Post 9ifw0XZNNJ8iAQHXNI by yawn@witches.live
(DIR) More posts by yawn@witches.live
(DIR) Post #9ifw0Wa33K5D6DaYme by yawn@witches.live
2019-05-10T17:19:07Z
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just heard through the grapevine that the boss that made me quit my first job and walk away from the first place i called home, which turned most of my closest and oldest friends against me, got fired.it's about time.
(DIR) Post #9ifw0Wq060qLth3IeG by yawn@witches.live
2019-05-10T17:30:11Z
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the job was at a summer camp. i went there as a child for 5 years, and the whole time all i ever wanted to do was work there someday, because that place meant everything to me. it was a refuge from all the things wrong with my home life: i wasn't living in my mom's hoarder house, i wasn't bullied like i was in school and had dozens of close friends there over the years.before i was old enough to work there as a counselor, i was a volunteer for 3 years, and i was awarded "volunteer of the year" for doing it for 3 entire summers when the standard obligation for volunteers is 2 weeks.
(DIR) Post #9ifw0X850nIynlVjpQ by yawn@witches.live
2019-05-10T17:34:21Z
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when they told me i had been selected for the award, my boss pulled me into his office and interrogated me for 30 minutes, trying to get me to confess to something, only, i hadn't done anything that i knew of, and he wouldn't say what i was being accused of. he kept saying "you don't think you've done anything wrong??" and finally i just blurted out "no!! i think i've been doing a really good job!" because i was stressed and anxious then he grins and says "well, we think you have too. that's why you've been selected to receive this award..."he didn't even make the selections for the award, the board of directors did
(DIR) Post #9ifw0XK8HywjP99McC by yawn@witches.live
2019-05-10T17:41:03Z
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one time, during my last year there when i was a counselor, i had to clean the pool, alone. it was a punishment. i spent hours scrubbing the floor of the pool with a 12 foot long-handled steel brush while treading water. by lunchtime i had blisters all over my shoulders and upper back despite putting on sunscreen. just wearing a shirt felt like razor blades across my skin.i show up for lunch, chicken tenders. i got there a little late from the pool and missed the announcement that there was a shortage of chicken tenders. we were only supposed to serve ourselves 3 of them and let the women serve themselves first.
(DIR) Post #9ifw0XRZqItvmEdJDc by yawn@witches.live
2019-05-10T17:48:08Z
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well i didn't wait for the ladies and made the sin of serving myself 4 tenders. he walks up behind me, drops his frighteningly large hand down on my shoulder and squeezes tightly, holding it the entire time he spoke to me.and with coals burning in his eyes, he asked me just what i thought i was doing. i told him truthfully i didn't know while trying not to react to the immense pain. other staff at the table(who knew i missed the announcement and about my sunburn) piped up in my defense. he told me to "not be late next time," and left with a firm shoulder pat. i had a wet spot on my shirt from the popped blisters.
(DIR) Post #9ifw0XZNNJ8iAQHXNI by yawn@witches.live
2019-05-10T17:59:52Z
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it never happened to one of my campers, but sometimes he would set off impromptu "missing camper" drills by asking kids if they wanted to go for a ride in his golf cart(all the higher ups at camp drove around in golf carts) and if the kid asked their counselor for permission, they would get to ride in a loop and come back.if they didn't ask, he would take them without a word back to the office, and they got to watch a movie and eat popcorn with the office staff while the rest of camp went into high alert lockdown while we tore through the woods looking for the kid.
(DIR) Post #9ifw0XmqZDumqCaIN6 by yawn@witches.live
2019-05-10T18:05:04Z
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if i ever said anything that sounded even slightly like a complaint, he would aggressively remind me that "you're a counselor now, not a camper anymore. that means camp's not about you."which in and of itself is a reasonable enough statement, but the trouble was things like i wasn't a good fit for the older campers, but i did great with the younger campers. 12 and ups thought i was boring and i thought most of them were rude and disrespectful, but the younger kids always thought i was fun and i enjoyed working with them.
(DIR) Post #9ifw0Xx7x08dM5OVOa by yawn@witches.live
2019-05-10T18:07:15Z
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no matter how much i would ask to only work with the younger kids so i wouldn't ruin the experience for the older kids since they never had as much fun with me as my coworkers, he would always just tell me to "get used to it, sometimes you do things you don't like to do." all but 2 of my coworkers would often openly talk(away from the kids) about how much they hated having to deal with the little kids. it's like he deliberately always set people up with the age range they specifically didn't want.
(DIR) Post #9ifw0Y5HSgezlND16W by yawn@witches.live
2019-05-10T18:13:07Z
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my last summer there, my partner's parents went into rehab, and balancing my obligations to this place that had made me the person i am and to support my so during a troubling time wasn't easy. tears in my eyes, i begged for a week off so i could go home and be there with my partner and their family. he chewed me out for letting a "high school relationship" become more important than my "responsibilities" and kept interjecting "are you getting married? ARE YOU GOING TO GET MARRIED? no? then it doesn't matter more than this."
(DIR) Post #9ifw0YGcmVjaKYW4mm by yawn@witches.live
2019-05-10T18:17:19Z
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that was in 2014. prior to that conversation, i imagined i would still have been working there to this day, possibly even on the year-round staff. after it, though, i knew i could never go back. i had believed that camp was my home, and the people there were my family, but that's not how you treat your family when they struggle, and it was camp that taught me that. i had given everything i had to that camp for years, i had put off other things i wanted to do with my life so i could be there and be involved, and what did i get for it? a block of gold-painted resin with my name on it and a slap in the face.
(DIR) Post #9ifw0YRG8yF0rXUZMW by kai@ajin.la
2019-05-10T18:18:00Z
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@yawn wow bro :blobpats:
(DIR) Post #9ifwbDtXUKRHrTCkVs by xenophora@mastodon.art
2019-05-10T18:24:39Z
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@kai @yawn Every time I think I've heard every last bad boss tale... o_0