Ridiculous Employer Demands

I FINALLY have gotten meaningful managerial positions. I swear, I feel like I was waiting for those moments forever.

For one thing, I got a job at JcPenney when I was 15 years old. In fact, I called Equal Opportunity Employment & the store's main headquarters after getting an interview, not getting a response & being told "you have to be 16" even though I made no bones about the fact that I was 15 (wrote it on the application & all). For all the griping about "teenagers are immature & job hop", I stayed at that one over 3 YEARS. I was probably one of the youngest people working there at the time & only left when I moved to Atlanta for undergrad.

Then I did a work study job at my school's museum for 3 years & got supervisory responsibilities after our security people took FOREVER to lock the elevator and didn't arm the place once after closing. To avoid that issue, I offered to be the weekend supervisor; they bit & I did a decent job if I say so myself.

Even when I started at Penneys, I saw BS among jobs held by people I knew. What are my biggest gripes?

1. School comes FIRST. No one's dead-end job is going to trump an education; if it does, the company is run by idiots. Screw w/someone's education & they'll just turn around to work for your competitor once it's all said and done. You REALLY think someone's going to use that education to benefit YOU when you've tried to sabotage them? I sure wouldn't. Thankfully, the supervisors I worked with were wise to this & I was not stupid enough to work for an employer that tried otherwise.

2. Micromanagers: NO ONE responds to it. Never. Everyone I've ever known who worked in that atmosphere hated it. Friends, relatives, acquaintances, etc. This management style assumes everyone is a dog & an idiot. It's the very reason I will pick prostitution over document review any day of the week; if I'm going to be demeaned, at least being a hooker will pay better. If you know ANYONE who likes this environment or management style, let me know.

3. Pay vs. Skills: Guess what? If you don't PAY for the proper skills, you're not going to get them. I have to laugh my butt off at morons who post on Craig's List seeking experience for menial positions. Lately, legal employers are jumping on the "internship" bandwagon & one particular post was so disgusting I had to speak up. This law firm in Manhattan wanted a new attorney to work for 3 MONTHS in an internship for NO PAY (part-time hours in a law firm for a lawyer is about 40 hours a week).

But it gets better: after this 3 month unpaid period, this law firm wanted to give the lucky lawyer a piddling $25k a YEAR salary. This is the EXACT salary I made working in a law firm before spending a DAY in law school & racking up six-figure loan debt.

How about we just call a cat a cat? Employers, stop pretending you give a shit about your employees when you demand them to come into work sick, sabotage their educational endeavors & generally behave like a douchebag. Cut the crap, all right?

Employees, it's a dog eat dog world out there. Either better yourself and own your place in life or continue to be kicked around by asshats. Rest assured, if you ever worked for me you'd be treated as a human being & never in a way I wouldn't want to be treated myself. I'd hold you to high standards but I wouldn't dare pretend to care or give a damn about your life if I actually didn't. Either way, don't expect employers to care about you & don't complain if you're not going to better yourself.