Three Cheers For The Squeaky Wheel!

My daughter is working her first job in a local small company. I know she doesn’t enjoy it that much — mainly due to the idiot owner — but she recognises that the experience she is getting — partly because the idiot owner refuses to pay for experienced staff — will be so valuable in the future.

Then, the health crisis hits, and it eventually gets to the point that company can open under conditions. Of course, the owner doesn’t believe in the health crisis. No measures are in place and he refuses to make one exception.

Daughter: “Dad, I hate it there. I feel scared to go to work.”

Me: “Quit, then. We can support you while you look for work.”

Daughter: “But nowhere is hiring and I don’t want that on my CV.”

Me: “So, blow the whistle on him. He doesn’t care about his staff. Don’t care about him!”

So, we wrote a letter, one to the owner and one to the authorities, stating the reason why she would not be returning to work and listing what requirements he was ignoring. I figured the worse case was if she was fired and had to find a better job.

As it happened, the owner tried to call and then emailed demanding a meeting. But someone got to him first; the whole company was suddenly put on furlough and the owner was nowhere to be seen.

It wasn’t long until the company opened again and instead of the owner, his father was in charge. Apparently, he had let his son run this as his first big venture, and he quickly took back over putting things right.

My daughter stayed there a while longer. When she left, the owner’s father thanked her personally for writing the letter and said he would never have known how badly the company was doing.