A boss of mine (I was the chef of a catering company in San Francisco),
during a performance review said, "you are not doing anything wrong per se,
there is just this 'intangible vibe' that I can't really describe that is
keeping me from feeling like you deserve a raise."
I later left that job when, as an hourly employee, I was working 12-16 hour
days EVERY DAY with no days off. This includes Saturday and Sunday.
(Sometimes they would "forget" to pay me overtime and then make me wait
until my next paycheck to get it.) After a stretch of 17 of these
incredibly long days in a row, I had a day scheduled off. On the evening of
the 17th day, my boss told me that she wanted me to work the next day. "I
need you to be here," she said. I tried to reason with her, explaining how
long it had been since I had had a day off and how long my days had been.
She insisted. I quit on the spot. I later found out that they replaced me
with 3 people.
Maybe that "intangible vibe" was fatigue!
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