I have been working for my family hotel business for over 10 years and a few months ago decided that I needed to leave the company for personal reasons.
I continued to work there whilst I searched for jobs and I decided I would quite like to work in a school office. I started applying for them but every job wanted experience in a software program called SIMS which I had no experience in.
As my husband works in schools (he’s a mobile technician) that are about an hours drive from us I asked his school if they would be willing to accept me as a volunteer to which they said they would.
The school had also had a full time job available in the office but at the time I wasn’t ready to leave the hotel and couldn’t commit to full time so I didn’t apply for the role and it was given to another person.
During this time I also had an interview with another company (not a school) and was told they would work out the role and pay and come back to me. This company is walking distance from my house.
So I stared my voluntary work 2 days a week car sharing with my husband to get to the school (we only have the one car.) I really enjoyed it and decided that I would be happy working in a school office environment.
I was called by the second company and asked if I would go in for a second interview which I agreed to.
The full timer started and worked one day before they decided to quit. This put a lot of strain on the school office and I got a call from the office manager asking if I would accept the job. It was explained to me that I would be paid for the two days I was already working and if I could work any further days in the meantime that would help them out a lot. I said I would like to work for them but I would have to think about the additional days as it would mean having to buy a car (my husband was only able to drop me off there the 2 days I was already working) and I would have to see whether buying and funding a car would work for me.
I then had my second interview with the other company. They offered me the job and offered me more money due to the offer from the school. They also agreed to me working 3 days initially whilst the new year and then I would be expected to go full time. I asked the company for a week to decide and they agreed.
I called the headteacher of the school to discuss the school office job further after my offer and see if there would be any negotiation with pay as funding a car was quite expensive for the salary they were offering and she explained to me that there wouldn’t be as the role would only be temporary until they could advertise the job. This shocked me quite a bit as it was not fully explained in the first conversation with the office manager. She said she would understand if I accepted the other job but their offer to pay for the days I was already working and any additional days I could work would still stand. She explained that the earliest they would be able to hire would be January.
I had a long think about what to do because buying a car and travelling to the school for less money would be a massive difference in salary to the second company which I wouldn’t have to buy a car for and is offering a higher salary.
During my think the office manager also told me that I would be paid for the days I’d already worked as well. I wasn’t expecting this but it helped me to make a decision.
After mulling it over I decided the best thing would be to work 2 days at the school (I would still have to buy a car as the days would change) and work 3 days at the second company. I could do this until January and then decide what the best decision would be.
I called the headteacher of the school and told her I could do two days but I also was honest and told her that I would work 3 days at the other company. She said that would be fine. It was also made clear to me in this call that I wouldn’t be paid for what I had previously worked. She said that they might not be able to pay me for the following week but they would for the week after. I said that would be fine.
I called the second company and accepted their offer of 3 days. I then bought a car last weekend so that I could travel to the school.
I start the second company next week but I worked at the school my two days this week (not sure if it would be paid or not until next week.)
On my first day this week at the school a colleague told me she had heard that I wouldn’t be getting paid. I emailed the headteacher and asked her if I would get a formal letter confirming my role and pay. She responded saying I would have to apply for the internal job advert.
I emailed again asking if I would be paid as agreed and she again responded that I would have to apply for the internal advert which should be in the staff room on Monday.
I am really upset by this as I’ve now bought a car to be able to travel to the school and they know this. They seem to have had a meeting with the finance manager and decided that I will not be paid now. I really don’t know what to do. I’m at the school tomorrow so I could ask for a meeting with the finance manager but I’m afraid I’ll just get really upset because I feel like such a fool and they’ve broken their word and left me with a car I’ve had to pay a lot of money for. It might not seem like a big thing to them but it is to me as I’m the one left out of pocket.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the long post.