I've been sick for the past week or so, so I'm a little behind in everything. I'm over half-way through the next chapter of WT and I'm lying in bed kinda poking at Tempest tonight. It's just a bad cold but my energy level has been really, really low and I'm kinda dragging.
In other news, my situation with work is becoming dicey. The current salon manager was hired out of desperation because there was no one else available and she's a schoolyard bully. She's driven all the new hires out of the salon (three so far not including me) and she's been trying to get me out of there as well. I still haven't completely worked out why except I think maybe she kinda has a high school clique mindset where the only people she wants in the grooming club are the ones that were her coworkers for many years before she became a manager. Whatever it is, she's been treating everyone else like garbage, myself included, and I've had several people tell me that she's talking about plans to make my life "a living hell" until I also walk out. So its an active effort she's making to try and run me off. The problem is, the other employees just quit with no explanation so every time I go to upper management asking for a transfer to another store they're like, "Gosh we're just so surprised to hear that because no one else has complained about her." I'm learning that bullying in a workplace is difficult to combat because it all boils down to my word against hers. It's amazing to me that someone can treat people this poorly in a professional environment without management even understanding how serious it is. Maybe if the others said something before they left, it would be different, but right now I just look like a single, disgruntled employee and they aren't taking me very seriously. The previous store manager even referred to it as she and I "not getting along" which isn't what is happening. I don't fight with her or disrespect her. She's just abusive. I've had CUSTOMERS look at me and tell me that they're sorry about how she's treating me, that it isn't appropriate. One lady told me to keep my chin up. A random customer I'd never seen before in my life was able to take one look at this situation and see it when the store manager has no idea. It's ludicrous.
The other girls in there see what she's doing and I've overheard them talking about how it's wrong but they don't say anything to anyone who can do something about it. I'm the only one speaking for myself and apparently that isn't enough.
So, it's a mess. It's been a mess for almost a year. I haven't wanted to say much about it here, but it's becoming relevant because it looks like I'm going to have to resign. It rankles, because that's exactly what she wants, but she has limited the number of dogs I'm allowed to take to prevent me from commissioning out and I can't afford that.
All that to say I'm about to be engaging in a job search and things are about to get very busy and stressful. I've made a calendar through the rest of the year for updating fics and Patreon (which won't be affected because the material there is already written and I just have to edit), so I'm not saying this will slow me down any farther with my writing. I'm trying my damnedest to avoid that and writing keeps me happy and hopeful so it's good for me too. I just wanted to give a general heads up and let you guys know this ugly real life shit is happening because I probably WILL be slower to respond to asks and messages for a while. They give me life and I love reading them and talking to folks and not being a hermit. I just tend to get very withdrawn when I'm this stressed.
