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...They quit bosses, as the saying goes.

It buys a little too much into the American meritocracy myth for my taste, with 'Work' capital W being the end all meaning to a life well lived and the only reason to leave gainful employment is because of the way a supervisor leads.

But it has rung true for me a few times. I mentioned my coffee shop boss in some previous entry. I also spent years working for an old Norwegian that was fairly homophobic- I hadn't realized until after I quit how many of my illnesses at the time were stress induced, until they evaporated in the weeks after I finally left that place after nearly a decade.

(Though part of me wonders if one of the janitors, a registered sex offender and vocally anti-queer, was somehow secretly poisoning me)

Anyway- prepare for a bit of a rant. I had said before I didn't want to go into this, but when I was finally on the road my now ex-boss sent me an email that really messed up my whole zen thing.

The past few years I've been working two full-time jobs, the power of two near minimum wages combined into a (still way below the median in SF but) enough to get by living wage, and allowed me to put a small amount away into my Getaway Plan every month.

At the Day Job, I was the manager so I have a lot more autonomy. I don't even have any coworkers really. I just check in with the owners occasionally, file paperwork, schedule inspections. And best of all there's not someone constantly looking over my shoulder or silly office politics.

Which is about the polar opposite of my Night job, working the graveyard shift as a clerk. I mean for the most part the work itself is usually quiet, and I work alone, but the politics drove me crazy, with the other staff constantly tattling on everyone over the stupidest things- mostly just not doing things the way 'They', (co-workers on the same level as me btw) want it done.

I've butted heads a few times, sometimes even getting into shouting arguments, with one person in particular. I'll call him 'C', which now that I think about it fits him well.

This little C (yes he's very short) is a sniveling weasel that constantly tries to get me in trouble. And the thing is, I wouldn't even really care if my boss just nodded and ignored his complaints for the obvious BS they are, but starting a couple of years ago she started siding with him on everything.

She used to text me all the time about how much I was appreciated for all the sacrifices and extra shifts I pulled. All the times I would stay late or work double shifts because my replacement admitted to partying too much and was too hung over to come in. (Yes, he still works there)

She even offered me a management position which I politely declined as I didn't want the stress of running two hotels.

I'm not sure what changed over the years, but she started getting a lot more hands on (MICROMANAGING). I get texts from her constantly at all hours, mostly when I'm trying to sleep. The office is filled with literally dozens of post-it notes, because every time someone forgets some little procedure ONCE a note goes up and it stays there forever.

And then there's the passive aggressive texts I get from her, the ones that always start with an accusation without even bothering to hear my side of it.

For instance- the other day I was waiting for my replacement K to show up, who, btw, is C's daughter. K always arrived 15 minutes early but sat out front in her car and didn't come in until 7:59. Whatever.

But at 7:59:45 she was still waiting in her car and I had errands to do, so I started walking out of the building and about five feet from the entrance I pass her as she finally gets out of her car and goes in.

I did my errands, and later in the day I get this message from my boss:

First off- boss was texting me because K, truly her father's daughter, was trying to get me in trouble, by somehow pretending she didn't see me leave right as she was walking in.

Second, there are three cameras in the lobby and my boss is the only one with access to them. The fact that she was messaging me at all showed that rather than verify it first she came straight at me with an accusation.

And Third, the absolutely pedantic "Oh you actually left at 7:58". IT WAS ACTUALLY 7:59 THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I was clearly checking the time on my way out the door. And besides, the time is irrelevant because the PREMISE that I left my shift unattended was false.

But, nope, no apology.

I was livid for a few minutes and thought about how I would respond, but cooler heads prevailed. That's when I said Fuck it and started putting my escape plans into motion. This was a few months ago.

Fast forward to the other day, the first few hours free and clear of work BS with thousands of miles of open road in front of us, I got yet another email from my boss, a final pedantic message, a borderline threat, really.

That was the final straw. I went off and ranted about all the BS and told her she wouldn't see a cent from me. (She was trying to charge us for some "dirty" appliances that would "have to be thrown out")

Of course, rather than leave it at that, she decided to send her own response, answering each of my paragraphs with her own Red text. I barely read it. Her excuse was, "Oh, I wasn't going to charge you, I was just letting you know."

Well thank you so much for the completely irrelevant message than, just to let us know how gracious we should be to her.

Whew.

Ok, I'm done. I didn't respond, I just blocked her. And by venting here, I'm hoping I can finally be done with 5 years of that BS and move on to brighter, if not better things.

Anyway, in Memphis now. Heading to Florida today. Should be in Orlando by tomorrow.

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