Life experience ·3.4·

The people who are talking the loudest and who are talking  the most are not always the ones worth listening to

One summervacation I got a job in the company where my father works. When my former boss contacted me to ask me whether I could work for him again, I told him that I found another job. He asked me how much that job payed and I told him a number that wasn’t even true, yet a little bit higher than the wage he payed me. He told me that he would raise the wage to the same amount without knowing that the company’s payment was way higher than what I told him. Yet I agreed to help out on some days when I was free. He still tried to convince me to quit the job at the company, but I wasn’t so stupid. Not anymore. He really thought that the job at his store and its payment was better and he was convinced that he was the best boss in the world.

Somehow he began to critize me for working slow, not doing it right, even though I didn’t change my way of working at all. The ironic thing is, whenever he showed me how it should be done, he failed himself. Just to give you an example. I was putting price labels on frozen products once and because the packaging was cold and wet, the label wouldn’t stick on it. That’s why I had to secure it with a stapler. So there weren’t many places where I could put the label on and secure it. Of course that took longer than when you just simply have to put the label straight on the packaging. When he saw me working, he came straight up to me, telling me that I have to work faster, then he took the labeling tool to show me his way of ‚working faster‘.

Every label he put on the packaging fell off. I looked at him and he threw down the labeling tool and just left, without saying a word. Pathetic.

Whenever I started argumenting, he either asked me why I always have to talk back or he just told me not to talk back.

What I also really hated about him is that he often critized me for something I did, when I just followed his instructions. He just changed his opinions whenever he felt like it. For example, when I began working there, I suggested pricing down the vegetables that weren’t so fresh anymore so that we didn’t have to throw them away. He told me that he would rather throw the products away than selling them for a cheap price.

When I returned after a few months, I sorted out the vegetables like he told me before and threw the old ones away. However he came to me, asking me why I threw them away. I told him that I did that because they weren’t fresh anymore and nobody would buy them (and because he told me to do so). Then he told me to reduce the price because it is still better to earn a little bit of money rather than throw them away and not earn anything.

I couldn’t believe it. This is what I tried to explain to him in the very beginning. He rejected my advice and now he acted like some wise adult showing a kid how it is done. The impudent thing was that the vegetables not only weren’t fresh and new anymore, they had already turned yellow and he still tried to sell them like that. The withered vegetables were still sold at the old price. There were so many things I wanted to say to him, but that would have been useless. Everytime I confronted him about something he said, he would deny it. He acted like he knew better and treated me like someone without experience, who didn’t know anything about life.

Another thing that was really irritating was the fact that he always ordered new products even though there wasn’t any place on the shelves anymore. Furthermore he didn’t reorder products that were sold out and that customers looked for. It was always me who had to explain to the customers why the products, that my boss wanted to order two weeks ago, didn’t arrive yet. I always had to find the place to put the new products without occupying the old product’s place. I think you can comprehend the problem here. Somehow he didn’t understand that there was a limit. You just can’t put a row of 10 cans on a shelf where only a row of 8 cans fits. Thinking about it again makes me aggressive.

Then there was the cash box. Everytime he worked at the cash register, the change in the box was a mess. He threw the coins in the box however he liked. When I worked at the register I always had to look for the right coins and when I wanted to sort  them out, he told me to leave it and that he would do it later. It still wasn’t sorted when I came back.

When there were female customers he would always compliment them, calling them ‚beautiful‘ and flirted with them, even though he is married. However, as soon as they left the store, he gossiped about them and made nasty remarks. I really hated listening to him.

I could go on and on about this. It would take days to finish my rant about this issue. However it feels good to let it out like this at least once. Well, now at least you know the way to lose all my respect.

I always want to believe in the good side of a person. Yet, the more I get to know people, the more I wish I haven’t met most of them at all. I make the same mistake everytime I meet new people. At least you are reminded everytime that you shouldn’t trust people so easily.
However I still continued to work at the store. Why? Because of the money. The hourly wage was not much, but as long as I have the chance to earn my own money, I will do so.

As soon as someone gets a higher position than you, he automatically thinks, he is better than you and you will be looked down on.
Of course there are decent people out there, but the few Vietnamese people I have met, especially those who own a restaurant or a shop, they tend to be fairly arrogant. If you work for them, they will let you feel like a servant and they tend to flaunt their wealth in front of you. At least these were my experiences until now. Those shops are usually family businesses and you will feel like a complete outsider while working there, even though you are all from the same country. They want you to be thankful to them because they are offering you a job, even though you don’t belong to their „inner circle“. I am indeed thankful when I am not jobless, but that doesn’t mean that I can be disrespected by those offering me a job. I deserve as much respect as everyone else. At least this is the way I see it.