I'm Afraid To Start Over

I've worked for the same company since I was 18. I'm 34 now and run one of the stores. I've been doing it for eight years and now I'm not sure I can do it anymore, if i'll even be given the choice. But let's go back to August.

A group of people bought the company I work for which consist of 4 different stores, 3 gas stations and a liquor store. Eight years ago I started running the State Liquor store. It felt like the right thing to do. I'm a people person, I love interacting with the people and getting to know them. Some people say I have a bubbly personality and I just click with most people so this job was perfect for me. I'd make good money and I would get to interact with everyone that came in along with other responsibilities such as paperwork deposits, etc...

It was a great job and my boss who was the owner really cared about his employees and trusted that his store managers would get the job done. He let us do our thing so long as we were doing our jobs.

Now we have new owners who don't seem to appreciate their employees. They came in and said nothing would change and as the weeks went on,, things started to change a little at a time.

Three of the managers wanted to sit down with the owners and have a meeting to discuss what they wanted from us,, what their expectations were and to answer any questions we had. We felt like that was a reasonable request and we thought they did too. They set one up and the meeting and at the last minute they canceled it.

This went on for weeks and still we had no idea what they wanted from us but kept adding to our work load. Now we had to pay the bills for the store such as electric, gas, spectrum, etc... I didn't like it but I did it. Then one of them came in one day with a stack of bills for all the stores and told me to make them automatic payments. Again not my job but I did it.

One day, one of them called and told me to add my hours to the weekly hours they gave me for labor. I couldn't hold my tongue any longer and got into it with him because I get paid salary. You can't add my hours into that without taking away from the other employees who need the job to pay their bills. I was also keeping under hours so it shouldn't have mattered. He didn't even listen to what I had to say. Didn't try to understand where I was coming from, nothing just demanded that I do it.

I didn't change the hours but he never said anything after that. The argument was a bad one. I ended up hanging up on him after telling him I was worth more than they made me out to be. I cried in the bathroom because I was just so angry that they were treating us this way.

A few more weeks went by and I was still upset but doing what they wanted. I asked about the meeting but got no response. We realized that the employee checks were wrong and they weren't getting the right pay. So I tried to get that fixed, nothing changed. They still aren't getting the right pay.

Christmas eve comes along and they tell us we will have a meeting and I showed up to the store and they didn't. Even though I had family plans, I made sure to get there because it was important and they just blew it off. They told us in no uncertain terms that we would not be getting our meetings so we still have no idea what our jobs entail.

This brings me to now.... One of them called me and told me to do something I already did. But I said ok. Then he went on to tell me that we needed only one person for Sundays which isn't right. We don't usually get robbed but we did have an attempt not too long ago. A customer punched him out if you want to know how that went. The robber left with no money and a black eye.

But let's get back on track.

It's not safe to have one person by themselves and I argued that point. I also told him that I was under my hours for the week and it shouldn't matter where I put the employees as long as had my hours under control. He again told me that I needed to add my hours to the hours they set for me.

I made a schedule to prove s point that you can't add my hours because I get paid salary. So my hours were short for the week on this schedule but I was still going to work my normal hours to show them that hours would be over because I was still there. My hours didn't matter because I was still making the same amount.

They didn't like that I was trying to prove a point and went to one of my employees and asked if she would work my shifts if something were to happen to me. She told them no and that she was loyal to me. They said that when I leave she would be going too. They told her that I had an attitude and wasn't doing my job.

Again, I was doing everything they asked of me and it still wasn't enough but since I took up for my employees, they said I had an attitude. Now they want to get rid of me.

The thing that breaks my heart and makes it swell with love is that all of my employees, which isn't very many are ready to walk away as soon as they fire me.

I was told by multiple people that I could sue for multiple reasons and yet my heart hurts because I'll be missing all of the wonderful people I've met along the way. Years worth of memories with these wonderful people will just be that, memories because these people want me gone for standing up for the people that work their butts off for them, yet get treated as if they don't mean anything.

I'm afraid to start over because it's been so long since I've had too. Im afraid I won't be able to find a job in time and my bills won't get paid. I'm afraid that I'll miss my job and regret not being the compliant person that they wanted knowing I would lose myself if I stayed.

I'm about to lose my job for standing up for the people that matter and yet I'm afraid of what my future will hold.

I know I should just quit but I don't want to give them the satisfaction. That's what they want and I'm too stubborn to give them what they want when they hold no compassion, no understanding for their employees.

How do you move on from this? How do you wake up and realize you have to start over?

I'm a nervous wreck and I'm afraid of the unknown.