New Job Disappointments

Sooo... I had started my own business a while back but there is an ebb/flow that goes with it. Business tends to die off right after Christmas and pick up again around April or May. In order to make sure I can pay my bills I took on a 2nd job.

The new job is a big-box retail store and it pays crap but it's (barely) enough to live on during the slack times. My schedule allows me to continue with my own business during the other months and it's a small supplemental income.

Thusfar it's a huge disappointment. I applied for the job and was interviewed by 3 people. All of them spoke of the "close teamwork" of the department I'd be working in. I got hired and spent the 1st 3 days working only with the HR trolls going through a bunch of orientation stuff (benefits, OSHA certifications, etc...).I also got all the usual BS about the corporate organization and whatnot. Sounded good. Everybody's hapy! Wheeee!

I take Saturday off and show up at my new department on Sunday (I'm scheduled to work Sunday through Thursday). The department manager is on vacation and the "2nd" is running the show. 5 minutes into the shift and the acting manager tells me that the actual Dept. Manager will be back in 2 days and that he (the #2 guy) is leaving for another location. OK, fair enough.

I look around. There are supposed to be 12 people in the department. 5 showed up for work. I find out fairly quickly that there are only 7 (including myself) to begin with. During the shift one of the other guys tells me that 2 guys quit the prior week and two others were fired because they had a fist fight in the middle of the store floor. Yoikes! I finish my shift and go home.

Monday I show up and we have all 6 of the 7 there (Dept manager still on vacation). I find out that the 2 that were missing the previous night are actually seasonal temps. They're both college students and Thursday will be their last night. I also find out that 6 people from other departments in the store quit the previous yesterday and that one of the dept managers from another department killed himself 2 weeks ago - an hour after attending a company party. Went into the bathroom at home, stuck a gun in a his mouth and pulled the trigger while his wife was sleeping in the next room. Nice! I finish my shift and go home.

I show up Wednesday. The 2 college kids didn't show up again. The 2nd in charge is gone - transferred to another store. The Dept. Manager is back and I finally meet him. An hour later he suggests that he should train me to take over his job... Then the "senior" co-worker tells me he's had enough and he's transferring to another store. Late in the shift I'm told by the dept. manager that 3 new guys will be starting the following Sunday. That takes care of replacements for the 2 college kids and the senior co-worker that are leaving. We're still at 6 people total - half of what should be there. The manager wants me to train the new guys. I've been there 3 days and suddenly I'm qualified to train new people?

I finished my shift, came home and started looking for another job. This is the first time I've ever worked in a retail evnironment. They can't all be this bad, can they?