That would be today. All was good this morning, T. and I opened the store and we finished putting the truck away before our first big rush. The day was going great- espeically since we were both having an early day and getting off at 1.
At 12:50, I was ready to go but one of my favorite contractors gave me an order for 6 tinted gallons, plus 40 gallons that just needed to be pulled. It shouldn't have taken more than 10-15 minutes. But 30 of those gallons were squeezed in behind 4 other pallets that I had to move in order to even reach them. In the middle of pulling the fives down, Dustin came to the back, but I didn't realize it until I saw him out of the corner of my eye, looking at me like, "What in the hell are you doing?" I thought his look was a joke about why I moved all those pallets and left them haphazardly around the warehouse. So I just kept working. (Besides, I was pissed that I felt like I was doing most of the work in the store that day, just like everyday, and I wanted to go home on time for once.) I got that taken care of, and as I started to roll them out to the front, I realized that there was a crack in the bottom of one of the buckets. And of course on this particular day, we happen to be out of empty 5-gallon buckets to contain the spill and keep going with our lives.
I realized that maybe Dustin wanted to ask me something, so I caught him on the sales floor and asked him if he needed something. I got a short 'no'. I should also say that after he walked away when I was in the back, he went back outside to his car and slammed the door- which is right by where I was working. I should also say that I have seen him act confrontational and childish towards every employee at our store, with the sole exclusion of me and the manager.
T. and another contrator saw how frustrated I was with the entire situation and came back to help me with the cracked fives- we found a second bucket split clear across the bottom. I got that order taken care of, and there were about 6-7 more customers waiting. T. and I got all of them out of the store within 15 minutes, when they had probably been waiting even longer than that. For some reason, when the boys are there, customers get the pleasure of waiting for a really long time; yet when us girls get to work, we can clear them out pretty quickly.
Then I knew I needed to deal with the Dustin situation. I figured I could either let the manager handle it, or I could put the issue to rest myself before I left for the day. I was fixing up my last customer and I ran into him in the back. I said, "Hey, is there something we should talk about?" His reply was purely confrontational, "No, I have nothing to talk about." "Then why are you treating me like this?" my inner stressed-out crybaby tired self asked.
I don't even remember what he said next. I walked into the office and told the manager to talk to Dustin about his attitude. I told him my side of the story, with my hands shaking so violently I couldn't pick up my things to leave. Of course as soon as I hit my car, I called Bean and started sobbing. It's been so long since I've cried, that it all came out, and it just kept coming and coming and coming for who knows how long- at least 30 minutes.
When I finally forced myself to calm down so I could run some errands and not look like a freak crying for no reason in public, I realized why the situation bothered me. First of all, Dustin is 2 years older than me, but he acts like a child when things don't go his way- maybe he should grow up a little. Secondly, him treating me that way shows a lack of respect when I'm technically his boss. I was disappointed that he would treat me that way, and disappointed in myself for not letting it go when I knew I was upset, instead of coming back and talking about it tomorrow when we're both calmed down. And Thirdly (but not really related), there have been NUMEROUS times he's gotten away with things at work- like coming in late, calling in sick when I know he's been out partying the night before, asking to leave early to go to strip clubs- that I haven't written down in his folder (mainly because the manager doesn't write stuff in anyone's folder). But he could literally be fired simply based on the number of times he has been late. Does he not realize that I can make him look really really bad just by documenting that stuff?
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