This manager is terribly unprofessional.

BM: “I DON’T CARE! HAVE SOMEONE ELSE DO IT!” (at this point she was yelling and heads were turning.)

I put the frozen go backs on the Customer Service counter, gave her a look of utter disapproval, and went back.

For the next hour it was dead in the store. Weird for a Sunday but I didn’t complain.

The buzzer was still going off, the go-backs didn’t get put away and BM was positively fuming.

She called me up to the front desk.

BM: “You, break.”

Me: “Ok.”

She’s on break, she can say what she wants.

As I walk away I hear her muttering something along the lines of: “Lazy baggers getting breaks after not doing anything while I’m up here working hard.”

I turn around and walk back up to the desk.

I’m fuming, there’s no denying it. I’ve got my mother’s temper so when I get mad I get mad.

Me: “You spent the last hour up there sitting and playing around on your phone and you have the guts to call the baggers lazy?”

What? The manager told her NOT to do things!

BM: “You never do anything! We’ve got all this stuff to do and you’re all too lazy to do it!”

Me: “On multiple occasions I tried to get that stuff done. Every time I tried you were hostile to me and told me to go back. It’s not my fault you’re incompetent.”

BM: “How dare-”

At that point I stopped listening.

I made my way over to the breakroom area, punched out and walked right past her on my way out the door.

It felt great. She was yelling at me the whole time, I just ignored her and kept walking.

Unions can be very helpful.

Why wasn’t I fired? Why wasn’t she fired a long time ago for sucking at her job?

Well, those are fair questions. Where we work, you’re pretty much forced to be in the union, which means you can be as terrible as you want at your job, and still have it the next day.

Next time I came it I was called to the manager’s office.

M: “Why’d you clock out early yesterday?”

Hey, at least she is honest.

Me: “BM was being incredibly rude and unpleasant to me, every time I tried to do something she’d snap at me and tell me to go back to the front and bag, even though there were no lines and all two of the registers that had customers had baggers on them.”

They left it at that.

My two weeks were put in very shortly after this incident, which funnily enough, was also shortly after they moved me to the deli.

Last I heard she’s still working there, and as unpleasant and bad as ever.

A bad manager can absolutely ruin a job, but in this case, the bad manager ruined the job and made sure nothing got done. Talk about incompetence.

I’m betting the people in the comments on Reddit loved this story. Let’s take a look.

I 100% agree with this person.

This commenter says to demand accountability.

Here is a great way to handle things.

Do these managers just not think at all?

Sometimes, unions protect the wrong people.

They would be better off with no manager at all.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.