I'm intering at a local petstore which specializes in exotic birds. Business being what it is, and the number of hours I'd need, I agreed to work for product as I needed it. Seed, toys etc. First mistake: Didn't put anything in writing. I immersed myself in day to day chores and didn't get the paper work done.
I've been working here for 7 hours a day, six days a week since the end of school. She's given me about 100$ for 'pocket money'. Mistake number 2: Never setting down what was an adequate compensation for my time.
We got a citron cockatoo. My boss bought him for less than a hundred dollars. He's plucked every feather from his chest, wings and tail and was very malnourished. Despite this, he was a sweet bird. We bonded instantly and I decided I'd like to have him. So I got a cage together and my boss said I could bring him home. As long as I was around to work him off it would be fine. Mistake number three: Combination of mistakes one and two. I didn't sit down and make sure her idea of 'work it off' and mine were the same, nor did I put that in writing.
You see, I'm going to be working there for the next six weeks. The same hours under the same arrangements. So, when she said 'work it off' I assumed that time would go towards him. So I added some toys etc to the tab and went on my merry way. I sat down and did out the math to make sure my working would cover the total and add more hours if it needed. At the hours I'm working if I were getting actually paid,no over time, I would have the bird, the toys and everything 'worked off' in three weeks. Okay, good. Once he's paid off then it goes back to product as needed. Which, as it is now, is little to none. It's a bird store, you'd think they counted as product. *Buzzer*
She finds my scrawlings and gets all upset, saying that she can't afford to pay me that. And she'd be willing to count the first three hours I work towards paying for him. The rest goes to my internship. I was rather upset with this.
One, she's charging me what she would have paid from a breeder for a baby. I accepted this, knowing how little she really paid for him, because I love him. I could just as easily get that baby and /NOT/ have all the neurosis. Cockatoos are known to be cuddly.
Two. I have been keeping the shop open on my own for the last month. She's been dicked around by her dentist, four root canals and several scripts of painkillers later things are okay. But there we days when she was in so much pain she couldn't do anything. I took care of the animals, shop, and her with no problem. (The business is out of her home, in case I forgot to mention.) Between that, all the errands, court dates, other doctors visits and what not, I've been on my own more than with her. And I was fine with this, but I assumed, (oh, there's that word!) when I first decided to get the bird that would be taken into account.
We tried to have a conversation. But she kept saying things like '3 hours of actual work' and 'I'm did you a favor having you work here'. Yes, you did. But it is tempered by the fact that you've broken down numerous times, crying and telling me you don't know how you'd have done this with out me. I made sure the animals were fed and watered when she was so stressed she couldn't remember the car keys were in her hand.
The 'actual work' part is what burns me. There is some physical labor involved in this job, changing papers, cleaning cages etc. That takes about three hours. After that I work on organizing the store so its easy to take inventory, checking prices, refilling product etc. When that is done, I take out birds. A funny thing happens to birds when you leave them in a cage, they start to bite and get mean. So I made a routine and started taking all of the store birds out for a set amount of time. Apparently this isn't work. When, in the past, she's hired people to do it. Hired and actually paid. Would you buy a bird you have to chase around the cage and when caught bites to draw blood?
So I'm upset, call my folks to come get me. I'm not working today. Folks show up, she comes right out to tell them what 'she actually said'. My mother takes the opportunity to sooth her with money and makes a payment on a bird that she bought previously. Boss goes in to write it down, and comes back out demanding to know where the files are. I just about lundged out the car at her. Remember the car keys in her hand comment? She's like that, a lot. Part of my work routine was going around behind her and picking things up she left laying around and putting them where they belong. To be accused of taking them? Ooooh, no.
So what does this all break down too?
What we have here is a failure to communicate!
P.s. I'm no angel. I've screwed up a time or two. Left a mess or misplaced something. But that was at the beginning when I was just learning. She's not a villan, but I do think she's being a bitch.
Current Mood: 
pissed off
Current Music: "Pet" Perfect Circle
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