The Devil Wears Chanel
I quit my job! My last day was yesterday, January 1st. It was a great day to have as my last because I was all alone in the boutique (most of you know how much I love my alone time), it was a quiet and short day (we were only open 12-6pm), and the heaven-famous Jas0n and Marc1a Kuo visited me! They just stopped by the boutique on one of their routine Neimans shopping sprees. It was so great to see you guys there! Jas0n even wore a sweater for the outing! Anyway, it was nice to leave the boutique on a day I had some friendly visitors.
Most of you know that my job was a very stressful one, particularly with the holiday shopping season. Though I loved the actual job part, I slowly lost the respect I had for my boss. I went into the job knowing that my boss was a very intense and demanding person, but after a skirmish with corporate Loss Prevention, "intense and demanding" changed to "kookoo, perhaps majorly." Between the LP skirmish and the beginning of December, I came to the point of even yelling back a few times when she pushed too hard (she tended to respond better to the yelling back than to me lowering my head and muttering "I don't know"; I usually don't yell at people in general, particularly not my superiors.) Then the holiday season hit, numbers were down, my co-worker Will0w was contemplating getting the hell out, I was getting frustrated with another co-worker 'cuz she wasn't hauling as much ass as I would have liked her to (and Will0w and I would always get yelled at for the leftover ass), Will0w was out the last two weeks because of a car accident and then got the stomach flu, and before you know it, it was Friday, December 29th, the day of fate.
The thing is, Friday was no different from any other day. I think I had just had enough and decided to engage in battle. I was going about my business, about to do a delivery and yada yada yada everything went wrong and I heard her talking shit about me to my co-worker M8rgaret over the phone. So I called M8rgaret from a different phone and asked what the hell my boss was saying and she wouldn't tell me. Usually I would just let it go, but like I said, I decided to engage in battle. So I stormed up the escalators to the boutique and said, "What are you saying about me?" By that point she was telling my manager all these things about what I had done wrong and I heard a good portion of it. I challenged her and I started crying, we were huddled to the back, she said many insulting things, the worst of which was "You say that you give 110% to the job but I seriously cannot tell the difference between your 1% and your 110%." Yeah, sure, impugn on other parts of my character if you want but DO NOT EVER TOUCH MY WORK ETHIC. I have worked my hiny off the last 2 months and 16 days and you have the nerve to tell me that you don't even notice? Anyway, the fight was eventually over (my manager didn't even stick a toe out for me the whole time!) and they left the stockroom. I cried to myself for about 10 minutes and then said to myself, "Well I'll show them!" and whisked up my hair, threw on some makeup, wiped my tears and stomped out to the floor and began sizing the sale rack (one of my favorite things to do). I thought to myself, I am not wasting one more tear on your tweed-clad ass with a red tail coming out of it!
The next day was Saturday and I thought I was working solo because my boss was scheduled to take the day off (unheard of). She ended up coming in and there turned out to be a few more difficulties with the delivery I was trying to do the night before, and it was just so frustrating. There's always something with this one client. :( Anyway, Saturday was also K3nneth and St3ph's wedding so I was trying to leave as early as possible to at least catch the reception portion. So I left at around 5pm and ran over to the parking garage (I usually BART in on Saturdays but I wanted to be able to leave the city ASAP). I inserted my parking stub and the fee came to $20. 20 bucks? I know that's not a lot of money, but here I was missing half of my good friends' wedding (I didn't even get to see the bride in her white dress!), and paying $20 for parking in order to not miss more of it?! WTF? What was I doing this for?
After talking with Brenda and others about the fight at the wedding, and hearing Minho's thoughts on the whole matter (quite horrifying actually), I decided that I was probably on my way out of Neimans. I realized that my boss actually may not be just a horrible boss, but a horrible person, and I didn't want to support her business anymore. I keep thinking of other occurrences during my brief stay that really seem to confirm this and I'm just thankful that I finally realized it; I even think the battle on Friday was necessary for me to come to my present understanding. During the battle she kept going on and on about how this was a "business" and how she should be the one poo-pooing because of her witless assistants and her inability to achieve a double-digit increase this year (she is still 4 million over the next Neimans boutique), etc. etc. There was no gesture toward me at all, even from my manager which made the whole experience even that much more humiliating. Its always our fault, never hers.
Anyway, I was having trouble deciding how to leave. Should I give my two weeks? No, I didn't want to. Why should I extend the courtesy when all they've done for me was pay me quite little, leave me to rot after my boss bulldozed me, and make me lose my whole holiday season with my family, not to mention the wedding? Sorry, no two weeks notice. But then how should I leave? Just announce that I'm going to leave on the last Friday (I really wanted to give it 3 full months)? Leave like a phantom? "Where's Miriam?" Perhaps. Then I realized that Bea would be leaving before the two weeks were up and reduced the time to one week, this Friday. I felt good about it. But I had to work yesterday and after I got the expected morning call from my boss I realized that I didn't want to get another one ever again. No more option 7's, no more crazy client requests, no more stress, no more waiting at alterations, no more dirty looks, no more rolling eyes with my co-workers, no more lunches at 4:30, NO MORE! RIEN! "RIEN DE RIEN!" So I left a message with HR, left a message with my coordinator, and left a message with my co-worker Willow. Then the Kuo's came in, I told them I was quitting, they opened their eyes real wide but seemed to be happy for me (I think Marcia wanted me to quit after the first week), and we had a jolly time looking through the boutique (Marcia loved my "systems") and she also considered buying a bright blue Oscar de la Renta gown. Just joking. :) Then a customer came in so I had to help him. Thanks again for coming in, guys!
Anyway, so I said goodbyes to a lot of the little things I loved about my job, and tried to soak it all in for the last time. It was nice. I know this blog sounds pretty bitter but I'm actually really thankful for the past 2 months and 16 days. I loved my job. We have some really kind and good clients (though we did have more than a few kookoo ones), my co-workers were on the whole pretty great and fun to work with, and I think Neimans is a great company. It was also sort of an honor be a little part of a brand as great as Chanel. It really is probably some of the most well-made clothing in the world (though that doesn't mean the pieces are always attractive). I had a good run.
Most of you know that my job was a very stressful one, particularly with the holiday shopping season. Though I loved the actual job part, I slowly lost the respect I had for my boss. I went into the job knowing that my boss was a very intense and demanding person, but after a skirmish with corporate Loss Prevention, "intense and demanding" changed to "kookoo, perhaps majorly." Between the LP skirmish and the beginning of December, I came to the point of even yelling back a few times when she pushed too hard (she tended to respond better to the yelling back than to me lowering my head and muttering "I don't know"; I usually don't yell at people in general, particularly not my superiors.) Then the holiday season hit, numbers were down, my co-worker Will0w was contemplating getting the hell out, I was getting frustrated with another co-worker 'cuz she wasn't hauling as much ass as I would have liked her to (and Will0w and I would always get yelled at for the leftover ass), Will0w was out the last two weeks because of a car accident and then got the stomach flu, and before you know it, it was Friday, December 29th, the day of fate.
The thing is, Friday was no different from any other day. I think I had just had enough and decided to engage in battle. I was going about my business, about to do a delivery and yada yada yada everything went wrong and I heard her talking shit about me to my co-worker M8rgaret over the phone. So I called M8rgaret from a different phone and asked what the hell my boss was saying and she wouldn't tell me. Usually I would just let it go, but like I said, I decided to engage in battle. So I stormed up the escalators to the boutique and said, "What are you saying about me?" By that point she was telling my manager all these things about what I had done wrong and I heard a good portion of it. I challenged her and I started crying, we were huddled to the back, she said many insulting things, the worst of which was "You say that you give 110% to the job but I seriously cannot tell the difference between your 1% and your 110%." Yeah, sure, impugn on other parts of my character if you want but DO NOT EVER TOUCH MY WORK ETHIC. I have worked my hiny off the last 2 months and 16 days and you have the nerve to tell me that you don't even notice? Anyway, the fight was eventually over (my manager didn't even stick a toe out for me the whole time!) and they left the stockroom. I cried to myself for about 10 minutes and then said to myself, "Well I'll show them!" and whisked up my hair, threw on some makeup, wiped my tears and stomped out to the floor and began sizing the sale rack (one of my favorite things to do). I thought to myself, I am not wasting one more tear on your tweed-clad ass with a red tail coming out of it!
The next day was Saturday and I thought I was working solo because my boss was scheduled to take the day off (unheard of). She ended up coming in and there turned out to be a few more difficulties with the delivery I was trying to do the night before, and it was just so frustrating. There's always something with this one client. :( Anyway, Saturday was also K3nneth and St3ph's wedding so I was trying to leave as early as possible to at least catch the reception portion. So I left at around 5pm and ran over to the parking garage (I usually BART in on Saturdays but I wanted to be able to leave the city ASAP). I inserted my parking stub and the fee came to $20. 20 bucks? I know that's not a lot of money, but here I was missing half of my good friends' wedding (I didn't even get to see the bride in her white dress!), and paying $20 for parking in order to not miss more of it?! WTF? What was I doing this for?
After talking with Brenda and others about the fight at the wedding, and hearing Minho's thoughts on the whole matter (quite horrifying actually), I decided that I was probably on my way out of Neimans. I realized that my boss actually may not be just a horrible boss, but a horrible person, and I didn't want to support her business anymore. I keep thinking of other occurrences during my brief stay that really seem to confirm this and I'm just thankful that I finally realized it; I even think the battle on Friday was necessary for me to come to my present understanding. During the battle she kept going on and on about how this was a "business" and how she should be the one poo-pooing because of her witless assistants and her inability to achieve a double-digit increase this year (she is still 4 million over the next Neimans boutique), etc. etc. There was no gesture toward me at all, even from my manager which made the whole experience even that much more humiliating. Its always our fault, never hers.
Anyway, I was having trouble deciding how to leave. Should I give my two weeks? No, I didn't want to. Why should I extend the courtesy when all they've done for me was pay me quite little, leave me to rot after my boss bulldozed me, and make me lose my whole holiday season with my family, not to mention the wedding? Sorry, no two weeks notice. But then how should I leave? Just announce that I'm going to leave on the last Friday (I really wanted to give it 3 full months)? Leave like a phantom? "Where's Miriam?" Perhaps. Then I realized that Bea would be leaving before the two weeks were up and reduced the time to one week, this Friday. I felt good about it. But I had to work yesterday and after I got the expected morning call from my boss I realized that I didn't want to get another one ever again. No more option 7's, no more crazy client requests, no more stress, no more waiting at alterations, no more dirty looks, no more rolling eyes with my co-workers, no more lunches at 4:30, NO MORE! RIEN! "RIEN DE RIEN!" So I left a message with HR, left a message with my coordinator, and left a message with my co-worker Willow. Then the Kuo's came in, I told them I was quitting, they opened their eyes real wide but seemed to be happy for me (I think Marcia wanted me to quit after the first week), and we had a jolly time looking through the boutique (Marcia loved my "systems") and she also considered buying a bright blue Oscar de la Renta gown. Just joking. :) Then a customer came in so I had to help him. Thanks again for coming in, guys!
Anyway, so I said goodbyes to a lot of the little things I loved about my job, and tried to soak it all in for the last time. It was nice. I know this blog sounds pretty bitter but I'm actually really thankful for the past 2 months and 16 days. I loved my job. We have some really kind and good clients (though we did have more than a few kookoo ones), my co-workers were on the whole pretty great and fun to work with, and I think Neimans is a great company. It was also sort of an honor be a little part of a brand as great as Chanel. It really is probably some of the most well-made clothing in the world (though that doesn't mean the pieces are always attractive). I had a good run.
posted by miriamhead at 6:11 PM
6 Comments:
You worked your tail off the last few months - they don't deserve you!
You don't need to work for an Anna Wintour WANNABE when you CAN be Anna Wintour!
I'm proud of you on multiple accounts! And I believe that somewhere out there will be a place that needs your mad organization skills and system creation! You rock!
awww miri....i had no idea. awful bosses and difficult coworkers can make any great job crappy. hope the week with bea was wonderful and enjoyable.
thanks, friends, for reading my blog! miss you, reebs!!!
i could get my brother to rough her up for you if you'd like ... big hugs!
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