Job Propects Not So Good

Yeah, so, I don't think I'm gonna be taking the new job...

The owner is a rude, nasty man.

He said something in a really nasty way to the former Bookkeeper, who was training me today. I was a little worried at that point.

As soon as he left the office, she was telling me what a horrible man he was. Now, this gal is from another country (had a little trouble with English) and has worked there for a year. I could tell right off there was some communication problems between them. And as she was showing me how to do stuff I saw she was making some errors. I thought maybe he was just a hot head towards her due to the communication issues between them and the fact that she made some mistakes. But in the back of my mind I was thinking about the Import/Export Manager, who quit on Friday after being there only a month. And the sales person they hired earlier in the week who worked 2 days and then quit. Was there a reason for the lack of employee retention?

Former bookkeep went on to show me more stuff and again, when the owner left for a bit, mentioned how rude and horrible he was and how there was a lot of employee turn over because of his behavior. Luckily, we did the payroll (giving me access to employees last names - the importance of this comes in later), where again she didn't seem to understand what the owner had asked of her. He clearly stated he wanted to review the payroll before she sent it. She went ahead and sent it without him reviewing it. He got a little angry, but was pretty calm about it. Then she blew - she screamed at him that he was a horrible man and she had never met anyone like him in her entire life. She said he didn't listen and was rude and he was the reason people didn't stay there. She was clearly shaken - I was shaken by the outburst. He calmly told her to gather her belongings and leave. She was done there. He would mail her her last paycheck.

At this point I started gathering my belongings. She got her stuff together and we were both going to leave and he asked me to wait. He proceeded to say he was sorry that I had to witness what had just happened and he understood it must be upsetting for me. He also went on to list the issues he had had with her and such, yadda, yadda, yadda. I explained that I worked in a hostile work environment before and I wouldn't be able to tolerate one again. He made it out as though it wasn't the norm there. He also said he understood that I might want to re-think my working there. He left it as: if I show up for my training Tuesday afternoon I'd take the job, but if not then I was bowing out.

I left frazzled and unsure abut what to do. Was it just her and him or was it all him?

Since I now knew the last name of the guy (Import/Export Manager) who's last day was yesterday, I looked him up in the white pages the moment I got home. Called him and we talked for about 40 minutes - he pretty much told me the owner was a nasty mean guy. He could be nice on a personal level, but was just awful to work for. He told me a lot of bad stuff. The name calling and how irritable he was. How he'd tell employees to do stuff, how they'd say "I'm not sure what you want", then he'd yell at them to figure it out. And when employees would do it, he'd yell at them for not doing it properly (his way).

He also said he regretted working for the owner and would not ever work for him again. He said how it seemed like a great place (which, yeah, it seems like on the outside) but once you're in there it was just a miserable work environment. He said, "If you're used to working in a place where your supervisor gives you some guidance, you probably won't stay through July."

I can't take a job like that.
Ugh.
I'm so bummed. I was so looking forward to being back in Portsmouth, to making decent money again.
Now what do I do for work? Ugh.

Fortune: Many receive advice, only the wise profits from it.