I want to preface this with the information that I took a shower this morning. I put on deodorant. I did my due diligence this morning to look presentable. That makes what happened to me all the more anger-inducing.

I was approached by a Walmart middle manager (Note: I don't work for Walmart. I have my own boss.) who decided to dress me down in the middle of the sales floor for not meeting (Walmart?) standards (Again, don't work for Walmart.) denigrated my personal hygiene (Also, see the preface.), saying I smelled but not specifying anything beyond something smelling "sour." Then she threatened my job. She can't technically fire me, but she threatened to have me kicked out of the store and therefore make me unable to do my job.

I was shocked at her audacity (That was quite literally the first interaction I had with the woman!) and then incensed to the point I had to actually calm myself down, lest I say something... unhelpful to my cause. After I calmed down, I asked the people I interact with about any errant... aromas. Those that had notes (Several were confused and didn't know what I was on about.) mentioned feet.

This middle manager threatened my employment over sweaty feet, something that tends to happen when you're on your feet for six, seven, eight hours.

You better believe I told my boss about this. She seems to have my back on this one, saying that any issues of "talking to" caliber should be relayed to her, so they come down my chain of command. Makes sense, but I don't mind real time input from those I collaborate with either. What I do mind is being reminded about why I don't work for Wally World anymore via the "Karen" who became the manager she asked for!


Hopefully, tomorrow will be better.