Backbone Reinstated, the end of an era.

An email to my employer, who just yesterday stripped me of all my shifts at the cafe (via email), and asked me to stay on an "on-call basis", oh, and he owes me 3 months worth of pay from the summer :

I'm sorry, I can't accept this any longer.

No, I cannot be "on call". This is my main source of income. I won't be taken advantage of.

I worked as much as I did over the summer so that I could have some savings for the school year. Now my savings are depleted, and my credit is becoming a problem. After all this time, you're asking me to give up my shifts to people you had ME train, only to fill in when Tom has band practice?

I have to say that being a part of the Vox Pop "team" has been nothing but a huge disappointment. I came to this place interested in your political involvement, and a generally altruistic cause. I find your business practices extremely hypocritical. The "Books, Coffee, DEMOCRACY" slogan makes me cringe every time I walk into that storefront.

You've stayed out of legal trouble thusfar because you've gained the loyalty of people like Anthony and me, only to show us complete disrespect in return. We haven't had a staff meeting in months, you are secretive, you make promises about backpay that are never fulfilled. I understand that you are running a business in an awful recession, that you're trying to create an enterprise. But the truth is, you've been a terrible boss, and have turned out to be just another cutthroat businessman.

I don't want to hire a lawyer. If my parents knew anything about this situation (and I've kept them in the dark for this very reason), you would have a lawsuit on your hands tomorrow. Maybe even later this afternoon. They've been picking up your slack, and it isn't fair.

I appreciate that you've organized my paychecks. I am grateful to Anthony for putting payroll through every week over the summer. I would have quit this job solely based on the fact that you fired him after all the work he's put in, and all the sacrifices he's had to make because of your own shortcomings. There are just so many things wrong with that.

I understand that Anthony is on some kind of payment plan in order to catch up on his compensation. Please give me Janine's contact information, I'd like to get in touch with her about that.

I have a credit card payment due on January 16th. I hope you can help me out in some way before then. I think it's the very least you can do. I only ever received one of the checks I was owed, and I've refrained from asking since October.

I hereby submit my resignation from Vox Pop.

Good luck to you.