So many replies, where do I begin.
WyrTwister, yes, just like laws of nature like gravity, equal and opposite reactions happen spiritually. There was a stretch in my life where everything that would happen to me, I could see the poetic justice in it. Hard to give an example, but for example if I formed a random opinion about something, anything... The same opinion would bite me later on, when something happens and clearly the philosophy I formed applied to me. The poetry of it was so... spot on.
Wolf359, One guy working there told me, you're new so you can mess up here and there. It won't start counting against you until like 6 months in. Thanksgiving I didn't show because they didn't need me. I
To everyone saying record it (or log it), yeah, I guess I could. From now on I will. My iPhone SE has the note app. A heavily discounted, quietly launched phone. Good if you can live with a smaller screen, but this is a different discussion.
Soinker, the store manager is in a tough spot. He's a genuinely good guy. He let me know that he sees what's going on. And as no one else complains about me, Mitch's "crying wolf" gets less and less traction. He really works hard, good family man, super dedicated to the store. Goes out of his way to be nice to everyone. I can't imagine myself complaining about him to HR. The no. 2 manager in the store is also dedicated to the job. He would clock out and keep working, practically living there bc things just have to get done. This is their livelihood, and I can't see myself taking a shot at hard working, dedicated men. It would have to be pretty ugly for me to complain about the top two in the store.
It's not their fault this guy has a passion for being miserable. It needs company.
I think I'm going to say something like, "Look, we can get into the weeds of it, but I think Mitch would be a lot happier if he saw a psychologist, got better diet, and some exercise."
The #2 told me "just don't give him anything to harp about. Just do your work, and he can't complain." Yeah, this. Don't leave any room for him to say ish about me.
Phone? Go into the bathroom for it. One person room, so it should not be a problem.
i even heard another worker say the same thing I did about this Mitch: he gets on people for doing something that he himself does. For example, If I stick my head in the back for a sec for a quick bite of a snack, he gets upset that I'm not working. Ok, fine. But I see him eating pizza when there's a line of customers. He said he worked all day and skipped lunch because it was so busy and just needed a quick bite --and I would not complain bc I get it. We have all been there at some point. It just amazes me that he can't see the same with me. The guy who complains about the smallest things is upset bc someone else complains about small things about him. Even though I didn't complain; I just said, "you're eating when there's a line" to him and not to the top managers in the store. It's fine that he needed to chow quickly. I get it.
It's like, should I risk being the same as him, by complaining about every little thing?
One thing is, the top guys in the store RARELY mention any of Mitch's complaints to me. He can complain about the same issue 5 times, and they won't mention it. For example, customer comes in. Asks a technical question that an experienced mechanic or someone who worked there like 2 or 3 years could answer but no way I could answer. So I get Mitch to answer it. There's a line of people. So I go to the next customer and help them. Mitch complains that I'm dumping my customers and not finishing it. But it's such a technical issue, that if another guy with the same issue came in two minutes later, I still couldn't answer it even if I paid close attention to the first one. I try to get through the line, and he's upset that I'm "abandoning customers." The other guys don't complain about this bc they're happy that the line is going down. But this guy.
And about the physical fighting, my heart starts to race a bit and I feel my body getting ready and sensing a fight about to happen. When he tries to seethingly (a real word? Is now) tell me something like "I'm the manager, you don't tell me what to do, I tell you what to do!" That's his response when I told him relax after telling me get off my phone angrily. I think I need to tell him clearly "don't get an aggressive tone as if you're about to fight me, all while approaching me in an aggressive manner. Don't get in my face like that again."
I really do need to mention this part to the store manager though. He's acting like he wants to bait me into throwing the first punch by making me feel like an attack is imminent from him.
He's out of shape. I think I can dodge hits a lot faster than him, let him wear himself out if it ever got to that point. I don't think that's a good look for me at all though.
Let me keep reading the replies and post in a bit.