Like, what the literal fuck?
So, at 9:30am today, as I am getting ready to go to work, I get a call from my boss saying "We decided to close our Liberty Street location today, so take the day off." I was really taken aback by this, so all I said was "uh, okay?" and he hung up.
A little later, I text messaged him asking "hey, just curious -- any particular reason why we are closing the store today?" and his response "We are thinking of making it permanent, the only location that is profitable is (the other location our owners own). So I am trying to convince (the owner of the company) to close down the Liberty location."
I knew the axe was coming at some point, but it sort of stings to get the news via text message. I still don't know what the final decision is, and quite frankly, I don't care. I have been frantically putting in applications for 2 weeks. Because I saw the writing on the wall a while ago.
I am frustrated and upset, this has been one of the worst jobs I have ever had. They fucked with my schedule, made me feel worthless as a person, disregarded my suggestions, hired a person over me when I had more experience, and now they are "thinking" of closing my store. This is my life you are fucking with. The meager 800 dollars a month I make from this job is keeping my fiancee and I afloat financially. And now you just casually text me and say that its all about to go down the fucking toilet?
Thats the life of a minimum wager. Boss man give, boss man taketh away. Fact of the matter is, at any time, at any moment, most of us are a heartbeat away from extreme poverty, homelessness. It shouldn't be like that. We deserve as much job security as someone in one of the "skilled" positions. We are human beings, not fucking trash.
Living like this is awful.
Edit: Just filed for unemployment insurance.
Edit 2: They are closing my store. The scheduling at the other location is going to be "variable" they are literally going to make my schedule, and the schedules of all the other workers on a 24 hour basis.
I haven't yet figured out if they are just playing mind games to avoid using the word "layoff" and instead make me so frustrated that I quit or if this genuine.
Edit 3: Just got off the phone with UI. They said that if I quit I have to claim a week and said I refused potential work. My claim would then go on hold for 3 weeks while an investigation takes place. Now, some commenters have pointed out that there is a "Good cause" exception to the "no refusing work" rule in certain states. One of the good cause exceptions is losing 25% of your hours (in Washington)
I am in Oregon and I was going through the UI handbook and I can't find the good cause exception for the life of me anywhere in it.
To recap: here is my situation --
My home store is closing. My schedule is becoming a fully variable schedule in which I am informed only hour in advance of when I am supposed to work. From the time I was hired I went from full time (actually over 40 hours a week) to part time (about 20), then extreme part time (less than 15 hours) and now finally, fully variable.
My thing is the scheduling they are doing now is going to wreak havoc on my life, I will never be able to plan for interviews or application hunting to find other work. I will never truly know how many hours I will get.
My question -- if this job becomes a nuisance to my job hunt, can I quit and claim the good cause exception. If someone who knows Oregon UI law and regulation can help out, I would greatly appreciate it. All the call center representative said was yes there are certain exceptions to the "no refusing work" rule, but she didn't provide me a list. She said they were somewhere in the guidebook but didn't tell me a page. If you can help me find the rule, it would be awesome. Thank you.
rexy
Edit 4: Okay -- Action plan is to stay with them even if it is 1 hr a week until I get another job. Thats fine. Thank you for all your help dkos!