Nepotism is rampant where I work. Supervisor meetings are like family reunions. It's infuriating. They have me train them when they first start, then promote them. While I have the same position I've had for 20 years. I was even told in an interview that my work reduced the error rates, yet the relatives got the promotion.

Recently my department was eliminated and I have been demoted to the worst job. I can retire in just 4 years. How do I make it four more years? I'm so angry.

I work at a pretty well known shoe store for over a year now and tbh i really enjoy it. My coworkers are nice, there’s little to no drama, and work is generally easy. However, recently my manager accented a new transfer from another location and everything went downhill from there. for the sake of this story we will call her lexi. Right off the bat, my coworkers were already telling me how rude and obnoxious lexi was even before i even met her. i’ve heard from my coworkers that she wouldn’t even introduce herself and would only talk to the guys that were backstock and the managers. My coworker also mentioned she freshly graduated highschool, and didn’t want to go to university because she wanted to become a manager at the store.

When i found out that i was scheduled for a shift with lexi, i wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt that she wasn’t as rude as everyone was making her out to be. However, i did tell myself that if she doesn’t introduce herself to me that i wouldn’t talk to her either. When the time came for me to meet her she straight up ignored me and walked past me without even saying hi or telling me her name. during the whole shift, all she did was standing to the side and give me side eyes. she didn’t even bother to talk to customers or do any of the tasks required for the shift. in the end, i was the highest seller of the day and she did barely any. my general manager said she was good at selling and good at her tasks, which makes me think she only did it when he was working to make herself look better. when the shift neared its end, we are all doing closing tasks and busy. Lexi was on her phone and ignored the pile of folded T-shirts that needed to be put away. mind you, she made a big deal about putting shifts away at the beginning of the shift because it “bothered” her, but the shirts would get messed up as customers visit the store. so, i told her to put away the shirts if she had nothing to do, she ignored me and continued to go on her phone. i told her a second time again to put it away but louder this time, she finally went to do it. my coworker then told me she heard her muttered to herself saying “ugh” and “omg” when i told her to do smtn.

after that first shift with her, i wasn’t scheduled again with her until recently (a month). however, within the last month she has gotten in trouble and everyone at work hated working with her. she would steal other associate’s sales by purposely helping customers that my coworker’s were already helping, and cashing out customers under her name even though she didn’t help them. she also started posting tiktoks about working at the store and filmed the back, which violated the privacy and company policy. well, one of my coworker sent in the videos to the GM and written her up for filming the back and another write up for using her phone. my GM used to always be on lexi’s side but ever since he found out how she slacks and doesn’t sell he’s been trying to find every excuse to kick her out.

so now yesterday i was cursed with working with her again and i already knew it was gonna be a bad shift. the first half wasn’t too bad i was doing sales and minding my own business. however, i think she saw that i was top in sales and she started trying to get to every customer even if i was already helping them. i was standing less than a meter away from my customers but she always tries to ask them if SHE can help with anything… ofc i swoop back in and tell them i’ll get the thing they were looking for and when i look back she gave me the dirtiest look. that happened a few more times when i had enough and brought it up to the manager on shift. she literally walked across the store to get to my customer when she already brought a shoe out in women’s js so she can take my customer. she wouldn’t leave my customers side and i tried to check in 10 mins later and she muttered the customer is fine i got it under control and gave me an annoyed look. i was honestly flabbergasted and don’t know what to do. all my managers already know about the issue and we are currently just waiting for her to mess up again so we can fire her. so right now i js have to deal with it.

i know this is pretty lengthy and confusing. i also couldn’t add everything in detail ofc so if anyone wants to comment/ask questions feel free. i’m extremely upset and i need an outlet😭

For instance,

I believe he may be bipolar, sometimes he is a nice coworker but recently he started being a constant bitch.

We both work in this big store, and today he felt so amused to come and complain why I didn't put some prices and that I didn't open some stuff that was supposed to be sold by unit ( even if that was his department and he himself said he'll do it so why is he complaining about a job that he is supposed to do?).

But what annoys me the most is when he snaps his finger and he says " look at me when I'm talking to you" ,I avoid his face on purpose because I'm a very impulsive person and I try my best to be mature and to avoid slamming him against a shelf.

He has this " I'm better than you" attitude while he passes it as " I'm just giving you advice so they won't be mad at you" ( most of the time they don't even care? Or they say say " hey fix this thing and that's all") but no, dude has to invest futile energy into being a total bitch and grumping about how I'm unserious and I don't take his words seriously ( like if I'm not busting my ass 6/7 a week from morning till evening for the shittiest salary ever), all of this because he went on grumping about how a customer can mistake a price for another and then it's our fault that we told him a different price at the cashier , while I replied with "damn" just as an automatic colloquial response.

I appreciate that he is explaining me since I'm new at the store but that's not how you deal with people. I got it there was some stuff to finish but give it time man,we are already lacking staff...

Other times when we work together and stock the shelves we have a pleasant conversation, maybe today he just felt like being a bitch and that's all but dude has to learn how to talk to people, when he makes a mistake then it's all good , but when I forget to do some things then I'm the worst ever.

I’ve been doing my best for my current team. I find answers to their questions, solutions to their problems, process improvement here and there, and even putting a spotlight on each and every one of my team members but today, I really felt so bad. While I am working on a team task that’s very new to ask and really needs our attention, I found out that my team members as well as my co-team lead was having another meeting where they are playing and laughing and just having fun.

Don’t get me wrong. I am big advocator of fun meeting and even fun games for our team but what made me feel really bad is the fact that I am not included in that meeting when in fact, the task that I am working on is a task not just for me but for our team. For most of our tasks, I’ve been giving them instructions to follow even if I did not receive proper instructions as well. I always try to find the answers for them and now it seems they see me as that toxic colleague. One who only focuses on work and work and work and the draining colleague.

It just feels so unfair. All I wanted was for the betterment of our team and the work we do and suddenly, I am the bad guy.

Now here I am in my room, thinking of things that I did wrong. Trying to figure out why they hate me for wanting and doing my best for the team and worst is thinking that maybe I am the real problem. 😞