Work stuff, how to deal with this?

[avaanti]

Hello, I have been working in a store as a back office admin for almost 4 years now.

I have a few coworkers, but I want to talk about a particular coworker that worked closely with me.

She work as a frontliner (cashier), she’s older than me, worked here longer than me.

I never have anything against her, I do have complaints about how she would treat me sometimes, but I never really told anybody about it. I don’t want to cause anything.

So, I am very private about my pay, especially to coworkers. As far as I’m aware, I’m only getting my base pay. No other benefits.

While the rest of the store staff, receive base pay, then allowances on top of it. I do not know the exact numbers, and I never want to know because it’s not my business.

Recently, somehow, one of my coworker found out about my salary. She has been bringing it up at any chances she get. To customers, and to my face, both. It’s embarassing, I feel ashamed. It feels as if I’m not doing enough work to deserve it.

She complained that she’s being paid less than the new kid (me), while she’s doing all the heavy work, and all I do is sit in front of my laptop, typing away and handling papers.

While she deals with customers, do restocking, etc.

I would like to say, that I would be more than glad to help her whenever she asked for my help. Even if it is outside of my jobdesk.

I do data entry for purchases and sales, delivery checking, stock taking, petty cash, and accounting. So, yeah, I cannot be far from my laptop, like at all.

But her words made it seem like all I do is spending hours sitting around and getting paid at the end of the month for doing nothing.

It….. hurts? Kind of. On top of it, my boss have also been belittling my work and making me feel the same way. Like I haven’t been doing much to deserve my salary. I would like to do more, but what more can I do? I can’t take over her job, or his job just to make up to them. Every single one of us are given our own jobdesk. So, I stick to it.

How should I deal with this? Should I speak to my supervisor? Or should I leave them be? Am I really not doing enough? It’s really uncomfortable, and I feel….. a certain way by their remarks and comments. But there’s really nothing I could do.

If it were up to me, I would give them the salary they deserve which is more than me. But I’m not really in control about that.

[char]

Hi avaanti. Happy to see you back here, but I'm so sorry to learn that you've been having a rough time at your workplace. It's completely understandable that your coworker is making you uncomfortable by sharing information about your pay to others without your consent, especially considering she's older than you and has been in the company longer than you. The fact that your boss has also been belittling you and your work doesn't help; it doesn't sound like this is a healthy workplace environment to begin with.

Unfortunately, this topic is beyond our scope as a sexuality education platform. But we do have articles that can help you learn about workplace abuse and taking steps to stand up for yourself:
- Sexual Harassment in Your Workplace: What to Know, and What You Can Do (this one focuses on sexual harassment, but it covers the basics of workplace abuse)
- Be Your Own Superhero: Learning How and When to Stand Up for Ourselves (on creating and maintaining boundaries)

If it's needed, I can also email you some local resources on identifying and reporting workplace abuse, including mental health counseling with therapists that are capable of helping you address these. Would that be helpful?