I just started work at a new company (retail).
I haven't had my first day in my department yet, just two full shifts of onboarding, and I'm already feeling a significant amount of dread. I thought it was the environment itself (the lighting and store size are very different from my last job), or having to learn new systems and rules, but I finally pieced it together.
I gathered during the interview process that they have fairly bad turnover, and I think I'm already realizing why. First off is that I was hired as part-time, told them the max hours I could work was 25 hours per week, but have already been given 34 hours on my first week - which makes me fall just below their threshold to get benefits.
But the other thing is that the manager doing the onboarding for me and the other new hires was explaining time off, PTO, and call-out procedures. And while she was explaining it, she went on a mini rant about how their procedures should be stricter, and then went on to say: "We're all cogs that keep this machine running. If one cog is gone, we have to try to find another cog to put there."
The 'cog in the machine' is *never* a positive metaphor. She essentially told us, after going on about "how much the company loves their employees", that we're not even human.
I know that's all we are. But being directly told that by a manger, on my first day at the company, feels like a huge red flag.
I already dread going in for my first day in my actual department. I already know I'm going to hate it.