Unfortunately, at the beginning of this year lot of old staff was laid off including our manager. Then the bowels of hell itself opened and vomited forth his replacement. This new manager is the worst manager I have worked for in my entire life and I've had some pretty bad ones before. What makes her so terrible is that she is utterly without empathy or genuine appreciation for her employees:

GASLIGHTING (Just a few examples):

Questioned the religion of a Catholic priest who is one of my most loyal customers. Contradicted me and said that he was probably a Methodist minister. She doesn't even KNOW him!

Questioned the fact that it was a cat rescuer who first told me about our company 8 years ago. Said 'NO' TWICE while I was in the middle of telling her what had happened.

Claimed that I should not worry about competitors because she NEVER sees ANY reps in the stores...minutes before one of their reps walked in FRONT of her.

THE REST...

Brushed aside ALL of my concerns about competitors, pet store employee bias etc. stating that it's the corporate people's job to take care of everything. That's a great attitude to have! Isn't she a type of FIELD manager? If so, she could be deliberately side-stepping one of her responsibilities.

ALWAYS repeating the Five Corporate Principles like a bloody mantra without thinking about how they apply to EVERYONE. For example, acting like she doesn't know that her good standing with the company ultimately depends on the numbers the field reps generate. This also includes perks like her recent 'ambassadorial' business trip to the UK. Despite her subpar interpersonal skills they couldn't find anyone better suited for that? That alone would make any employee wonder what's really going on in corporate.

I'm a part-time employee who is passionate about sales despite having no benefits to speak of. Why then has Meridith found it necessary to ask me if I think I am a good return on Mars' investment?
You shouldn't refer to your employees using those terms, it is callous and degrading in the extreme.

Sent an email with exceptional conversion/sales numbers asking us if we can 'top' that.

She contradicted herself and then got upset when I pointed it out.

The only other time I've seen a similar degree of flattened affectivity is in some mental patients. I've also worked in the healthcare field, this includes hospitals, clinics and locked facilities so I am speaking from professional experience.

One time she called a store to check in on me. They paged me and I IMMEDIATELY wrapped up what I was doing to go answer the phone only to have her hang up on me. Later she said I should have called her back.

Claimed that she never received some paperwork I sent out when my father personally took it along with his business mail to the post office. Went as far as to grill me about the date it was mailed. Since then I've had to get proof of mailing to furnish evidence. I am not being reimbursed for that now am I?

When I told her to ask pet store employees, management etc. if she had ANY doubts about my behavior, performance, attendance etc. she told me she that was not going to 'waste her time' doing that.

Claiming that she was going to give me the benefit of the doubt while making it clear she was not.

No email reminder for scheduling when everything was still up in the air. Then she wrote me up for turning my schedule in a day or two late.

Asked me in an irritated tone why I had written my concerns etc. in the comment box of said disciplinary action form. Why is that a problem?

Told me she would send me a replacement trifold, never did. I asked her why and she asked me why I hadn't picked one up at the first meeting! Started mailing me trifolds only after that promotion ended.


Made me go back and forth only to tell me we weren't having a meeting after all. Asked for restaurant suggestions etc. then decided to settle for a brief teleconference instead.

Purposely excluded me from the second face-to-face meeting when I could not attend our local one. I had to invite MYSELF to the very last meeting being held close by and she was visibly upset about that.
I found that strange because we were transitioning into our new job description so it was rather important that I attend. I had gotten tired of her not responding to my emails about that...

When she first took over old managers position I briefed her on the area via phone and email only to have her humiliate me in front of my peers by claiming that she didn't know who I was. Towards the END of the meeting she claimed to suddenly remember but did not apologize. The icing on the cake was when she refered to me as 'kiddo'. Other people warned me that was a sure sign that she had no respect for me whatsoever.

Ignoring the fact I made a conversion while she was there, gave me NO feedback. In fact she didn't seem to care AT ALL. She busied herself looking at a SD bag instead!

Told me to ask her questions, which I did then failed to answer them properly. Asked about Waltham for example, "I am putting the folders together for the meeting." was the response I got. Are we coming up with new product. "Yes." was the full extent of her answer. After I told her I had no other questions, then she claimed I was wasting her time and proceeded to rake me over the coals for an error I had made. DESPITE the fact that it really was the FIRST time I had delayed in putting up my display because I was talking to the customers. There was nothing else TO discuss!

Claimed I was not talking to customers because she was in the parking lot for 30 (her magic number) minutes and she only saw a few people. I assured her I HAD been speaking to customers the whole time and to ask management if she didn't believe me. She refused to do so.

Let's backtrack shall we? She comes into the store and says rather tersely that she only has a FEW minutes to spend with me because she is in a hurry. What's the whole point of a work-with then if she previously claimed she LIKED to do it! Why is she not IN the store with me for a longer period of time? Is counting people in the parking lot her priority? I think the retailer keeps track of the number of customers that walk into their store.

Mentioned my old manager AGAIN. Boasted about how she had 'raised the bar' as if to pat herself on the back. Maybe that's how she pacifies her conscience after tearing down employees she doesn't like?

Then she tried to sugar-coat everything by claiming that she "Worries about me." Really? Because it seems to me like everything in that schizoid mind of hers revolves around one person only: HERSELF.