Retail employee resigns merely 15 minutes into new job due to supervisor's hostile behavior

Working in the retail industry is not everyone's cup of tea. Retail employees have to contend with very average wages for what many consider draining work. Reddit user, u/funwithpigeons, had an insightful story to share about the time they joined a Burlington store as a "receiving associate." The post titled, "I started a job at Burlington yesterday and I noped out of there within the first 15 minutes," has gained 3.9k upvotes on the platform with 327 comments.

The employee states right from the beginning that they took the job out of necessity and not because they had any particular liking towards working in retail. Moreover, the position they joined did not involve working directly with customers, so it seemed like a feasible situation. However, they ominously admitted: "I guess I forgot that coworkers can be just as unbearable as customers." They shared that they had orientation on a Thursday and were scheduled to start work on the following Friday.

During the orientation, the employee was briefly introduced to the Lead Receiving Supervisor by HR. Reflecting on the meeting, they recalled, "The supervisor came across as somewhat cold and unfriendly and didn't seem very interested in meeting me." Wanting to make ends meet, the user decided not to ponder the interaction too much and chalked it down to people having "off moments." Even then, they sensed that something was off about the lady.

Despite wanting to ignore their hunch about the lady, they got to see her true colors the next day on the job. Upon reaching the store for their scheduled shift, the woman asked them, "What are you doing here? I thought you weren't supposed to start until Monday?" The employee calmly replied that they were on the schedule that day, after which she "gruffly" told them to "get out of the way" and that she'd get back to them after a while. The brief interaction troubled the user and they doubted their decision to take the job.

After some time, another woman, who the employee believes to have been the assistant supervisor, asked them to go to a workstation and tag a pile of clothes there. They write, "She explicitly stated that I must do exactly as she was telling me because it is store policy." The employee decided to comply and followed her instructions to the T. Unsurprisingly, the lead supervisor walked over to them and informed them that they had not done it correctly.

The employee reasoned that the other woman had asked them to do it this way, at which point she impatiently remarked, "Well, that's why I'm here, to show you how to do it right." At this point, the new staff member had had enough and said, "You know what, I don't think this is going to work out for me." She inquired if they were talking about the job and they said yes. The supervisor walked them to the exit and didn't say a word as they were leaving.

The employee then revealed that they were diagnosed with severe social anxiety, which meant they had a hard time dealing with people. The fact that the supervisor was so rude made it much harder. They wrote, "Perhaps I should have sucked it up for the sake of a paycheck, but I can't handle people like that. I just can't. Not to mention that she didn't even know I was supposed to work Friday and that no one seemed to be on the same page as to how the work should be done. I could tell it was a toxic, disorganized work environment, and I have no regrets that I left."

In an edit to the post, the employee mentioned that they sent an email to the store manager as to why they quit. They shared, "I politely asked that he speak to the lead supervisor about her hostile attitude and to both the lead and assistant supervisors about their apparent lack of consensus regarding how the tagging should be done." People on the platform expressed their appreciation for the individual's quick exit in the comment section.

u/Stunning_Hippo1763 commented, "You did good. That's why they don't have employees cause their management sucks." u/Buffalojackalope pointed out, "Basic manager skills is knowing who's supposed to be working for you and selecting trainers who know how to do what they are training for. The really sad part is: none of those people think they did anything wrong."

Editor's note: This article was originally published on September 18, 2023. It has since been updated.