I was a 2IC in a very small carcass cold store (5 full-time employees). I did my job well and people recognised me for it, wasn't an overly difficult job, pay was above ok and hours were good. The carton depot the company mismanaged completely, fired the team leader and promoted one of the shift managers. They wanted me to step into the shift manager’s position with zero experience apart from knowing a little about the computer software used to print manifests of orders and invoices. I had never dealt with such a work place or forklifts before and never been a manager. If I was to be a manager I would have wanted it to be in a job I had experience, I would have wanted to be able to look an employee in the eye know I could do what I wanted them to do. But I didn't want to be a manager, I had plans that year to try and get into uni and wanted to concentrate on that (I didn't communicate that to them because I knew the new team leader well as I had worked with him for, and knew he would try and put me down telling me I couldn't do it and I didn’t need his negativity (a year or so later after I got screwed, I told him about my plans and it took him all of five seconds to say that I couldn't do it) hindsight I wish I had just said to them then and there but this would have come at the cost of a pay cut and possible try to push me out the door for whatever reason they could find, even though I had spoken to my shift manager and he was more than happy to keep me on casual while I was studying).
But I consider myself a fair person, they had wanted me to become part of a Sunday night loadout (which would have been part of a shift managers duties) so I said I would come on over to the carton depot and learn loadout over there so I could do the Sunday night load out just so I could get the new team leader off my back (the old team leader left us alone but the new team leader wanted to be involved in both depots(two city-based depots for a country abattoir)). As soon as I got to the carton depot the screws were put on me to take the shift managers position, with threats of cutting my pay if I didn’t take the “promotion”, that might I add didn’t include a pay raise. They made it very clear they felt they didn’t have any other options and me being the fair individual I was (looking back I’m just a weak cunt) I said I would give it a go and try and help them out. I felt if it didn’t work out I could have my old job back. So I reluctantly took the job, I gave it my best go, I had workers seeking my direction, I constantly had truck drivers I needed to deal with, I needed to get time on the forklift to learn how to use one, it was a lot on my plate for a job I was new at and had no experience in. On top of this, there was an issue with personal in the workplace, I was told to issue warnings to as many indiscretions as possible so we could rid the depot of the poor culture. So now I was the manager who couldn’t do the work given the instructions to try and get people fired, guess how much I was liked on the floor? (Which hurt because I had always worked in fun enjoyable workplaces). As well one of the other shift managers (three of us) chose he didn’t want to be a part of the new management team and stood down for “personal reason” (god damnit personal reasons, why didn’t I think of that, because I’m an idiot). I look back at this point more than the error I made to try and help the company, I should have said “if he can step down, then I’m not needed here” and walked out and gone back to the other depot. But I still felt the need to help these people, the old shift manager was still going to be involved but was going to train up his 2IC in his position. So I continued with the job, I was given a team of people that despised me and management's solution to the problem was for me to write them up as much as possible, either they learn or they can find a new job and I got to train new workers up in the job I had no experience in. There was a total disorganisation in the depot and we didn’t have the space to store the product we had, violating OHS policies but blocking forklift aisles.

After a couple of months, I felt I couldn’t help this depot and contacted the director who was the first one to offer me the job. I said to him this wasn’t working and we needed to rethink it, to which he responded with a bunch of bullshit inspirational quotes and an “if you don’t want this position you can go find work elsewhere”. Some might say if I was wanting to get into tertiary education why not just leave, well I had five months holidays in the bank that I was planning to use to complete an in-class course to help me get into uni as the state governing body didn’t believe I had done enough since leaving school to warrant entry into uni. But all this failing in this job had diminished my belief I could complete uni study. Don’t worry about the lack of experience in the job, don’t worry about to insufficient storage for the product, and don’t worry about the complete abortion of a workplace this was. I thought it was all on me, I had given up drinking and smoking for over a year before the “promotion” to improve my life, but felt the need for it again as I was sick of the shitty work conditions, and irregular hours (we had a rotation roster of one week at 0400, one week at 0700, one week at 1130 and one week at 1330, then repeat, the 1330 shift to 0400 was a killer as your sleeping pattern was use to going to bed when you need to be getting up, some workers managed it by just no sleeping the Saturday night before the Monday 0400 start). On top of this once a four-week cycle we had a Saturday shift (I’ll give the company this once a four-week cycle we had a three-day weekend counteracted by a 47 hour weekend (finishing 1230 on Saturday and not back until 1130 on Monday) this was pretty good…as long as you finished on time. Every single week it was my week whether this was due to other teams trying to stick to me or what not, I was working 0400-1900 due to the amount of work that needed to be done. I was told I could only have one break and I was to tell my workers the same, which once again made me very popular. So I had picked up my bad habits again felt like shit, hated myself, my job and everyone around me. I that contacting the director I had communicated that this wasn’t working and wanted out, his “no one says no to me” attitude sent me into a self-destruct mode. Some might say that the company didn’t screw me over I screwed me over, but I don’t. I become overly abusive to the team leader, I hated him, the insult he took exception to was a “die lonely cunt” (I’m well aware that this would get most people fired telling their boss they are a cunt and to die lonely, this workplace was a little different) after being told about some fuck up that my team had something to do with apparently, and don’t worry about the shithouse systems in place just blame it on the individual. So it got to a point where the team leader gave me an instruction to train a new employee who showed promise in the office. I had no issue with that as the new employee was starting to make my life easier as he seemed to respect me and wanted to learn. So we had these ingoing outgoing forms that needed to be filled out for all trucks. The new employee was struggling to get the invoices, interstate meat certificates and complete the incoming paperwork for the truck driver to leave. So I told him not to worry about the ingoing outgoing forms I’d fill them out for him, so he could concentrate on getting what he needed to done. The team leader called me at about 1800 that night after I had been up since 0230 telling me how I was meant to show the new employee the office and how I hadn’t done it, even though I did. I had been woken up by the phone call as I was stuffed and sort of just copped his abuse half asleep. The phone call woke me up and I had had enough. The next morning I unlocked the depot and dumped the keys on the bosses empty desk, I then went on to ignore the boss for my entire shift when he arrived, god that pissed him off. He contacted the director in the country and gave me a show cause notice at the end of my shift. I put my grievance in the show cause pointing out the companies errors should not be reflected on me. But they didn’t care, I was fired with all my holidays paid out with about $6,000 going to the tax man, I was offered a job back straight away though as I was still considered a valued employee, but at a much lower rate of pay. I was lost with what I wanted to do trying to get into uni and sort of just stuck around for another two years, becoming one of the best workers in the place on the forks and operating around the depot and becoming relief shift manager proving to myself that I could do it. I am no longer employed with this employer and completing online subjects for uni getting my life back on track to where I want to be.

TL: DR Given a promotion in a job I had no experience or want to do the job but took it to protect my rate of pay and large amount of holidays owed, so I could use the time off to complete an in class subject to get into to uni….self-belief in myself diminished due to reflecting the workplaces failings onto myself and I self-destructed going down in a blaze of no glory losing my pay and holidays I had plans for.