When You Burn Your Bridges… and It Goes Wrong
HAVANA TIMES – Two weeks after starting my new job, I’m leaving it. After quitting a stable position where I had already gained certain skills—and one I cannot return to under the law for another six months—I am now unemployed.
After leaving 3,500 reais (about 630 USD) on the table (more than two minimum wages) as a penalty for abruptly quitting the supermarket, I don’t know how I’m going to pay next month’s bills. I have to start over—and fast—for my family’s sake.
“But what happened?” my friends ask.
When I arrived at the store where I was going to work, they added a new clause to the agreement we had made verbally just days earlier. I would receive training as a salesperson, and if I didn’t measure up, I’d be out.
And I didn’t measure up.
Partly because maybe sales just aren’t my thing. At least that’s what they tried to make me believe. My sister Caridad, who was eventually attended to by me, doesn’t think the same.
Maybe it was their sales model, which is too aggressive and doesn’t suit my personality. If a customer walked into the store and left without buying, it was seen as a disaster.
Perhaps the training wasn’t appropriate. Putting someone to sell from the very first day and demanding performance like that of an experienced salesperson might not have been the wisest approach. Expecting me to become a salesperson in a week and hinging all that pressure on the promise of a future promotion, I feel that was a huge mistake.
“I misread your profile, sorry. I’m going to give you some time to find another job,” they told me.
“You’re suited for a higher-level role, like supervisor, finance, or something like that, and I know I’m going to need you in the future. But right now, our company structure can’t support that position, so you can’t stay with us,” they also told me.
And I stayed on good terms with him, because I’m kind of naïve. Because I often don’t understand my rights and I’m not used to defending them. But it wasn’t right, and it’s not the first time it’s happened to me. Working for entrepreneurs carries many risks, something I would no longer advise anyone to do.