At my other job, the one that pays the bills more regularly than my author/publicist gig, I experienced a pretty significant disappointment. Let me explain.
The company, which is a major local retailer, has an expressed policy of supporting "Green" initiatives. They have ongoing recycling programs, for example, and at least give lip service to promoting things that are environmentally friendly, like reusable shopping bags and such. Also they have an ever expanding line of healthy food that is produced in an eco-friendly way. This is one of the things I like about working for the company.
As many of you know, I don't own an automobile. I ride my bike or walk everywhere I go, unless it is extremely far away. I ride 4.5 miles each way on my work commute. I have done this with present employer for over three years. And the company had accommodated me.
Yesterday, after coming to work only to clean stuff for 4 hours - something I'm periodically scheduled to do, my supervisor told me I could no longer park my $500 bike inside the break room (though that has been fine for two years). It's because a lot of other people (5) have decided to start riding bikes to work for health and/or economic reasons. You'd sort of think that was a good thing, right? The reason we park them inside is that, in the past and most recently a month and a half ago, bikes have been stolen from the inadequately secure rack outside. It is not anchored to anything, as is the case with most of the company's locations. Also there is no security camera watching that rack. So, parking a bike there is totally at the rider's risk.
A couple of years ago, I used to park my bike in that rack. It was an old $40 piece of crap but it served my purposes until I could save up for a better ride. I used that bike for over a year before buying my current bike. Someone attempted to steal my piece of crap bike. And that was when the General Manager told me I could park my bike inside the break room.
Now there is a new store manager and a new assistant store manager and all that has changed. Despite it being National Bike To Work Day, I'm no longer welcome to park my bike in a secure area if I actually ride it to work. When told the new policy, I requested a transfer to a store, one that is actually considerably closer to where I live, that has a adequately secure bike rack. But, yeah, I'm not happy with the situation. It feels an awful lot like I've been kicked in the - well, somewhere I don't like being kicked.
Despite being the #1 cashier at getting donations to their charitable causes, being an accurate and well liked cashier by both employees and customers alike, and the go-to cashier they routinely call in to cover the absences of others, I'm expected to just take it all in stride. Smile and park my bike outside where it is at significant risk of being stolen.
You know, a year ago, they scheduled me for a six month period to work an early shift during the week to clean floors while they were doing a store remodel. They did this with my begrudging permission because they couldn't get anyone else who was properly trained to use the machine to volunteer. I agreed to do it even though that shift start time fell well outside of my stated availability. And it meant that I had to wake up a lot earlier than usual in order to perform my other daily tasks for my publicist gig. They couldn't care less about my other job responsibilities. That much has been proven to me time and again.
Anyway, after my brief discussion with my supervisor, I was so pissed off that, instead of waiting out the pouring rain like any sane person might do, I pedaled home and got soaked. Maybe I was hoping it would cool me off. It didn't work out that way,