Getting your first summer job is exciting, but it can also be a sad realization to see just how bad some bosses can be.

When this young man got his first job, his hours were almost immediately cut and his boss kept telling him to do things that were impossible.

He wants to do a good job, but the guy in this story is wondering if this is normal or if he should be finding a new job with a better manager.

Read on for all the details.

Boss cuts everyone’s hours, then yells at me for having to cut them. AND the help wanted sign is still up.

Background Info

So I got a summer job in a kitchen gadget store in an outlet mall.

This chain is absolutely going to be out of business within the next few years. It barely gets any customers and never reaches its daily profit goal, not even close.

For instance, today’s goal was something like $4,000, and by the end of the day we didn’t even have $1,000.

Good thing it is only a summer job.

I was hired about a month ago, along with two other sales associates. So in total, the store has: 1 manager, 2 assistant managers, and 4 sales associates.

Weekly Hours

When the manager interviewed me, he told me that I’d be working “no more than 28 hours.” But when he scheduled me in, he actually gave me 12-15 hours a week.

Not cool. But it was decent and I didn’t complain.

Cutting hours isn’t going to drive sales.

Anyway, the district manager saw that our store wasn’t profiting and she said that the store manager needed to cut 55 hours from the schedule. 55 hours would basically be all 4 sales associates.

The manager argued with her because he wants the extra help unloading boxes and whatnot, but eventually she came to the store and re-made the schedule herself.

My hours were slaughtered.

This week I worked 9 hours total. Next week I work 11 hours. I worked 3 hours today.

I probably spent most of today’s earnings on the gas money to get there and back. It’s just pretty ridiculous, and unfair to the sales associates.

Two of the others are only working 4 hours a week. Even worse, is that a girl turned in an application last week and my manager was considering hiring her, and the help wanted sign is still up.

Are you serious?

Good idea, finding a job should be his first priority.

So I’ve pretty much had enough and I’ve been looking for another job.

The Manager (the point of the story)

He’s kind of a jerk to me.

He loves to micro-manage and correct every tiny thing that I do. I mean every tiny thing.

If I am fixing the price on an item on my counter he’ll come over and yell “YOU HAVE TO KEEP YOUR COUNTER CLEAR” like it wouldn’t just take me 3 seconds to pick up the item if a customer wants to check out (you know, the 6 customers that we’ll get all day).

Multitasking is almost never a good idea.

Anyway, he often has me multi-task in ways that aren’t really possible.

Like, the other day he had me stocking shelves in the very back corner of the store (unboxing and arranging heavy glassware). He said that I also need to check on the front of the store to greet everyone that comes in and see if anyone needs to check out.

So, basically he wanted me to be in two places at once.

I ended up putting one or two items on the shelf, running to the front of the store, then running back to stock another item.

Just really silly.

I’m the kind of person that really really likes to please. I know this is just a temporary retail job, but I still work my hardest during the hours that I’m there. I seriously give it my all.

I greet every customer that comes through the door, I unbox and price items as quickly as I can, and I always ask confused-looking customers if they need help.

Some managers are never happy.

Apparently that wasn’t good enough for him though, because I came in today and he tasked me with unboxing various items and pricing them.

The store was basically empty so I started unboxing.

For some reason he was in a bad mood and angrily said something along the lines of “you need to concentrate MORE on the customers and LESS on the tasks I give you. Making sales is the most important thing. Maybe I wouldn’t have had to cut everyone’s hours if we made more sales”

Wow. You pay me 7 dollars an hour and expect me to be in two places at once and magically make customers appear and buy things? You cut my hours in half and then blame me for working too hard on the tasks you give me?

This is my first retail job, so maybe this kind of stuff is normal. I don’t know. But I can’t survive on 9 hours a week.

Sadly, this is more common than it should be, but that doesn’t make it his problem. He needs to find another job right away.

Read on to see what the people in the comments on Reddit have to say about it.

This person says the store won’t be around long.

He may be under stress, but that is no excuse.

The manager really is terrible.

Why work if it costs more money to get to the job than you are making?

These types of stores are going under fast.

Time to find a new job.

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.