Cult like town protecting their favorite employees

So for months on end i'm in the office in a grocery store with this guy thats super touchy on women and bullies me. My experience just starting out was him walking up to me saying "wanna fight?!" and just staring at me. He thinks its a joke i guess. I just kept sayin eheh.. no. He did this repeatedly. One day i was tense from being around him. He turns around in his chair says "ahh. We friends?" I'm like "uhh yeah." He stands up and is walking toward me to the exit and says "good then i don't have to kick your ass." That day i just couldn't contain myself so i got up went to his department and pushed him into the wall. And he's like woah woah buddy what's wrong. I was like you said you're gonna kick my ass. And he's like I was just joking im sorry. And i'm like "i'm not cool with that." And i raised my arm like i was gonna swing but decided not to. I walked out. He approached me again later saying he was sorry and that he doesn't have a filter sometimes with his jokes.
He calls this girl Leanna his girlfriend at work. Keep in mind he's been married to someone else for 8 years. One time i was waiting for their conversation to end so i could tell her something work related. They're both talking and stand up exiting the room but they see that im looking over. They're standing side by side close like a couple. He says "is there something you wanna say to us?" It wasn't really his business i wanted to talk to Leanna alone but i just went ahead and explained it.
Him and Leanna would be in the office touching each other laughing and making tons of noise. It was hard to focus on my work. Leanna would increase my stress by involving me saying to me "ohh Devin make him stop! haha." I felt like i was third wheel on a date or something. Then she was see the guy messing with me and she was tease "don't mess with him one of these times he's gonna beat you up." And these comments kept increasing just raising my stress. She paints this dynamic like hes the big bad man who gets the girl and that im expected to stand up to him or something.
I tell my manager about all the inappropriate sexual talk in the office and the touching and possibility of infedelity. Leanna was married to someone else too. Her husband was overseas in the marines. Seemed convenient for her so she can play around while he's away. My manager just said "they just don't know how to talk decent. I'm sorry you have to go through that." Find out his resolution was to tell them that a customer passed by the office and we almost got HR called on us because the customer overheard the language they were using. So the manager flat out lied to try to control them.
None of the behaviors they showed ever stopped. It increased. We have a work app called Crew. In the app the guy posted that he needs someone to drive a case of meat from another store if anyone can. Leanna says she can. And hes like pshh your tiny car cant fit 10 cases of meat. And shes like the seats go ALL the way down ;);) Days later a manager saw this and removed the post from the app. As things progressed my manager's solution was to crack down on Leanna. Pinning it on her and nitpicking every action she did at work eligible for write up. She ended up moving to North Carolina where her husband would be stationed for the marines.
So my problems are over right? No. A new girl starts named Dawn. In the beginning she acts like she sympathizes for me saying she has always lived in this town and even worked for the same building years ago. She said the guy has always been like that and we probably won't ever be fired. She says i'm sorry you had to go through that it's gross.
Her relationship with the guy, Shawn, builds a lot over the first month or two she's there. Dawn is married to someone else as well i'll mention. Her tone in the office completely changes when Shawn enters the room. She starts saying stuff that she'll think he'll approve of and acts really blunt and redneck. Like Shawn. And she acts dismissive of me says i'm too quiet even though there is no room to get a word in edgewise when they're in the room because they talk nonstop. She starts doing things like bringing him a special drink in the morning she made at home. I heard her calling him fuzzy bear and putting her hand on his chest. Her job and his job have nothing to do with each other, yet she follows him around all day like a lap dog. Sometimes he'd come into the office to use the computer but she was already sitting there using it. So he'd put his hand over her hand, which was on the mouse, and move their hands together to click on things while talking flirtatious to her. As soon as he left the room, like a lightswitch, she would suddenly shift to acting like a human being again being kind to me. But when he was in there she'd act like i'm a nobody and always hand demeaning ways of treating me.
So months down the line i'm losing my cool with all of this. I know the manager won't do anything about their behavior making me uncomfortable. So i look up her facebook and find her husband. I message him telling him what i've seen his wife doing in the office. After sending the message i realize i probably shouldn't have done that because it could damage my job. The message goes unread for weeks. So i can breathe and feel like okay things will be fine. But he reads it like a month later and says "thanks for looking out for me man but i trust my wife. What you're seeing with Shawn is just a good friendship." I'm relieved he's not mad at me but at the same time a bit frustrated that he doesn't mind being a cuck having another man feel up his wife and flirt with her every day. Shawn would treat her like crap a lot too. He'd call her a hoe bag when i was in there. She wouldn't say anything in retaliation just laugh and say wow. The conversation was frequently sexual between them. Sometimes he'd flick her in the head and say "sounds hollow." And laugh. She again was just super submissive. However with me she wouldn't tolerate behavior like that; however i never really would act like that.
So after her husband sees the message i sent he tells his wife about it. Dawn gets super upset and contacts management explaining the situation saying she is so hurt and upset. Next day at work manager pulls me into his office for a meeting with him. He said he consulted the district manager about what to say to me but said i wasn't in trouble or being written up, but that he just wanted to remind me that this is a personal matter and at work make sure not to talk about it. I said okay. I said i'm sorry i sent that message but i was made to be uncomfortable after months of putting up with their behavior. He played dumb and said "oh yeah well i don't know what all goes on in this office but you can always come to me about any problems." This is like an assistant manager the head manager was on vacation at this time.
After that confrontation I felt embarrassed the following days and reality was setting in. Dawn at work would keep her head down and not look at me or talk to me. It was very obvious even walking in close quarters she'd turn her head and rush out the room. This went on for a couple weeks. Emotionally i was getting totally burned out by this situation. I struggled to fall asleep at night. I hated being at work around people gossipping about the situation probably thinking i'm some evil monster and Dawn is a damsel in distress. People avoided me and every day was really lonely and i felt super judged all the time. One morning i had stayed up all night trying to sleep but couldn't. I just called my assistant manager and asked if i could make it a vacation day because i couldn't sleep at all. Surprisingly he said sure. But then the next morning the exact same thing happened. Except this time I just slept in and didn't call. I no-showed to work. I didn't receive any messages about it because that day there were no managers in the office. Well then Friday I do it again just sleep through my shift and don't call. I receive tons of messages but ignore them. I feel like i never wanna go back to that job because every second being in there is soul crushing to me. I feel totally wronged that i was the victim in the situation but because i told on her now i was the bad guy. No one seemed to see my side of the situation or even try. They acted dumb and focused on protecting Dawn.
Dawn as a worker was not very good. She was scheduled 4 hour days 4 days a week. She was doing this in a job that is normally full time. A manager of general merchandise. However her time spent at work did not involve much working, she would talk nonstop to everyone around her. A lot of which to Shawn of course and when Shawn wasn't around she would talk to me and talk shit about Shawn acting as if she doesn't like him. Clearly she does because she's all over him and is dismissive of me when he's in the room. It felt two faced. She would also constantly call in to shifts. She would miss at least 2 days per week for some reason or another. This repeated over the course of a year. Her higher up would come in and always find that Dawn wasn't there. She said "does this girl ever work?" In addition our manager would joke with Dawn saying "Oh you decided to work today?" while smiling.
Anyways, after missing Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, I muster the courage to push myself to go to work on Monday. I'm fearful of what people will say because i've never missed work before. I think i will be belittled and be in a ton of trouble. Justifiably you can't just skip work. However, I walk in and the manager acts like it's any ordinary day and says "good morning Devin" casually while just standing there not making eye contact and continues his conversation with the assistant manager. I don't know what's wrong with these people but I can just stand right in front of them and stare into their eyes and they will act like i'm not there. They avoid me like the plague avoid eye contact and just bizarre body language. Any how i walk into the break room to clock in for the day. I turn around and go to my office and i pass by Dawn. She keeps her head down and hurries past me. This pisses me off and i say "Nice!" to her. I'm pretty quiet and reserved so i thought this might shock her but she didn't say anything. After i had been gone three work days (five counting the weekend) i expected at least some kind of acknowledgement by her but no. I began doing my work while thoughts creep into my head about how much Dawn pisses me off acting like the damsel in distress like i am some horrible monster. When we both know that what i said to her husband was 100% true in the message about her possible infidelity. So i'm working and thinking about confronting her. I find her in the building and walk right up to her and say "what's up with you?" She says "I don't think we should be talking." The conversation escalates to the point where i'm hashing out every detail of the center of the drama, talking in ear shot of customers. Eventually she says again "again this is why you shouldn't be talking to me" and starts walking away. I say "i can talk to you whenever i want."
Then i go about my work some more. At this point i'd only been at work an hour and a half. I'm working in one location and i hear someone yelling at me very angrily. I turn and see its the head manager almost running at me super angry. He gets so close to me that his head is almost bumping into my head while staring me in the eyes. He said "what is wrong with you? Are you having issues or something??! You haven't been here long today and you've already caused an issue with two of my employees!" So I just double down and say "yeah so what are you gonna do about it?" He says "i'll tell you what i'm gonna do about it!! We'll go into my office come here." As i follow him i nonchalantly say "you know intimidation is against company policy right?" I say this cuz he ran up to me like he was gonna swing at me and got in my face yelling at me. At this point where entering the office door and he turns and says "yes intimidation is against company policy that's why you need to stop intimidating people!" This is like a joke to me because i'm the most polite guy there. I keep to myself and have good manners with everyone which in the past he has praised me on. Saying I am very nice person. So this new statement is just stupid. Dawn is in the office crying he tells her to get out so he can talk to me and says "here sit down" and shoves a chair toward me. He goes on to tell me i'm the protagonist in this situation. He talks about how i should've apologized to Dawn about messaging her husband. I said "I won't apologize because i'm not sorry." He then says "here's what we're gonna do, we are gonna send you home, and then tomorrow morning, you're gonna come in and we're gonna sit down and go through everything you have said to properly write you up." I just said "okay."
So I went home for the day feeling proud of myself for sticking up for myself. But also feeling shaken by the intensity of the situation. Keep in mind the night before I was again not able to sleep (used to sleeping the odd hours of 7 AM to 5PM).
When i went to work that day I had gotten no sleep. Which probably contributed to my temperment. I was partially more bold that day because of how my manager greeted me that morning not acknowledging me much. Not acknowledging that this is the first time i'd seen him in like a month because of his vacation and sick leave (coronavirus). He acts like its just a normal day. I'm used to seeing him daily. The company told no one why he was gone. We had to find out through gossip that it was because he tested positive for coronavirus. Completely unproffessional in their communication.
So now i sit at home holding onto my morals. Feeling crushed as to no one even tried to see my side. See how inappropriate the office setting had been for so long which led me to send on text. One text caused all of this. It was completely outside of work, but work stuck their nose into it to protect their precious queen, Dawn. The precious queen that works 10 hours a week max and has poor performance of her job. She is also constantly involved in work related drama, whispering gossip into peoples ears about how so-and-so did this. Also she has no filter says every thought that comes into her mind out loud. Her voice is so shrill its like nails on a chalkboard. When she walks she stomps around like trying to act like a man or something. It's so irritating.
But let me say losing this job wasn't a huge loss. I was making $11.25 per hour after six years of full time service to them. Over 10,000 lifetime hours. Minimum wage in January will be $11. So i'm literally at rock bottom with pay even though I have experience and have a manager role. Glassdoor rates my position at paying $13 to 19$ per hour nationwide based on experience. So i been underpaid for a long time. I actually had just got the $11 raise after working $9.50 per hour for the previous two years. It's just disgusting. If you're out there pedaling a 9-5 hoping your loyalty to a company will get you a raise.... I have to say you're probably mistaken. If it is a job that doesn't require college experience, that is.
And it might be obvious by now but i will not be going to work tomorrow to be lectured and written up. I'm just going to skip.
This town I live in is in southern USA. I've only been here 8 months but it is a terrible town. People are very rude to one another. It's like an old western movie without the charm or courtesy. People don't smile unless they're being passive aggressive angry. People operate like packs of wolves. There is an obvious hierarchy and they protect their own. Outsiders don't get accepted to the pack very easily. I was kind and considerate and hardworking for nearly a year here and i still feel like i know nobody very well. People ignore me and avert their eyes as if i have done something wrong (even before the incident). When situation requires i interact with them, they are very formal like a robot. After dealing with me they go back to acting like a human again. I overheard them laughing and being casual with other people. But with me they are never like that. I do not like the southern USA.

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Devin Work July 28, 2020 at 5:15 am 2 0