by El Zorro Viejo (aka; Jim)

I haven't been writing much about work recently. That was a conscious decision to try to avoid the mundane. I can't avoid the topic any more, though, because it has become the central Black Hole in my existence. About six months ago, sometime around the end of August or the beginning of September, I accepted a change in my duties from that of Lead Bookseller to that of Acting Head Cashier. I gave up my section (Computers, Business, Travel/Regional and a couple other smaller categories) and devoted myself to making our cash line a more professional organization. In other words, I took one for the team. This was a sacrifice. However, I made the best of it and used my access to the numbers to gain a little more fundamental understanding of this business. In other words, it was not a total waste of my time.

So, while I was up there doing head cashier things and being the Lead of the Books in Audio Department, the two newest leads our management team hired (both young kids in their early 20s) were given plum assignments and a lot of personal attention from the management. So, now comes the end of January, and we are told that the Store Manager and his personal Assistant Store Manager (the one who came with the Manager in the management shakeup last summer) would be moving on to another store. One of the first things they do is pull one of their Leads along with them with the offer/promise of a Departmental Manager's job in the immediate future. *Blink* Then one of our Departmental Managers finally gets his long sought after promotion to Assistant Store Manager and that leaves a management opening in our store. To make it short and sweet, the other new hire gets that job. There were at least two of us who had 1) seniority, 2)Management experience, 3) Bookselling knowledge and 4) equal drive and innate ability who were passed over. So, while the Store Manager says all the right things, his behavior and record seems to show a clear pattern of Age Discrimination. The question I'm wrestling with is whether to pursue such a suit.

I have to go back to work now...dinner break is over. More to come on this...

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. ©El Zorro Viejo 2002-2005