I do not feel comfortable working at TJ Maxx anymore and do not know if I should quit

I’ve been working at TJ Maxx for about three months now, and it was a really big change for me after not working for almost a year. Before getting this job, I was stuck in a depressive state where I felt like I was doing nothing with my life. Since starting, I feel like I’ve gotten much better at handling myself in stressful environments, talking to people, and just being more confident in general. After about a month and a half, I was trained in basically everything except jewelry, and eventually the job became this “nothingness autopilot” for me, which I actually loved. I could come in, work, do whatever needed to be done, and go home without letting little things affect me. It also proved to me how strong my work ethic actually is. I was working 12–14 hour shifts sometimes and close to 40 hours a week, and I genuinely enjoyed it. I was making my own money, I was able to afford my entire setup, and I reached the money goal I made for myself three months earlier than I expected. As a 17-year-old who had spent almost a year doing basically nothing, working made me feel like I was actually moving forward with my life again.

About two weeks ago, though, something happened that completely changed how I feel at work. I had just finished pushing merchandise and had some trash left over. Before throwing it away, I wanted to ask one of the BRCs what she wanted me to push next so I could throw the trash away and immediately get started on whatever she gave me. She asked if I had taken the trash out, and I said no because I wanted to know what I was doing next first. It was literally nothing, just a normal interaction, but then she grabbed my wrist and slapped my hand. I don’t think I’ve ever been that angry over something at work before. It bothered me so much that I felt depressed for almost the entire week afterward. Before that happened, I had gotten really good at not letting people affect my mood, but after that my “autopilot” completely disappeared. Now when I’m at work, instead of just doing my job, my brain feels like it’s constantly flooded with emotions. I was finally starting to get over it when my store manager came over to help me with something at the register. I naturally put my fingers over the receipt printer sometimes and had my hands in my pockets. She told me not to have my hands in my pockets, grabbed my hand, and physically took it out. That immediately brought all of that anger back. I didn’t say anything, but then she did it again. At that point, it felt like three strikes.

This isn’t about the job being stressful or me not wanting to work. There are plenty of things at work I don’t particularly enjoy doing, but that’s every job. Sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do, and I’ve always been able to push through that. It is specifically people putting their hands on me. That is the one line I don’t want crossed, and for whatever reason, it affects me extremely deeply. I’ve tried everything I can think of to get past it. I’ve tried ignoring it, telling myself it wasn’t that serious, focusing on my job, and trying to get back to how I felt before, but it just hasn’t worked. At first, I didn’t want to tell my managers what happened because I didn’t want to affect anyone else’s job or potentially get somebody in trouble. I wasn’t looking for revenge or trying to make the situation bigger than it needed to be. I just wanted to work and be left alone. But when my managers started asking me why I was leaving, I told them the truth about what happened, so it has now been reported. Even after trying to work through it and finally explaining what happened, I’ve realized that I’m still not going to stay. Something about the environment has been ruined for me, and it has gotten to the point where it affects me even when I’m home.

Now I basically have to decide whether I leave immediately or put up with it until I find another job. I don’t technically need to work, especially because I reached my money goal today, but having my own income gives me a freedom that I don’t really want to lose. I’m going into my last year of high school, I turn 18 in December, and I leave for basic training in about a year. Realistically, I only need to keep a couple hundred dollars saved, and I could spend my last year enjoying myself and making it the best year I can before I leave. At the same time, I like working, I like having responsibilities, and I like having my own money. That’s why this decision is so difficult. I know I’m capable of working hard. I know stress isn’t the problem. I know I’m not leaving because I’m lazy, because the job got difficult, or because I suddenly don’t want to work anymore. If anything, these three months proved the exact opposite to me. I just know that I don’t want to keep working somewhere where the one boundary that matters this much to me has been crossed multiple times. I tried to move past it, I tried not to make it into an issue, and when I was finally asked why I was leaving, I told management exactly what happened. It’s not even them that’s the problem I just can’t do it man I’m starting to hate being in that building. No matter what I decide about my next shift or when exactly I leave, I know I’m not staying here.