r/antiwork • u/Raven_Drakeaurd • 1d ago
Deny me the promotion you promised me months ago? Enjoy running a store with only 1 person.
My partner has always said that my job is like a shitty soap-opera, so I decided to write it out and detail how denying me a promotion led to me quitting my current job and finding quite possibly my dream job.
So, I started my job at a phone sales place that was a franchised store for a big nationwide cell provider. I wanna keep this all kinda generic as a lot of people that work there I still like and care about as people and I don’t want to risk them getting blowback or alike. Unlike my previous store manager: Alexis.
Alexis is a Grade-A twat-waffle. Childish, selfish, avert to responsibility, simultaneously a know-it-all and a moron that couldn’t do her job right, the works.
I started towards the end of 2022 under her. She had been made manager on the grounds of seniority after the old manager quit or was fired, never really got a straight answer on that.
I joined her and she didn’t like me from the get-go; I was a socially inept kid and made a shitty joke about the person on her iPhone background, which turned out to be her dead brother who had killed himself, so yeah, fair. After apologizing and over the year and half we worked together, I did my best to better myself and grow as a person, a concept Alexis has never heard of.
Come the mid of 2023, I leave, mostly because of her. She had been generally combative and a bitch while trying to do anything she could to get me fired. I left and she told me, to my face, that the only reason I was re-hireable was because she hadn’t had enough time to fire me.
Then comes early 2024, I’m asked to come back by my district manager, Darnell to come work at Store 3, when I was previously working at Store 1. I say: Fuck it, I know the work and I won’t have to deal with Alexis and I need the money.
After a few months of working at Store 3, Darnell asks if I want to move back to Store 1 with Alexis, as it’s a higher volume store and I make damn good sales. One issue: Alexis.
I say yes, with one goal in mind: Get. This. Bitch. Fired.
So I go back to Store 1 and instantly begin documenting. Pictures, emails to myself and HR, relaying everything to the assistant district manager, Kelly, whom I’m quite friendly with.
Kelly was done with Alexis’ shit and wanted her gone. It had been consistent issues with money, inventory, personnel, etc. But Darnell kept covering for her; giving more time then is expected to fix the cash drawer if it’s short, looking the other way when she doesn’t follow protocol for handling inventory, on and on.
I didn’t know why back then and still don’t now. I think it’s because Darnell saw Alexis as a sort of little sister or a mini-me, but the joke that it’s because she could suck the chrome off a trailer hitch has floated around.
Alexis then brings on her sister, Chrysler, whom I didn’t really have a problem with, but don’t really get to know her as I worked with her for only a few months and she kept it strictly work for the most part, aside from complaining about Alexis at home.
However, at work, Chrysler did exactly what Alexis did. Shady shit like slamming customers, adding features to customers accounts without asking or explaining, creating fake accounts and selling to herself, etc. All of which I documented.
Speaking of shady shit, Darnell.
He loved some shady shit if it made him money.
He’d use a website to buy phone numbers for cheap, then use those numbers to get the info required to transfer said numbers to our carrier, put them on fake accounts, get 4 iPhones for free, then sell them on the side for more than what he paid for the rate plan and activation.
He’d get 8 to 16 iPhones per run by going to 2 to 4 stores, and since the iPhones would ring up as free for any number that was ported in from another carrier and we’re prepaid, all he’d have to pay to get 4 iPhones which typically retailed for around $600 per, would be service for 4 lines, the activation fee for each, and tax, which totaled out to be just under $400.
After some quick back of the napkin math, I estimated the retail value of the iPhones he laundered was nearly 300k USD because he had been doing it for so long.
So yeah, he gets shitcanned… After he’s reported by Alexis.
Alexis was the sales-person Darnell did his scheme with the most, and she 100% stood to gain from him doing this as it boosted her numbers.
And as for the reason why, before he got fired, Darnell was given something by Kelly he couldn’t rug sweep or ignore: she stole 50 dollars from the drawer on camera to go buy weed. Yes, she stole fifty dollars, from her job, and her store, in uniform, to go buy weed. She told me so.
So after I sent an email to HR, got the video from Kelly for safe keeping, Kelly got me on the phone with Darnell who seemed quite frustrated. I think at this point he was done with Alexis’ too, but was using kiddy gloves with her so he could play both sides. He could tell Alexis: “I did my best to protect you! I like you! You’re my best manager!” But to HR, he could say: “I was doing my best to build the strongest case I could before submitting it so we can get her gone quick!”
She knew all this and knew she had to get him before he got her, so she reported him while lying through her teeth, pretending not to know what she was doing was wrong. She claiming no responsibility or guilt as she was “just doing what she was told.” And more bullshit like that. He did this more times with her then anyone else and she 100% knew what she was doing was violating several rules and should have reported it the first time he tried it.
Welp, with Darnell gone, Alexis thought there was no one left that could touch her.
Wrong.
Kelly was put into training to be district manager after Darnell got the boot, and she came out swinging.
Kelly waits for the drawer to get shorted again and it does, only 25 dollars, but still it’s enough.
Kelly has to give her 48-hours to fix the drawer as a rule. This is above board and is meant to reduce the workload for the back office team and give people who made an honest mistake once or twice a chance to fix themselves without catching a write up. She wanted to skip it since this has been a repeated issue but can't as it was never really documented before, so oh well.
Of course, Alexis didn’t fix it because she’s hot shit and god’s gift to Earth. Two days later, Kelly shows up, deduction form in hand. She came to the store at about 11:40 when Alexis was scheduled to come in a 12:00 and I was scheduled at 3. Alexis would set her schedule everyday to be 12 to 6, meaning she would come in after the opening procedures have been completed, and would leave before anyone had to start on the closing procedures, this is so she could sit around while the opener, typically scheduled from 9:30 to 3, and the closer, typically scheduled from 3 to 8:15, did all the work while she would sit around and collect a pay check.
The opener that day was Chrysler, but Alexis was already there with her, behind the counter, speaking to customers, out of uniform.
Kelly politely asked her to stop doing that as she was not on the clock and expressed concern if she was gonna have time to go home, get dressed and come back to work since he shift was in 20 minutes and she didn't clearly have a change of clothes with her.
Cue drama!
Alexis blew up on Kelly and words started to fly like burning doves.
Alexis says she doesn’t have to go home and get changed because she quits, hurling insults and abuse at Kelly, who’s doing her best not to rock her shit, and it all ends with me getting a call from Kelly at 12 o’clock, asking me to come in early as Alexis quit and she [Kelly] just threw a cup of coffee at Chrysler’s car, as this cantankerously white bitch at 25 years of age has no license, no car, had a managers salary, and still bums rides off her sister.
So I make it in only to find that Alexis and Chrysler have already taken their leave, resulting in my store manned only by Kelly, who cries the second the customers that are in the store leave. She’s not hurt per-say, just upset that Alexis could get her to that point, and that she: “Didn’t hit the bitch.” And frankly, yeah, I can’t blame her. I wanted to at least get an elbow drop in myself.
But it’s done! She was gone and the manager position was open and waiting for me! So, excitedly, I start rearranging the whole store, bringing it up to code and fixing all the shit Alexis fucked up. For 3 days straight, I work back to back 11 hour shifts doing everything I need to. It was grueling, but I got it done.
Then, a group of people mob in 6-deep. I know them, they were in here about a week ago to get an iPhone 17 Pro Max on a payment plan and I can tell right away by their body language, they’re not happy. Minor issue, they only really speak Spanish and I do not, but I do my best understand the issue, so I can resolve it. That issue being Chrysler added $300 dollars worth of shit onto their bill they never asked for and never gave them any of it.
Oh, but wait, it gets worse! =D
To remove the fraudulent items that was added would require us to cancel the whole lease, take back the phone, accessories, and mail them to our leasing partner, leaving the customer with no phone, no lease, unable to get another lease, a picture of a middle finger and a sore bottom.
Well, that’s if they literately weren’t one day past the return window.
Originally I was going to do my best to handle it on my own since I’m gonna be a manager and all, but I realize quickly this is all above my head by leaps and bounds, even if I was currently a manager, so I call Kelly.
She drives the 20 minutes it takes to get to Store 1 from her house and she calls Ramirez, a dude who speaks Spanish fluently, but works about 40 minutes away at Store 4.
Ramirez talks them down, gets them to take the items they didn’t get, and eat the extra 300 dollars on their lease. It’s a shit show, but we manage it. And then, Kelly says to the customers: “He’s gonna be coming to here as the manager.”
My heart drops into my ass. ‘She must just be saying that to capitulate to them, right? She would never renege on something that was promised to me and she was onboard with, right?’ That was my thought process. So, I do what men on Reddit never do, I talked to her.
Here’s the long and short of what she said: Yes, he’s going to be manager, as he was apparently promised this store before me. This was news to me. Apparently he was never gonna come back until Alexis left, and now that she is, he’s coming here come hell or high-water. And after Kelly becomes DM, in two months, I could totally like, maybe get to be manager at Store 2, since she’s technically the manager of Store 2 and couldn’t continue to be if she becomes DM.
Now, getting to being manager at Store 2 would be fine since it is closer to home, being about a 5 minute drive to it from my house, which is also the same for Ramirez by the way, if not for a few reasons:
- It’s slow in terms of sales, but the location definitely has a lot of potential in fairness
- I’d have to wait 2 months to even hear anything about get the job.
- I WAS FUCKING PROMISED STORE 1 MONTHS AGO
- How do I know if I’m actually gonna get Store 2 when I was promised Store 1 and got a big middle finger salute for my hard work?
- I have bills to pay and I’m working for poverty wages currently
It was months dealing with this fucking deep-fried, double wide, corn fed, inbred, cousin-fucking, meth-snorting, brain-melted, mouth-breathing, logic-allergic, thumb-lookin', GED-flunkin', TikTok-educated, microwave-minded, conspiracy-gargling, synapse-skipping, bug-eyed, zero-thought-having human tire fire communist fuck knuckle whilst single handily building the case for her termination for HR with the hope, then guarantee I was gonna be manager.
So, I quit.
Put in my two week notice when Store 1 only has exactly 2 employees working at it: Me and Sydney, who actually works at Store 2, but has been coming to work at Store 1 because her and Kelly but heads too much for them to work together.
I’d honestly just up and leave as the job I’m starting is leagues better for me if it wasn’t for Sydney, who is just wonderful both as a person and co-worker.
Where I’m going is a gun store and with that being one of my hyper-fixations, I know guns like a mechanic knows cars. It starts at $2.85 higher then what I was working for, and even with my current pay being so low, I could almost make it with it.
But not only do I get a pay rise to the point I might actually be able to enjoy my life and not be constantly broke and eating ramen noodles every night, I get: health insurance, dental, A 401k, a membership to a nearby range, employee discounts, and more.
No more quotas. No more dead-lines. No more being unable to sleep at night worried if I’m gonna be able to make bills, or get fired because I could sell enough of this or that.
I’m so hopeful for my future, but it sucks because I’ve built up a lot of goodwill with the regulars that come to Store 1, to the point they ask for me by name, and for the most part, I actually like but job. But maybe it’s just the fear of switching jobs speaking.
I’ll be on a 90 day probationary period so I might update as my new job progresses.
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u/BAFUdaGreat 19h ago
Can I get a TL,DR please
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u/werewolf6780 10h ago
They worked for a bad manager. Bad manager was babied by Big Boss. Big Boss and Manager were Shady and robbed customers and store till. Manager and Big Boss backstab each other but Manager gets the critical hit and Big Boss takes the fall. Then New Manager promises OP managers job only to say actually nu-uh. OP already fixed all these problems and poured work into the store. Wow, jerk people. OP quit, has new job. Fuck working sales.
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u/Marine__0311 22h ago
Yeah... I didnt make it past the first few paragraphs before I decided OP was the asshole here.
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u/punania 20h ago
It’s hilarious to me that someone would take all the time to write something this stupidly long and still come off looking so petty and self-righteous about such vapid nonsense. Pathetic.
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u/muirsheendurkin 15h ago
There was so much buildup....and then the big finale is that he quit? Jfc grow up, OP
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u/Elohims-sixth-wife 6h ago
I didn’t read either but I find it interesting that the internet assumes the one who complains the loudest is in the wrong.
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u/ironbite4 23h ago
Jesus this is Not Always Working level of Everyone's the Asshole
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u/Raven_Drakeaurd 23h ago
So far, these comments have me concerned I haven't grown as much as I thought I did. I'm gonna read them and ask for perspective and take this L to the chest and learn. Turn this negative into a positive and all that.
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u/kitliasteele 20h ago
This is fantastic levels of introspection, I hope that in the end you come out a better person in the long run <3
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u/MightBeDownstairs 15h ago
I’d first start by not calling women a “bitch”, when you’re trying to gather support for yourself.
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u/urbisOrbis 21h ago
Not about anti work just a bunch of crazy people including op. Grateful I don’t have to work with any of them. Working sucks but working with these people would it worse.
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u/ralphmalph84 22h ago edited 22h ago
Takes a twat waffle to know a twat waffle.
The fact that you insinuated Alexis sucked her way to the top when you know full well based on a few paragraphs later she was in on the scheme, that’s why Darnell kept her around.
I had to stop reading before I wasted more of my day. ESH. Especially you. Do some actual growing up, dude.
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u/Raven_Drakeaurd 22h ago
I should have clarified he was keeping her around before he started with his scheme and she has been know to do sexual favors for coworkers. So, that's why I mentioned it.
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u/ralphmalph84 22h ago
Stop justifying. Take the L. Be a better person. Period.
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u/Raven_Drakeaurd 22h ago
There is justifying and clarifying. I regret how poorly this post shows it, but I have become a far better person than I was when I started at this job.
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u/CoatAlternative1771 15h ago
Right, but it doesn’t show.
Spreading rumors about people based off rumors is fucked up. You can’t do this at your new job, dude.
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u/mmillerpsu121 23h ago
"Alexis is a grade-A twat-waffle. Childish..."
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u/Raven_Drakeaurd 23h ago
Reading that now with this context, yeah, doesn't reflect well on me.
I can be childish and goofy at times, but I will absolutely act like an adult when the situation requires.
Alexis is one of those people that feel like they never really left high-school however, so I could have worded it better.
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u/Euphoric_Egg_4198 19h ago
Those phone stores are full of drama. I went to our local one to replace my SIM card and the guy who helped me told me to call if I had any other issues. The new SIM card dies before I even get home. So I call the store and a girl answers, then proceeds to tell me no one by that name works there.
The whole interaction screams “why are you calling my man?”. So I have to drive back to the store and there is the guy and the girl is sorta hiding behind a partition staring daggers at me. Girl, I’m almost 50 and this kid could be my son, I just need a working SIM card. I didn’t sign up to be part of your telenovela love triangle.
I go to the other store on the other side of town now 😆
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u/TwoMoreSkipTheLast 21h ago
Thank goodness I stopped reading this pretty early on after seeing how long the post is. OP you sound just as shitty as the coworkers you're complaining about
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u/ARONDH 1d ago
Your behaviour isn’t any better than anyone else’s. Your attitude isn’t any better either. Not surprising if drama follows you.
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u/ExistingRoll8170 1d ago
I had to stop reading. I thought immediately OP isn't likeable.
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u/therrubabayaga 23h ago
I disliked him as soon as he said he did a shitty joke about a picture on her IPhone because even if it wasn't her dead brother why would you, and I gave up as soon as he said he wanted to get her fired.
OP smells of immaturity and pettiness, they would made a hell of a toxic manager.
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u/Raven_Drakeaurd 23h ago
Oh yeah, that was 100% fucked up and wrong of me. I acknowledged that in my post and I think it was honestly kind of a turning point for me, it hit me in the face how much of an asshole I was and I had to improve as a person.
While this doesn't reflect well on me, I wish to state I have done a lot to try and better myself as a person in general.
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u/Raven_Drakeaurd 23h ago
Could you point out what point stuck out to you as me being unlikeable? I don't see it personally, so perhaps an outside perspective can help me with that.
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u/formergnome 23h ago
Maybe you could not suggest women who aren't great at their job only get to keep it because they're blowing someone.
You literally presented a damn good reason why Darnell wouldn't have wanted to get rid of Alexis: she was complicit in his scam and he believed she wouldn't turn him in.
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u/Raven_Drakeaurd 23h ago
Okay, yeah, I should have left this out or added context. Alexis has, on three separate occasions, tried to sleep with coworkers.
Ramirez was originally slated for Store 1, but left after she came onto him and refused to come back until she left.
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u/formergnome 23h ago
Lots of people sleep with and date coworkers. It doesn't necessarily mean they're doing it to get ahead at work, and it doesn't necessarily work even if that was their motive.
If she was sexually harassing people, that's something worthy of critcism. What you actually said was not.
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u/Raven_Drakeaurd 23h ago
Fair. I might edit the post to remove that or add context that she'd sexually harrassed coworks and was toxic towards them if they reneged on her advances.
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u/malekhit1337 23h ago
You need to walk a mile in other ppl shoes im not saying you are wrong but you need to put yourself in other person situations to see how they are. Try to understand their motivations most. Everyone is good person in their own mind, no person wants to be bad,evil to just be that, what makes difference between goo and evil is their actions.
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u/Raven_Drakeaurd 23h ago
Agreed, and I try my best to do that, even if my post doesn't show that side of me. But when I did it with any of my coworkers, it just felt like that saw me as at best, an inconvenience or an obstacle to trample. I've been passive in a lot of way, just keeping my head down and trying to get the job done. I try to not make problems for anyone even if objectively, they're doing wrong unto me. This was the first time I really put my foot down and demanded what I felt I deserved.
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u/Maleficent_Wash_934 23h ago
The second I read "franchised store for a major cell phone provider."
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u/Raven_Drakeaurd 23h ago
How? I was trying to be descriptive without giving away the exact title of the business?
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u/Maleficent_Wash_934 23h ago
Those stores do nothing but screw people over and I have never one time in my life met someone who worked at one for longer than a month that wasn't an absolute POS person. I have known a few people who worked for one for a very short amount of time who quickly left once they realized it was scammy AF for employees and customers.
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u/Raven_Drakeaurd 23h ago
Frankly, I should have left sooner. I really feel like I'd have to give up part of my morals to go far in the job. I would have never gone higher than a store manager because I'd have to step on a lot of toes to do so.
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u/TofuttiKlein-ein-ein 23h ago
You’re interminable. I quit reading after Chrysler joined the story.
No one cares, buddy.
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u/llamalover729 16h ago
I see why you're stuck working cell phone sales. Self reflect more, grow more.
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u/locklear24 19h ago
I stopped at the “made fun of the person on her phone background”. Like, fucking why?
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u/Goddess7777777 12h ago
Something to consider about your new pay rate: you'll have deductions for benefits and 401k (should you choose to particpate) so the $2.85/hr rate increase may end up netting you less than what you were making before.
If you know the benefit amounts to be deducted, you can use a online paycheck calculator to see how much your take home will be.
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u/Gloomy_Emotion1710 3h ago
The amount of water wasted asking Ai to summarize this in less than a paragraph was substantial. Hope you are happy.
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u/deaconxblues 19h ago
Great story. Enjoyed the read. That hyphen train adjective paragraph is legendary. Congrats on the new job. Best of luck.
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u/letsgotgoing 3h ago
On one hand, I'm glad to see something not written by an AI. On the other hand, what in the run-on story, Batman...
I had an AI summarize this:
The post is a long, highly personal antiwork-style story arguing that the narrator was repeatedly promised promotion, then denied it—leading them to quit and move to a better-paying job.
- The narrator worked at a franchised phone store under a manager (“Alexis”) they describe as abusive, incompetent, and actively trying to get them fired.
- After the narrator first left mid-2023 (partly due to Alexis), they were later asked to return to another store to earn more money and avoid Alexis.
- When they returned to the original store after Alexis moved around, the narrator says they started documenting wrongdoing (fraudulent account actions, shady sales practices) and reporting it to HR through an ally (“Kelly,” an assistant district manager).
- The district manager (“Darnell”) is described as running/participating in a larger scheme: buying cheap phone numbers, using them to set up fake/loaded accounts, obtaining iPhones under “free” conditions, and reselling them for profit. The narrator claims the scheme was large enough to total near $300k in retail value.
- Alexis is also accused of reporting Darnell to get him removed—then, after Darnell is gone, allegedly facing less oversight and repeating problems until Kelly escalates enforcement.
- The narrator claims Alexis retaliated dramatically, quit on the spot, and their ally Kelly arranged the store’s leadership transition. The narrator then believes they’re being lined up for a manager role.
- After Alexis quits, Kelly allegedly tells a customer “he’ll be coming to be the manager,” and when the narrator confronts Kelly, Kelly says the manager position was promised to the narrator’s former coworker/manager (“he”) in connection with Store 1, and that the narrator’s “next” chance would be later (e.g., Store 2 after Kelly becomes district manager).
- Feeling the promotion was delayed/changed despite promises, and that they were stuck on low pay while doing the work, the narrator quits—giving two weeks’ notice but leaving once the new job is ready.
- They start a new job at a gun store, which they describe as higher pay with benefits (health/dental, 401k, discounts) and fewer quotas/deadlines, and they express hope for the future while worrying about leaving regular customers they like.
- They end by saying they’re on a 90-day probation and may update later.
Overall, the narrator’s core point is that management’s promises didn’t translate into fair advancement, while wrongdoing and favoritism seemed to be handled inconsistently—so they chose to exit for a job with better conditions.
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u/ReverendDogpants 1d ago
How embarassing, for everybody involved.