It’s Early Days Yet

(I’ve been working at this nursery for a month now, and there have been a lot of problems so far. As the youngest, and least senior member of the team, I always seem to have to take up the slack that my coworkers can’t be bothered to do themselves. At this point it’s about 11:30 am and I’m talking to coworkers about when they’re leaving. I and Coworker #1 should be on late shift together, and we both started work at 11 am.)

Coworker #1: “Oh, no, [Manager] said I could go early because we don’t have many children, so I’m leaving at one.”

Me: “What? Why? You’re on late shift. If you go it’ll just be me and [Manager]. We won’t be in ratio and I’ll have to do everything myself.”

Coworker #1: *shrugs* “Have fun with that.”

(True to her word, she leaves at 1 pm. The other three co-workers leave when their shifts end at 3 and 4 pm, leaving me alone with [Manager] for three hours with seven children. [Manager] spends the entire time complaining about how tired she is and effectively leaves me to care for all seven children until their parents pick them up. As we are not allowed to leave the room unless there are two adults present, I have to wait until quarter to seven when the last child is picked up to empty all the bins, sweep and mop the floors, clean the kitchen, and lock all the doors and windows. At 7:25 pm I finish everything I can do and go upstairs to get my phone from the manager’s office.)

Manager: *looking surprised* “[My Name]! Why are you still here?”