Coworker Pete strikes hard this time
Well, this is going to be interesting. Since the last time I talked about Pete, a lot has happened. Due to Stella taking a job at a competitor, we hired Ruth. Linda, Pete, Kyle, and I have gotten her trained enough that she is doing well.
After a couple of weeks of being there, Pete showed Ruth that he's himself and unlike other instances of people being unwilling to speak up or being afraid of retaliation, she told him that he was out of line for jumping my case unnecessarily. He told her to stay out of it. She refused and talked to the owner, who listened to her better than expected and chewed Pete out.
Well, Pete backed off a great deal, but he was making a point to listen to everything we said at every opportunity, which is annoying and suspicious. We noticed and he didn't like it. Too bad, Pete.
Recently, right before going on a trip, my dad came by to chat. While I was working. He said some things that should not have been said publicly, especially with nosey Pete right there. Pete apparently shared the information with Kyle and Linda behind my back and I wasn't 100% sure, so I said nothing.
In between my parents going on their trip and returning from it, Ruth started working with us and I also juggled taking care of my parents' pets in addition to my usual life stuff. When they got back, instead of just waiting and giving me souvenirs and chatting at another time, both of my parents came to the store for it. This time, when both of my parents decided to talk about things that should not have been public, Pete and Ruth were both right there.
A little time goes by and I have my most recently scheduled days off and change my original plans because my 4yo daughter is sick. I took her to a walk-in clinic and the doctor said she has a stomach virus. Well, my next scheduled day, I was planning to go to work because my husband was going to take care of her, but she got suddenly worse shortly before I would normally leave.
I called in, explained what was going on and apologized for the short notice. I jumped through hoops trying to get her into a doctor's office, but finally had to take her to the ER. She has adenovirus, not just a typical stomach virus, so I was right to get her checked out again. Yesterday, I had to call in because now we're all 3 sick with the same thing. I'm having the least symptoms, so I'm taking care of them to the best of my ability.
While all of this is going on, Pete decides to tell the owner the stuff that my parents had said before and added some gossip to it. The owner has now decided that I can't come back to work until I jump through some hoops that make no sense and additionally get his permission to come back. Now, I have found out that the only person who works there that hasn't been straight up gossiping about me during all of this is the overnight guy, Jack.
I'm seriously thinking about just getting a new job once my family is better because I can't trust those people. My daughter is dangerously sick and they're worried about petty, unprofessional bullshit.
Tldr: Pete, the owner, and all but one coworker have managed to get my parents to accidentally help them treat me like crap. My husband, daughter, and I are sick and everyone else is more worried about being awful.