Storytime: Kyle and Fred

This story may or may not be autobiographical. I can neither confirm nor deny that I may or may not have taken part in the proceeding events. I also may or may not be the main character. I'll leave that up to your imagination.  :)

once upon a time, there was a young boy who was working in the grocery store produce department. 

This young boy, whom we'll call Fred, had been with this store for over a year. He had started as a bagger, and was quickly promoted to cashier, then lead stock clerk on the evening crew. After a short stint in that position, he and his managers quickly realized that the position and hours weren't exactly a good fit. 

After a lengthy discussion with his store manger, Sarah, Fred was invited to go work in the produce department. Fred was greeted by the managers, Kyle and Ken, with enthusiasm and what he saw as very clear expectations of his job. He was told that the position's scheduling as flexible, as long as he provided enough notice and was willing to trade with other people, Fred was promised by Kyle that he would give him any day off he requested. Kyle also told Fred that "Working in this department is a lot of fun, and lot of good people who like to work hard." Kyle talked to Fred about fairness, how he was a relaxed manager who cared about his people, and that he would enjoy working there. 

Within a week, Fred could see that this clearly was not the case, and in the subsequent years that would follow, would recognize that the department was not run with effective planning, and that Kyle was simply one who was obsessed with exercising power over those under him. This wasn't all, though; Kyle specifically hired people who he felt he could easily manipulate, and would purposefully put them into situations where he knew they would not enjoy it. 

Fred was promised that he would be on the floor, working with customers and caring for product. Instead, he was quickly placed with an old, cranky lady named Agnes and a nicer but ineffective lady named Carol, behind the "cut counter," chopping and washing fruit for ready-to-eat bowls. Agnes would yell and complain that Fred couldn't work as fast as she could, and would be generally abusive toward anyone that worked near or around her. 

 When Fred brought his concerns of Agnes's abuse to Kyle, Kyle dismissed them as "Ridiculous" because "Agnes worked her a** off every day."

 Later, when he was dealing with some unwanted attention from another associate in a different department, Fred again brought it to Kyle's attention. Kyle again dismissed it as "not real" and "absolutely absurd allegations."

When Fred was actually on the floor, Kyle would ride him without mercy, always telling Fred that he couldn't do anything right, that he would never go full time at this rate, and that there was no reason for him to be working there if he couldn't perform.

Trying to get a day off was a joke for Fred. He would turn in forms weeks ahead of time, e.g. his 19th birthday, which he knew would be his last he would spend at home with his parents and siblings for many, many years. This request was denied, because "the people with kids need the night off" (it was Halloween). Fred's mom even begged Kyle to change the schedule; he wouldn't hear of it, and basically told Fred's mom she didn't know anything about business and that the family could "deal with it" and "celebrate a different day."

This happened again during the holidays, when Fred was scheduled to work Christmas Eve, which fell on a Sunday (very much against Fred's religious beliefs). Fred told Kyle that he would never get that day off; it took involving Sarah to get it resolved. 

At this point, Kyle began to retaliate against Fred.  He would schedule him to close Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. The scheduling also became generally became inconsistent. At evaluations, the only thing Fred was poorly evaluated was showing up for work on time... usually late by less than five minutes. The first evaluation noted only this and included no pay raise; the second removed a quarter an hour from Fred's pay. 

Eventually, Fred had had enough. He blew a gasket at Kyle, on the phone, when Kyle would't let him leave after stacking a truly unreasonable amount of work on him right before time to go home,  even though he had promised that he would let Fred leave on time. 

Fred became an instant celebrity in the department and throughout the store...

...he had finally stood up to that bully Kyle. 

Afterward, Kyle became exceptionally nice... after all, his superiors took him to task over what they were beginning to see as a very dysfunctional department. 

After a month, however,  Fred walked out, ready to never return, resolving that he would never manage his own people in such a way. 

Readers:

What are your thoughts? How would you approach this if you were Sarah, and Fred explained to you what had been happening? Have you had a similar experience? What could Fred or Kyle do better?