When a company you work for gets purchased by another company, you can expect that things are going to change, and often not for the better.

That is what happened in this story when a hotel was bought out by a big chain, and a new manager was brought in who started treating an employee very poorly.

Fortunately, the employee was able to find a better job at a different company, and when she left, she made sure that the new manager had something to worry about.

Former managers

I had to take a hotel related class yesterday, and it reminded me of a manager that I just hated.

It is nice to work for a good boss.

I used to work at a full-service hotel that was owned by an older gentleman, and the GM and my boss were great.

Well, eventually the owner felt the need to sell the hotel (he’s old, in poor health, and is going through a divorce).

Things are going to take a turn for the worse.

When my boss found out who was buying the hotel, she put in her notice. She’d worked for that company before, and swore she never would again.

I stuck around, because what else am I going to do?

It looks like things will work out well for this person.

I was put in charge over the FD and given a raise, but warned to not take an actual management position if offered before the switchover, as the new company was already actively looking for someone for that position. Alright, I can live with that.

Night of the switchover comes, and I meet the new FD Manager. She’s quiet, but we get along, and get everything running smoothly.

Hopefully this will all go well.

A couple of days later, I meet the new GM, and he seems nice enough, and even tells me he likes to surround himself with people that are smarter than him.

I can appreciate that, as that tells me he knows what his weaknesses are. It was after that that things started going sour.

The red flags are starting to come out.

At least once a week, the new FD manager would come up and tell me, “GM wants this done. So how do we do that?” A lot of times I knew the answer right away, but if I didn’t, I knew how to find out.

After a while I start wondering about her, as these are things that I think she should already know.

What’s the problem?

One day, she pulls me into the back office, and tells me that she’s been told that I get called by employees, every shift, every day, and it needs to stop.

Confused, I ask who’s telling her this, because it’s not true at all. I might get called by an employee with a question once a month, and that’s a stretch.

Someone is trying to make her look bad.

She wouldn’t say, but I could tell by her surprise by my question that she already knew it wasn’t true. She then told me that new policy was that employees weren’t allowed to call me when I wasn’t on duty.

Um, fine? I would actually appreciate that.

What is going on here?

After a couple of weeks, a coworker told me in confidence that all the other FD employees had been told that they weren’t allowed to ask me questions.

Yeah, I know they’re not allowed to call me when I’m off duty. No, they’re not allowed to ask you ANYTHING. Even if you’re here, and they’re on shift with you.

I think I know who is causing the drama.

FD manager says that’s her job, and she won’t have them treating you like you’re their boss. I quietly ask around, and yes, even though I’m officially the FD supervisor, I’m no longer to be treated as if I am.

Now I start looking for another job, but not having any luck.

This manager seems like she feels threatened.

Then the write-ups came. First one, a coworker had checked in a CLC guest, but their card was declining.

For whatever reason, she wasn’t wanting to fully explain why she couldn’t just check him in, and he’d just keep telling her run it again.

Some customers just can’t be satisfied.

Finally, I stepped in when I was finished with my check-in, and let him know specifically what the issue is. He’s not surprised, and pays another way. Later on, he fills in a survey saying that I was rude when I checked him in.

When it came in, I got written up right away, and no one was interested at all in the circumstances.

This is a good policy change.

Second one, we’d switched to 100% non-smoking with the new company. I had a guy (who’d stayed with us before) call to make a reservation, and when he asked for a smoking room, I told him we didn’t have smoking rooms anymore.

He started going off on a rant about how we were discriminating against smokers. Sorry you feel that way, but the fact is we do not have smoking rooms.

She got written up for following policy?

He made his reservation acknowledging that, but called back to tell the manager I was rude to him. Again, no questions, no interest in what actually happened.

The moment the word “rude” was used, it was decided I’d get my second write up.

She really needs a new job.

I got that second write up, and still can’t find anything new. Well, correction. My former manager had found herself a GM position at a new hotel, and told a mutual friend that if I ever wanted to move on, to give her a call, but she didn’t know what she could offer me.

I took this to mean probably part time at best, and definitely less than what I was making. So, I just kept looking for something else.

A glimmer of hope.

She finally called me as I was getting ready for work, and said I should go see her at her new property.

I said I’d do that, but she knew me well enough that I wasn’t taking it seriously, so she just went ahead and told me on the phone what she was offering me, which was the AGM position at her place.

Anything to get out of her current job.

I played it cool, but decided that I was taking it, no matter what. I went ahead and typed up my notice, and when I got to work, looked for the FD manager.

She was on her way out, but had a weird smile on her face when I found her. That smile changed to confusion when I gave her my notice.

Now the truth is coming out.

In my last few days, she was practically dancing around the place. She eventually told me that on the night of the switchover, one of the previous managers told her that she was taking my job.

I knew she was insecure about me, but never knew for sure why. I decided to have a little fun with her, and told her that there were probably a few people that felt the same way at the time.

Tell that manager just enough to keep her on her toes.

Who, she asked. Oh, I don’t know, probably people that aren’t here anymore. I never saw her again, and feel sorry for anyone who’s worked for her since.

I’m sure she is very glad to be gone. A job like that would be miserable.

Let’s see what the people in the comments have to say about this story.

I think this commenter is right.

The insecure manager is going to cause problems for everyone.

This would be very frustrating.

This is one way to handle management.

Bad managers can ruin a good job.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman who interviewed for a job, then told the interviewer she thought he was rude.