Working for Seventh Heaven

Not one of my better work experiences, although I learned more about retail than I'd ever care to know.

What was Seventh Heaven?

Basically, Seventh Heaven was a retail store in Asheville, NC, specializing in metaphysical stuff. They had a lot of books, incense, candles, gift items, music, statuary, and jewelry (probably other stuff, too, but I can't quite think of it all right now.. it was a fairly large store).

If they had managed to expand, they could have been (at least in terms of floor space) the largest metaphysical book store in the United States.. or at least within the top ten.

Most folks would have probably described Seventh Heaven as a New Age book and gift store. They were really more interested in 'freedom of religion' than 'New Age,' but I suppose all things are a matter of interpretation. But you will no longer have the opportunity to find out; they went out of business, and the two owners (who were married to each other) got a divorce.

The Owners

Seventh Heaven was owned and operated by Bruce Cauble, and Janalyn Brock-Cauble. Janalyn handled the finances and some inventories, while Bruce handles other inventories. It was a partnership, each owned an equal part of the business.

Bruce seemed generally very stable, and customers did not generally seem to mind dealing with him. He seemed to make an effort, most of the time, to help customers out when they need assistance.

Janalyn, while having been effective in the office and handling the finances, came off as entirely too severe for customers to deal with. She was prone to less-than-rational approaches to money problems as they arise, and panicked somewhat easily.

Neither of them, though, seemed to understand how to manage employees.

My Position

I never really had a title (not that much of anybody did), and my responsibilities seemed somewhat nebulous. Generally, I handled all the computer work. It was a position that kind of evolved quickly, and at first I enjoyed the work. But, things went badly.

I programmed their database, recommended effective software, typed in a lot of their data, and figured out taxes and payments to employees (all of which were handled through the computer). Additionally, I had to work as a desk-clerk when we were short people (which was often, because we were understaffed), and I checked shipments as they came in (which could become quite hectic, especially around Christmas). I tracked special orders, and tried to call customers when their orders came in.

What was wrong here?

Basically, I was underpaid.

I started working at Seventh Heaven at an hourly rate of only $5.50 or so (I don't remember exactly what the starting sum was, but it wasn't much for what I did). We all understood that I was practically giving away my services, and they as much as said that they didn't expect that much from me.

Eventually, so we could all plan the money more easily, I was changed to a weekly salary of $225, for 35 hours of work. Within minutes, Janalyn changed her mind and said, "Make that 37 hours a week." I figured I'd probably regularly work over that time anyway, and didn't think much about it, except that Janalyn must have some guts to offhandedly raise my hours without raising my pay.

So, I still wasn't really earning a very good income, but things didn't really start to fall apart until Seventh Heaven started trying to expand into the space next door.

Because they were trying to keep their expenses down (especially since they couldn't really afford much) Bruce had to do much of the expansion work on his own. This left me to pick up the extra work.. something I couldn't entirely do, since I didn't have the authority to make purchases (I could set them up, but I couldn't actually do them). Further, my hours kept creeping up.

They tried to get me to work an extra hour a day (I generally worked weekdays) by having me come in an hour early. I decided, to offset this, I would start leaving at an appropriate time for the number of hours I was supposed to be working.. I had been staying after work to help out with various other chores, since I figured the night was pretty well shot anyway (the store closes at 8pm). Leaving at 7pm didn't seem unreasonable to me.

However, Bruce got really angry with me, insulting me unnecessarily, and basically being a jerk towards me. He only apologized after I broached the topic with him weeks later, after I started to show I was getting increasingly angry with them (during my bout with pneumonia).

After this incident, I started paying attention to my hours. I stopped working after hours, and started keeping note of my breaks. I ensured that I worked hard for them (as much as I could), but I didn't let hours slip away anymore.

As the expansion started setting in, taxes also started setting in. Apparently, they didn't understand how employee taxes worked or something, and Janalyn became surprised at how much she owed. After this, she became much more demanding, nit-picky, and generally a pain to deal with. Bruce didn't get any better.. he seemed to also become more demanding.

I tried pointing out to them that I was still working for far less money than I should be working, but it didn't seem to make much of an impression.

Eventually, our regular store clerk managed to give me pneumonia. I continued to work in the store, because it had been made clear to me that they "couldn't afford for me to be sick." They wanted me to get it taken care of, but I couldn't get to the VA hospital because of the time I spent trying to rest up so I could work. I continued to get worse, until Bruce finally gave me time off to handle it (only after it became clear that if he didn't, he would catch it).

While I had pneumonia, I was also trying to move. They wouldn't let me have any time off to move into my new place (something I was forced into doing.. nothing of my choice), although they were willing to lend me their truck for one hour on a Sunday. I told them I really needed time to pack, not physically move stuff, but it fell on deaf ears.

Through all of this, Bruce started complaining of my performance. He told me, fairly regularly, that I was slipping up, and that I was doing a lousy job. The last time he said this, I tried to lighten the mood by saying that I could barely keep myself together, let alone the office.

"Keep your personal problems at home, not at work," was his response.

So I thought about it. All my personal problems were tied into the fact that I didn't have enough time for myself to do anything. These jerks weren't paying me anywhere near what I was worth. And I couldn't even afford to get myself out of my debts, no matter how hard I worked. They didn't respect me, they weren't paying me well, and I was doing at least five forms of very skilled labour for them for about minimum wage. So I decided to change all this.

How I Lost My Job

I had planned to tell Janalyn that I would no longer be working for Seventh Heaven after two weeks unless either I earn twice what I was then making, work half the hours I was currently working (for the same pay), or some other like arrangement be set up. I figured it was fair, and I was going to explain my reasoning to her in as logical and rational a way as I could. I was angry, but I was calm.

So I came into work...

"Hi Bruce. Where's Janalyn?"

"She's not in right now. She'll be in later."

No problem, I thought, I'd just get my stuff together to start working, like I always did.

"What do you want to talk to her about?"

"I'd rather just talk with her."

"No, really, you can talk with me."

"I'd really rather talk with her."

"Look, Trey, I'm part owner of this store. I think you can talk with me about whatever you want to talk with her about."

"Well, fine, you can be there while I'm talking with Janalyn."

Basically, he insisted that I talk with him. I basically didn't want to. I was tired of being pushed around by these people, and decided I was taking a stand. But, since I could tell he wasn't going to let up, I decided I couldn't continue to work that day until after I had talked with Janalyn.. since he was just going to make the experience totally miserable for me. So...

"I tell you what.. I'll come back to work after I've talked with Janalyn."

At this point, Bruce told me he expected me to be working, that they needed me to be in, and insisted I start on time.

"Well.. fire me."

"Well, alright.. you're fired. Look, I think... [who cares..]"

By this time we were both outside. I had taken three more steps before I realized what had happened. I was the only one who understood how to work the database. I was the only one who really understood how to network the computers (we were going to start scanning barcodes, which would speed up the entire purchasing process). I knew how to do things they needed, had been working faithfully for them for nine months without much of a raise, had been cordial, and submitted to all their crap, but he was firing me.

I turned around, entered the store, and started gathering my things. He asked me stupid questions, to which I raised my voice to answer him, making something of a scene in the store. There weren't many customers, but any that might have been there must have been impressed. I pointed out that I was working for nearly minimum wage, doing five forms of skilled labour, yet he didn't seem to understand what was going on. I wished him success with his business, but without me.

Two days later, I returned for the rest of my things and my paychecks (Seventh Heaven delays payment two weeks). He gave me most of the rest of my things (barring two disks of mine) and told me that I could expect my paychecks after I teach them how to use the database program I had set up.

Bruce also told me there were no witnesses to my being fired, and that he didn't have the authority to fire me, that my failure to show up for work showed that I had quit. He gave me a lot of crap.

I had to tell him about five times to get my things, because he wanted to rant and rave with me. I told him I didn't see any profit in it, but if he wanted to waste my time I would be happy to charge him for it. He found this highly offensive, but I honestly didn't care. When he tried to extort my services from me for my paychecks, I told him I'd see him in court.

"We have two computers here that are worthless to us right now."

Well, he should have thought about that before he fired me.

The next week, I called Janalyn and talked with her. She tried to manipulate me into working at the same screwed up salary again. I told her that I didn't think so. She accused me of blackmail (extortion was her intended word), to which I pointed out that I couldn't possibly be blackmailing her, because I had no intentions of working at Seventh Heaven ever again. I hung up on her, since there was no point in talking with her anymore (the conversation was starting to go around in circles, and I was too angry to deal with it).

In that conversation, she pointed out that she had "invested $10,000 in me". I told her that I lost $15,000 working there, basically the additional amount of income I could have made elsewhere doing the same thing for the proper amount of money, to which she said, "Well, that's your problem."

Well, right back at ya...

I did get paid for my work, although they took about $20 out of my last paycheck for damaging a statue (an accident.. I was trying to lay wire, and the statue fell, breaking). Technically, it's illegal for them to withhold money from my paycheck without my permission, but I figured it didn't really matter.. I didn't want to have anything more to do with these cretins.

However, my paychecks were late in coming (at least one of them was). Again, technically, I could charge them with labor violations for failing to pay me the one paycheck on time (if I quit), or both paychecks on time (since I was fired, they were due two days after being fired). And, again, I'm through with them, so I don't care.

And so...

When I had returned to get my paychecks, Bruce tried to get me to sign a document that stated:

• That I had stormed into work on 4 Jun 96
• That I had demanded to speak to Janalyn
• That I refused to talk with Bruce about the problem
• That I had said "So, fire me" and failed to show up for work
• That the document I was to sign did not indicate agreement with the text

I quickly scanned the document to see if Bruce had admitted to saying "Well, okay, you're fired," but it wasn't there. I told him I couldn't sign it since it was inaccurate. He gave me a copy, which I have somewhere.

Some notes:

• I never stormed into work. I was actually quite calm, if angry.
• The document has misspellings, and called me "Trey Van Riper III," which indicates either he's a dolt, or doesn't mind writing documents that look stupid (Trey Van Riper, or Joseph E. Van Riper III, but Trey Van Riper III?).
• I was fired on 5 Jun 96. I remember, because my grandfather died on 4 Jun 96, and my mother's birthday is on the 5th.
• I didn't exactly refuse to talk with Bruce.. I invited him to sit in with me and Janalyn while we talked about it.
• I actually said "Well, fire me," and he did. My statement was intended to show that he wasn't in a position to mess with me.
• The issue of being fired versus quitting is a relatively moot one, since I haven't been working long enough to garner unemployment. Therefore, legally, there's little difference one way or the other. If he wants to believe his little fairy tale, that's his business. Just don't even think about taking me to court.

Lessons Learned

1. Never work for much less than the job's market-value, regardless of how you feel for the employers.
• They won't respect you.
• They won't give you a raise.
• They will try to demand more from you than you can give.
• Your self esteem will be decimated.
2. Never allow an employer to abuse you in any way during your employment.
• They'll assume they can get away with it.
• It'll reduce your performance, which will make you look bad.
• Your self esteem will be destroyed.
3. Keep documents on everything (I knew this from the military).
• If you ever have to go to court, you look like you're together.
• It keeps everything clear and understandable.
• You can act more easily from a position of logic rather than anger.
• It forces your employers to think before they act, often resulting in better treatment.
4. Insist on a written list of duties and responsibilities.
• Everyone knows what you're supposed to do.
• Nobody can say "Well, we meant for this to be part of your duties, too."
• You can renegotiate your paycheck anytime there's a change of duties.
• You won't take on extra work unnecessarily, or if you do, you can stop at any time you like.
5. Work hard, but work smart; do not give anything away.
• Giving work away results in being abused by managers.. they start to demand it from you (part of human psychology).
• You'll never be appreciated for it.
• You'll find yourself working harder without anything to show for it.
• Your self esteem will start to decay.

If you've noticed an emphasis on self esteem, it's because my self esteem had been terribly battered through all of this. You have no idea how important it is to have good self esteem. It's really the key to success, whatever kind of success you desire (monetary, spiritual, emotional, whatever). I felt like I was being driven into the ground, and that I somehow deserved it.

I think I was lucky, and pulled out of this because of my grandfather's death. I knew he was dying, but couldn't figure out how to visit him. I had wanted to visit my family for a long time, but wasn't able to, because I couldn't repair my car (neither time nor money), and I couldn't drive to visit. Not only that, but I didn't have time.. it was all taken up with my duties at Seventh Heaven, as well as my singing duties on Sundays. My grandfather's death shook me out of my depressed stupor and forced me to make some changes.

Addendum...

Years have passed since all this took place. You might be interested in knowing what happened since then.

I eventually moved to Charlotte, working as a computer consultant. In time, I was approached by a recruitor for Seagate Software who found my resume online. The recruiter seemed to feel I'd fit in nicely. One thing led to another, and the Takoma Park office decided they wanted to hire me.

They wanted a five year job history, and they wanted it to be thorough. This, unfortunately, meant divulging that I worked for Seventh Heaven. So, I gave them whatever information I could about working for Seventh Heaven.

When Seagate Software went to verify the information, the good folks at Seventh Heaven volunteered a lot of misinformation, not only about my duties with them, but also as to my performance of them. Seagate Software was shocked, but after I explained that we parted under unfavorable circumstances, and that this was a small retail store, they didn't seem too concerned. I was hired anyway, and even after this past merger with VERITAS they seem pleased with me.

Meanwhile, sometime within the past year (as of mid-1999), Janalyn and Brunce divorced. Seventh Heaven crumbled, and exists no more.

The best revenge, folks, is simply to live well.