First Job Bullying

by No
(Philippines)

I was 18 when I first had my job at a yogurt place. It was a yogurt place, how hard could it be? It wasn't hard at all, I just hated the people there, specially my managers.

In my country, kids usually don't go to work unless they really, really, really, need the money (low income families). I come from a middle class family, I got a job for experience, so when I first got there and everyone discovered I wasn't as "poor" as them, they started treating me differently.

This is a little embarassing for me, but I got the job because I knew someone from "inside". I didn't want it that way, I just wanted to experience how a job interview worked, I didn't expect to get hired because the interview was horrible. I would have been happier if they rejected me since it was the fair and honest way. But I got in. When everyone knew about me knowing someone from a higher position of the company, they thought I was going to use that as an advantage to whatever. I don't know how they knew, I didn't want them to know because I knew that they were going to outcast me more.

Nobody really liked me, everybody thought I was weird.

My manager already hated me on the first day, he was very intimidating. My trainer yelled at me, always getting mad at me for making a mistake or doing something out of ignorance. It wasn't just my trainer, it was also my manager. One time my friends went in to see me, I accidentally did something wrong and started yelling at me and kicking stuff in front of the customers. I was always made fun of.

I had a co-worker whom I thought was going to be my first real friend on the job, so we shared stories and the next day he told everybody about me and made fun of everything I just said. That made me more conscious.

It felt just like high school I hated it.

One of the things that I can't forget about my first job was that time when my co-worker and my manager were whispering at each other and giggling, I ignored it. My manager went up to me and said "don't get offended but me and ******** had a bet that if you let me touch your boobs, he'll give me his christmas bonus. I'll give you half of it." how can I not get offended by that?

And last but not least, I can't forget about that time when the same co-worker would tell us about his random nights with strangers, he's gay, and he won't shut up. I don't have anything bad about gays but do I really want to hear how people have sex?

After one month, I quit. I wasn't very honest when they asked me why.

After all this, I'm scared to get another job or work with people.