work vent (long)

[simba928]

I work at an ice cream shop in a mall. My mom works for a company that basically is in charge of leasing out the space for the shops in the mall. Naturally, she knows the owner of the ice cream shop that I work at. Noone I work with is supposed to know who my mom is for obvious reasons. I do NOT get special treatment or anything. I got the job, my mom did not get it for me. I applied, I went through the interview, I got hired just as any normal person would.

Anyways, we have a new manager. Before this, we shared a manager with another shop that was owned by the same guy. The previous manager was basically at the other shop (it was not an ice cream shop) the whole time. We did not have anybody there solely for the ice cream. So the owner brought in this new manager and nobody likes her. Everyone says shes rude to them and they all have problems with her. One of the people I work with (person A) went to one of our previous managers (she is higher up than our new manager and is very good friends with the owner) and talked to her about the new manager. Person A mentioned something about how another our new manager was always rude to everyone, especially Person B and blah blah blah. So the old manager asked me what I think and I said that the new manager had always been nice to me. Person A said, jokingly, "Yeah, thats because she knows who you're mom is and that she'll get fired if she isn't nice to you." So now I don't know who all knows who my mom is, but noone is supposed to know.

Next Saturday, we have a meeting. It is just supposed to be a general meeting, but the owner will be there. The people I work with are saying that it is basically going to turn into a "lets trash talk our new manager, who will also be there, and see how fast we can get her fired." I am not going to lie or anything about her. If I am asked, I will say that she has always been nice to me (she truly has gone above and beyond to try to be nice to me and accomodate my schedule as band camp is coming up and I need a lot of time off for it) and leave it at that. However, I am afraid (and it is very likely to happen) that someone will say something like Person A said before about my mom. UUUGGHHH.

I don't need advice, but if you have any feel free to let me know. I just needed to vent. Sorry it got so long.

 

[jcsbama]

Don't resort to the trash talking with the other employees or in the meeting. It will only make you look bad. It sounds more like the other employees are under the impression your mom pulls the strings. Just another way they will show their immaturity and knowledge of how things work. They will only dig themselves in the hole and you don't want to go down with them.

If you're asked a question, answer it honestly. That's the best you can. In my opinion, it doesn't sound like the new manager is the problem. It sounds more like it's the employees who got used to not having anyone in authority around to keep them in line. Their freedom is now gone and they don't like it.

 

[paigevz]

Stick to your guns. You don't have to say anything at all in the meeting if you don't want to, but if asked, just answer simply like you did before: She's always been nice to me.

So what if they find out who your mom is? That's their problem not yours.

I have a coworker that EVERYONE can't stand. In fact, one of the other teachers told the principal she wanted to resign because of her. So the principal began considering moving the one who is apparently not nice to others to other grade levels. Immediately, others started saying they'd ask for transfers if this teacher came to their levels. One of the people who've had lots of trouble with her is my best friend. She talks about her quite a bit because they work closely together and she says this other teacher is very rude and bossy, and often says that others aren't doing their jobs and so on. Anyway, one day she finally asked me if I'd go talk to the principal about this teacher with her. I told her I didn't feel I should, as she had never said or done anything rude to me. I told her I understood that she was rude to her, but anything I knew I'd heard from her (my friend), so I had no experiences to relate. My friend completely understood and did go talk with the principal herself. I was later asked by the AP about this teacher. I asked if he wanted info I KNEW or info I'd HEARD and he said anything. So I told him that I'd heard there had been altercations between this teacher and others. I named the others, and suggested he talk to them about what actually happened as I hadn't been there.