need advice re. exit interview

[OK!]

Not sure how to start this off, but I'll try to keep it as brief as possible. I work for a retail chain of hobby stores, have for a year, and have mostly enjoyed my time there, especially upper management's attitudes toward their employees. The chain prides itself on being a Christian company that maintains Christian values, even going so far as to be closed on Sundays. They actually treated us like people, not just workhorses, e.g. understanding that sometimes you DO have to work around our everyday-life schedules, that kind of thing. My immediate boss was by far the best retail boss I've ever had; while he understood that this was a business, he also didn't get so bogged down in the minutiae and nitpicking that he made everyone around him miserable.

I work in the office on Saturdays, doing the accounting, etc. While I was there last Saturday, being trained on a slew of new procedures by the woman who's there during the week, it came to light that our district manager and his secretary (who is a domineering cow who once screamed at me in front of customers for calling another store for said customers because I had inadvertently called out on "her" line...seriously, she screamed at me, pointing her finger in my face, yelling, "Don't you EVER call out on that line! Do you hear me?! EVER!!") have been "gunning" for my immediate boss ever since the new DM took over. (Our old DM passed away of cancer in November.) The only thing I personally had seen them do was fudge some of the numbers re. money that was to go in the registers to start the day on Friday, resulting in $130 being missing. The secretary had refused to let the normal office woman so much as TOUCH the register-$$ bags before they went out on Friday morning; she insisted she do everything herself, which she never does, but the office mgr just thought it might've been something to do with the fact that we'd switched over to entirely new systems 2 days before. So basically, when I counted Friday's money on Sat. morning, I immediately noticed the discrepancy, and though it took us a while, we figured out what'd happened. I still don't know what happened to the money, though.

But anyway, yesterday I got to work to the news that my boss had been fired, and the DM and his secretary were flitting around the store, smug as can be, quizzing all of us department heads on ordering procedures, store policy, etc., in what was a blatantly obvious attempt to get us to 'fess up that our boss hadn't properly trained us and hadn't been adequately managing his staff. It just makes me sick to my stomach to even think about, and I can't justify working for people like that. (And besides that, since I'm in the office, how long will it be till they decide they want me gone, too?) What this insanely long diatribe boils down to is, in my exit interview, do I give any kind of hint as to my real reason for leaving the company? Not all of the inside stuff that I'm not supposed to be privy to, of course, but do I say anything like, "I really enjoyed my time working under _________", or do I just make up an excuse like my new job fitting better with my schedule, etc. I will be writing a letter to corporate to let them know what a fantastic manager my old boss was, but I'm not sure if I should let that $$%#@# DM know how I felt as well.

Any input would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[Acklander]

The problem is, is you might not know the real reason why your previous manager had been fired. There might have been problems that the higher ups are aware of, that you aren't. So while his leaving may seem unjust to you, maybe not so much to the powers that be. Working for a manager who is caring, and doesn't mind you taking time off when needed for family, and is very laid back and so on; it might be great from an employee perspective, but from corporate who looks only at the bottom line it might not be such a great thing, KWIM?
If it were me, and it was a job I enjoyed I would probably hang in during the shake-up and then make my decision about staying or leaving once things settled back down. If you're dead set on going (and working with that horrible secretary would have been enough to send me packing months before) I'd try to find a way to be honest on my reason for leaving, without burning any bridges. These are the people you are going to need a reference from.

 

[robinb]

I don't blame you one bit for looking for another job. It sounds like they will be gunning for you next, especially when you uncovered some impropriety.

I wouldn't share the real reason why you are leaving with either your current company in the exit interview or your new possible company in the job interview. The bovine boss may trash you to prospective employers and no employer wants an employee who has "issues" with co-workers or bosses.

Good luck!

 

[OK!]

at "bovine boss." That's beautiful!

I see what both of you all are saying, and I'd been rethinking my notion of mentioning to the DM (or whoever conducts the exit interview...we've got a temporary store mgr in from another city right now to run things until we find a permanent one) my real reasons for leaving the company anyway...I'm thinking I'll probably just go the route of writing to corporate about what a great boss our old manager was (AFAIK, nearly everyone from the store is planning on writing, as well) and come up with some other plausible explanation for the current powers-that-be. I do know I'll be looking to get out of there ASAP, though.

I guess the nice part about not having a real job yet is that my options are so much more open, in that I don't particularly have a specific level of pay I need. This job is basically for pocket money till I graduate, so I think I'm going to try to find a job I actually enjoy for once; I'm going to speak to some people at a nursery (as in plants, not kids) this afternoon. Yay!