I’m thinking about quitting.
I work with a forklift moving stuff between several warehouses. My manager doesn’t want me to do extra hours. Fine, then I want to go home exactly when my shift ends.
My shift ends at 5 pm. Before going home I need to take the forklift to a garage 10 minutes away and to recharge it. Then 5 minutes to walk back to the office where I clock out.
On my last shift, I received 2 assignments at 16:30, starting at 16:45 because trucks weren’t already there. Obviously, even doing just one of them means extra hours will be made.
I informed my manager sending her a message with our notoriously unreliable smartphones (issue for another day I already complained about). First I asked her if she wants me to log extra hours today. No, she said, then I told her if I have to do even just one of those assignments, extra hours will be logged in. Then she called me, accusing me of bothering her for the last 10 minutes and demanding to know where I was. I was already waiting for the trucks at 16:35, when she called me, but trucks were not there.
She then sent and deleted several other, smaller assignments at a rapid pace. As soon as I was starting one she would delete them. This happened 3 or 4 times.
She settled for a small one and even with this one I logged in 10 extra minutes, leaving my workplace at 5:10 pm.
What I want to tell her:
Are you aware you give me contradictory orders? If my shift ends at 17:00 and I need 15 minutes to take the forklift to the garage, if you give me an order at 16:45 I’m obviously going to do extra hours. You have clearly stated you don’t want to pay me any extra hour, which is fine by me, but then why do you keep me sending orders at exactly that hour? If you don’t want to pay me any extra hours my last assignment has to be finished at 16:45. Otherwise I’m logging in extra hours.
I don’t see how this can end well, but something has to be done. It’s not the first time she’s reacted so emotionally and I’m tired.
Before I quit I’d like to try and see if a rational conversation with her is possible. Then at least I tried.
if you are really thinking about quitting, then you should be frank and professional and make sure as shit you are using email to create some evidence as the the conversation. You should try CC’ing her boss if you don’t mind making them potentially more angry. If you have HR you could CC them. As for your email, I would phrase it in a more innocent sounding way: Boss, I would really like some clarity on what you have been asking me to do. I understand what you told me a few days ago, that you do not want me to work any extra hours, and I am fine with that if that is what is being asked of me. However, when I am assigned a new job at 16:45, this becomes impossible to complete safely or legally, along with my other duties, before clocking out at 17:00. It takes at least 15 minutes to return the forklift and return to the clock. I would really like to respect what you are asking of me, but it seems like the two things you are asking are contradictory. Last evening, you sent several jobs to me and then canceled them, and you sounded upset with me over the phone. If you could provide me with some clarity on which ask to prioritize (clocking out at 5pm or finishing jobs I have been assigned at the end of my shift) I will be sure to do whichever is asked of me.
edit: forgot to add: the point is to create some level of evidence either for an unemployment claim or wrongful termination claim. If they are asking you to break labor laws in email its an open and shut case for your as long as you save the emails