I used to work as the sole graphic designer and shift support for an overpriced crystal shop. The owner wad heavily spiritual and made giant business decisions on whatever the universe was telling her, along with whatever psychedelic drug she decided to take that morning. In my town, jobs are few and far between, I had wanted to quit for a while, but I just couldn't because of the economy.
My former boss had moved her shop to a larger location, and she started implementing rules that made the business seem more professional. She said she didn't want me to hang out in her office with her anymore because if a customer sees, they'll start "judging." Nothing was particularly wrong with that, so I said I would only show up when she requested since I cover for her and don't need to be on sight for graphic design work.
A couple of weeks go by, and I reach out via text. Asking if she needs anything or any design work and I get no response. I figured she'd reach out when she needed me and left it at that. In the meantime, I took up babysitting to cover everything until I heard back from the boss. About a month went by, and I decided to show up at the store and see what's going on. I walk in to see my boss, and she looked pissed to see me.
She grabbed my arm and pulled me into the office, and started going off on how unprofessional I was for abandoning her. She demanded to know where I was and why I hadn't reached out. I calmly pulled up my phone and showed her the texts. That seemed to really set her off for some reason, and she started getting louder. She told me I should've tried harder to contact her, that she has ADHD and that the store needs to be my top priority. My boss then followed it up with, "I need you to be 100% committed to the shop, and if not, then I can just find some other girl to doodle for me!" That really pissed me off, so cue malicious compliance. I told her I didn't think this job was really working out and I wouldn't be returning.
My former boss didn't seem to care in the moment, but here we are three months later. She apparently had a hard time finding a graphic designer who was as affordable as I was. The stress of not having someone to edit the website in addition to designing labels for candles for an affordable price was too much, and she sold her business to a mutual friend of ours. This mutual friend reached out to me recently and asked if I would take my old position under her leadership, and I immediately accepted it. Now we've rebranded the business, changed everything I previously designed, and now I can charge double for my work since passing a few online classes. Haven't heard too much from my former boss other than she works as a bartender now and hates all the noise there.
