GM almost screwed me

[datechboss101]

So, this past weekend, I almost got pulled over and would have been in hot water with the law.... I didn't have my drivers license on me for the first time. Apparently, my GM (General Manager) had my license for two days!!!! A lot of scenarios were running through my head if things didn't go great, like getting pulled over while I was heading to college (Rogue would have been impounded and I would be left in the middle of nowhere). And in Florida, this is apparently LEGAL. I got really pissed at Orange County Sheriff's Department when they told me that it was legal (I almost got pulled over in Charlotte County, close to Punta Gorda). Today, unfortunately my phone wouldn't charge, so I had to use a friends phone and my work (Pizza Hut, PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM THIS BRAND!!!!!!!!!!!) was giving me in circles. So I had to get ahold of the former area manager, the same lady who hired me, and now she and the new area manager is doing an investigation on the General Manager. Even my lead managers were pissed that this happened, especially the GM knows that I am a college student and I drive to Miami from Orlando every Sunday and back on Friday.

This goes along way to say that never trust the general manager who doesn't have any memory with your personal information and legal documents. My family's privacy and safety would have been compromised and so will my identity if my license got into the wrong hands. And this GM handled this situation very unprofessionally, since she had plenty of time to notify me that she had my drivers license on Saturday night from 7:20pm to 11pm and all of Sunday, and all of MOnday morning. She notified me on monday afternoon around 2:30pm. Due to this senseless act and lack of responsibility and leadership and professionality of this GM, I hope she gets retrained or fired. And I am already considering looking at another job.

[Buzzman]

How did this GM end up with your license in the first place?
Why would you give it away?
Blaming her for this "senseless act" and "lack of responsibility" is just your way of deflecting your own irresponsibility.
Never in all my years have I given things like my license, or any other legal documents, to another person to be taken away.
Give them a photocopy if you must, but dude, hang on to your stuff.
Hopefully it's a lesson learned.

[amc49]

X2. Somewhat witless there. NEVER give up your personal things like that, I would be knocking down a door if my license did not show back up in 5 minutes. Literally. It is considered personally incompetent to leave without that license where I come from. Social security card the same way.

I had a temp agency many years ago try to keep my SS card due to me being old enough it was a '60s design and the newer ones did not look like that. The woman interviewing me pronounced it as a fake and so did her boss, and they both collectively chose to keep the card to 'report my fraud'. I PHYSICALLY took it back over much office screaming and then stuck around for the police to show up and then it took awhile for police to convince those two idiots the card was real. That was after the police worked though the women's charges of 'assaulting them', which I did NOT do. At the same time I pointed out to police the idiot policy of the office people having large amounts of temps in the office, they sorted them out for job offers by calling name and SS number ALOUD so all could hear (and immediately scam) and the knockdown most stupid -ssed thing I have ever seen. The police told them that was illegal and later the blockheads both got fired. Almost went to jail that day but I DID get my card back. I'd do it again too. In a second.

Stupidity is alive and well and thriving on this planet and now it is even worse in a world where 'truth is not truth'. If you can't cover for yourself as a grown human being you NEED to go through trouble just to get the refresher course.

No personal insult intended there at all but it is what it is.

[Bubba1]

when I saw the thread title, I thought you were referring to General Motors, who has been known to screw a few customers. But I agree with the guys above. In hindsight, which is always 20/20, giving the GM a photocopy is what you should have given her, not your original. I'd use this experience as a learning experience to make sure you don't repeat this mistake in the future.

[datechboss101]

I did some additional digging (by the means of talking with two managers who happened to be my favorite managers of the store) and found out that this GM never bothered to care. And she was actually blaming other managers that they should've taken responsibility about this situation, and said that I should have gotten mad at two female managers. She told me she was even in the store until 11pm on that particular night, which really raised my eyebrows and concerns. While saying that she was claiming that this isn't at all like her. Furthermore, she knows the consequences of what will happen if I were to get pulled over. However, one of the two managers that I like, has been driving illegally for 9 years without a legal and proper driver's license. He told me that if I don't have my license on me but it is still valid, the police would give me a ticket and that I could take it to court to fight it once I get my driver's license back.

Right after when she told me this information, I literally messaged the other manager (a woman in her late 20s???) that she blamed, and the manager responded back that she would have called me to come back and to give me the ID back if she actually knew that my ID was there in the first place (she was busy making sure the orders were ready at the moment of when the event happened). And then she told me that there were no video recordings to show any evidence of who left it there or not. And the most firetrucked part was that someone moved my driver's license from the scanner to the manager's desk (I found that out from a co-worker that I really trust).

Now, I have to update my registration with the store so I can keep working there until I get hired and secure a new job. Since this event has occurred, I can no longer trust the GM. She doesn't give a dang about education, rather she wants me to work. So, I am having a more trusted manager handle the documents since it doesn't take more than 3 seconds to scan/copy.

Since this incident occurred, most of the managers alongside the drivers and the customer service reps (not sure why we need that title in a fast food place) now all hate the General Managers.

The lesson I learned here is that I should always keep at least one copy of every government document that has my identity, no matter the situation is, so that if the original gets misplaced, I can go replace it with some type of proof that its a valid document that I lost. And right now, I have placed a copy of the driver's license in my car and my dad's car.

[macgiver]

Sounds like an "interesting' place to work ,and you got some good opinions I think from good people on
the nicoclub. We never do imagine how seemingly ordinary situations , like leaving a document with your higher up's can turn into f 'ked up end results - live & learn. That place has way too much politics for you , for anybody -
good luck in if you change jobs , hope you keep clear of the in the meantime. At least one mgr sounds like human being!

[Bubba1]

I did some additional digging (by the means of talking with two managers who happened to be my favorite managers of the store) and found out that this GM never bothered to care. And she was actually blaming other managers that they should've taken responsibility about this situation, and said that I should have gotten mad at two female managers. She told me she was even in the store until 11pm on that particular night, which really raised my eyebrows and concerns. While saying that she was claiming that this isn't at all like her. Furthermore, she knows the consequences of what will happen if I were to get pulled over. However, one of the two managers that I like, has been driving illegally for 9 years without a legal and proper driver's license. He told me that if I don't have my license on me but it is still valid, the police would give me a ticket and that I could take it to court to fight it once I get my driver's license back.

Right after when she told me this information, I literally messaged the other manager (a woman in her late 20s???) that she blamed, and the manager responded back that she would have called me to come back and to give me the ID back if she actually knew that my ID was there in the first place (she was busy making sure the orders were ready at the moment of when the event happened). And then she told me that there were no video recordings to show any evidence of who left it there or not. And the most firetrucked part was that someone moved my driver's license from the scanner to the manager's desk (I found that out from a co-worker that I really trust).

Now, I have to update my registration with the store so I can keep working there until I get hired and secure a new job. Since this event has occurred, I can no longer trust the GM. She doesn't give a dang about education, rather she wants me to work. So, I am having a more trusted manager handle the documents since it doesn't take more than 3 seconds to scan/copy.

Since this incident occurred, most of the managers alongside the drivers and the customer service reps (not sure why we need that title in a fast food place) now all hate the General Managers.

The lesson I learned here is that I should always keep at least one copy of every government document that has my identity, no matter the situation is, so that if the original gets misplaced, I can go replace it with some type of proof that its a valid document that I lost. And right now, I have placed a copy of the driver's license in my car and my dad's car.

She's clearly a bad manager, no question. The advice was not good by the other 2 managers either. Yes, you might get a ticket that could get dismissed later in court. The problem is you lose a day's pay doing that. Not a good solution for you. Keeping a copy of your id is fine, but you should leave it at home locked in a safe place, Not in every car you drive (which can be broken into and stolen creating a potential new problem). The real lesson learned should be if your employer asks for a copy of your license. you either take it to the office copier yourself, or wait for them to hand the original back to you immediately. And if their copier is out of order, you make a copy elsewhere yourself and bring it in the next day. I hope that makes sense.

[RicerX]

Have we established that your real name is/is not Nala?

[datechboss101]

I literally just quit as of 7:45pm EST, while the GM took the day off. I did not gave her a 2-week notice or told her that I quit. It would have been a waste of my time and energy, because I would have yapped about telling her to go back to school to learn about being a better general manager and to learn how to understand other people. I did this right after hearing that one of the other managers quit right after her shift on Friday. The thing that made me to quit was that she gave absolutely no firetrucks about my personal life and my education, and scheduled me a shift on the entire day, in which I couldn't get anyone else to take over that shift for me, so I can do some studying and assignments. And whenever I had to leave early on Friday's she always said "So, I really don't care and I want you to work" when I justify my reasoning with I have an assignment that is due in a few hours. She only cares about this white fat girl (not trying to body shame or be racist, since I am considered as a minority), in which she basically kisses her and praises her instead me and few others who does great in our job. And to put the cherry on top, she doesn't know the area at all and works here and doesn't care if I have to suffer through 3 school traffics to get to work (1 high school on the main road, 1 elementary and middle-school on the back roads).

[Bubba1]

Ha. I see some Nala too. I'll try to take a higher road than I did with Nala.

I'm glad you quit that job, but it seems clear you have things to learn about part-time fast food/retail jobs while in school. Many of us have been in your shoes, so your situation is not unique. Most of those jobs suck, but can be a necessary evil if you're not 100% parentally funded.

some advice from both a parent and someone that was in your shoes.

1. Your school responsibilities come first, no question. This is something a student usually establishes during their interview. I'm guessing you didn't do that. Trying to get time off later without this set up in advance is a battle waiting to happen. You are 50% at fault if that's the case. She's a pizza store manager, she needs butts in place to operate that business. Of course she doesn't care. In the future, if you don't negotiate importance of school up front, and you end having another assignment due and they resist, you simply call in sick! Problem solved. If she fires you, so what? It's friggin' Pizza Hut, not a career job.

2. Yes, managers sometimes play favorites. They might be related somehow, could be the girl does everything she's asked to do without complaining, could be she's having sex with the gm, she could be racist; I don't know, I don't care, and it really doesn't matter. You're a part time employee. Just show up and do your dang job. If you hate it that much, you quit and find another job. But before accusing her of being a racist, remember she hired you and favoritism is not necessarily racist. And the fact you made her weight an issue, which is irrelevant, is childish. I'm sure you worked hard. But not every company operates perfectly in a perfect world. It's up to you to find a good fit, and not demand they change radically solely for your personal comfort, or give you constant praise/positive reinforcement for doing your job. There are no participation trophies at restaurant jobs. Again, if you hate it, you quit and move on.

3. As far as her not knowing the area? Also Irrelevant. In fact it's very common. She could've just moved into the area and had managed other Pizza Huts profitably. It just doesn't matter. fwiw my early post college managerial jobs required relocation. So why is that even a complaint?

4. Driving thru 3 school zones to get to work is pure whining, and has nothing to do with your employer. That's all on you. If you can't find a route around the schools during school hours, or won't leave a couple minutes earlier to compensate if there isn't, or are too stressed to drive thru school zones at all, then why on earth did you take that job in the first place? you knew the school zones were there. Sorry for being blunt.

5. I'd normally recommend manning up and quitting formally to her in person, instead of the unprofessional route of not showing up and sneaking away, as one should try to avoid burning bridges. It also gives you the chance to air your issues. But in this case, I think you probably spared yourself from being embarrassed by the GM by her citing the errors you made in an exit interview.

Listen, I'm not bashing you. You won't learn until you experience the many different kinds of life's curveballs. As a late teen, I hope you are starting to realize you do not yet have all the answers and begin accepting responsibility for your errors. And it seems clear you made some. I'm sure you'll eventually get there. But accepting you're not always right is a tough lesson especially for young males. You'll also eventually learn the only person that's right all the time will be your future wife.

Have you discussed this job stuff with your parents?? I suspect they probably had similar experiences when they were your age. I would think they are in a better position to help you navigate job related shark infested waters. Good luck.

[datechboss101]

I did talk to my parents and it took me 10 minutes to realize that this job was unnecessary stress to my life. So, I made the ultimate decision to quit, since my parents also don't want me to work during school hours. I am trying not to be fully dependent on my parents because my dad just changed jobs and he got a lower salary. However, my parents, especially my father, wants me to get into the restaurant business so that I could help out his pharmacists' friends who might need some help with the industry.

I was very pressuring about my school situation to all my managers including the GM since I was a part-time employee while taking roughly about 15 credit hours per semester. I just didn't even understand how the GM thought my school was in Tampa when I was telling about my 250-mile one-way trip every Friday to my fellow co-workers, including the shift leads. I had to explain to the GM multiple times that I don't have time once I come home from school to fill-up and come to work, and then to stay extra more on a Friday night due multiple small assignments that I push to last minute (my fault for not using proper time management), since my school was again in Miami, not in Orlando or Tampa. Typically, my drives take roughly 4 hours and 30 minutes from Miami to Orlando, but then I make a stop at my brother's school, so it can save my parents some miles. Some idea on how far his school is, its roughly 17 miles far one way from home, some a round trip would be 34 miles. So, I make it efficient and make my trips roughly 260 miles instead of 285 miles. By then the Rogue has roughly about 1/2 tank of gas left, and with 3 hours of delivering pizza's, the car is running and the air is on speed 3 or speed 5 depending on how the weather is each day, it drinks up the remaining fuel pretty quickly.

I still got many years left before I get a girlfriend and married, so I can understand and learn from my mistakes and turn them into success after each mistake is made.

The thing with the GM not knowing the area is that one of the shift-leads even pointed out that the GM doesn't even know major highways in Central Florida since the majority of the roads goes through Orlando or through Orange County. For my next two jobs, I did tell them that I am in my second year of college and that it's in Miami, which is nowhere near to Orlando. However, one place that I applied to was Scribe America that has an operation in South Florida (Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach counties), in where I gave them my course schedule up to December 7th (that's when finals are done for Fall term).

I wanted to tell the GM that I wanted to quit in a formal matter, but then I would have gone on a rant on how she needs to learn on becoming a better manager. So instead of doing that, I told my two shift leads that I am quitting, and they told the GM, which is less of a stress for me. And she (current GM) wasn't the one that hired me as she came in one month after I got hired, it was the previous GM and previous area manager who really liked me that hired me. Those two former managers I had zero issues with.

And Bubba1, I agree with you that I may not have all the answers to my situations, but the same thing applies to my parents too, since they grow up in an environment where things were rough (they are immigrants). Hence, why I post the stupidest questions and doubts in the general chat section, so I can get advice from members that might have experience in what I am asking about.

[Desert Rat]

All your posts read like a bad soap opera.

[amc49]

One thing I seem to not find much of here is the forward looking that tells one not to make the mistakes to have to learn from them. Most of the stuff mentioned in this thread I never did ever when young because I already had thought out the consequences to be able to tell how things would go. I also saw plenty of others do it to bad result and direct evidence my thinking was right.

One does NOT have to go through all that crap to have to learn. Doing so with everything screams you do not want to think about your own better interest until someone has to beat it into your head. It's a thinking ahead to better yourself thing, not doing that you are self-inflicting yourself great punishment for no reason at all. Others will only take the time to pause to beat it into you when you have already spread your personal poison enough to begin to damage them as well. Or, if they are clean of your effect they simply step on you as one more step on their way to the top. I know about that, I looked for people like here to do that to at every job I ever worked at. It's how you easily pass all the self-damaged ones to be their boss.

I have found that the environment around you that is rough is usually mostly self-created. And here at least 80% of it is so. Like not having all the answers to your situations, I'd have to ask do you ever think constructively in your own best interests? I mean further ahead than just 5 minutes or 5 hours. Because I ALWAYS had answers to my world problems and still do and react to things before they happen to be bad for me if at all possible. Most bad things you see coming are avoidable at least partly unless you simply wait for them to happen to THEN (too late) try to alter them. I'm 66 years old now and I did that at 16. I am and have never been other than a normal person with no special abilities either.

The short thing I taught my son as well.............it's YOUR life, you can make it as rock hard or easy on yourself as you want, and it all begins in that brain of yours. In fact, if you don't have at least 75% of what you are going to do worked out ahead of time before you ever attempt it you are not using that brain. At least 75% of it should go just like you planned (the world never allows for 100%) and enough, you can build on that to go further. The world is never perfect but close works fine.

LIke the brick walls so many put in front of themselves, they have aisleways going between them for the ones that think to simply raise a head to stop bashing the wall to look, or they can continue to try to bash that wall down with head, a losing proposition. Yet so many millions of us do that, I don't get it and never will.

No insult intended or implied at anyone here but things are what they are and will be pretty much forever. We make ourselves go through most of the trouble we go through.