Tldr; Keep scapegoating 'the covid' & 'this economy' to take advantage of the loyalty of your employees? Some businesses just won't make it, despite how hard you push the lynchpin to breaking point…
Says his boss is a longtime family friend, even his mother is close with them. After the boss injured himself from overworking (foreshadowing) bf graduated to pseudo manager, running FoH and being the “one to turn to” for customers & other employees. Bf was given the job 5 years ago while in a rough spot, and “through all his bs” they supported him (loyalty earned).
Regularly, he's coming home upset, stressed, particularly with the boss's wife (who's acting as a “manager” when he's not on shift, while having no experience in either hospitality or management… she has a film SFX background, which while cool, are irrelevant skills in this job). He would end up frustrated with his other coworkers aswell, mentioning his boss can't afford to hire anyone who's older, and he's struggling to train the people they do get (I've discovered that he's not being paid to train these employees, nor has anything about managerial or staffing duties in his job description).
He gets upset when I share how I feel like he's allowing himself to be taken advantage of, but then poverty-prevention panic kicks in (“I can't afford to not have this job”, “he's doing his best”, “look everyone's struggling right now”, “I'm broke as it is”), which I totally understand. I also can see him taking it as me trying to come into a good thing and mess things up, that he just has to try harder, and it won't be long before it all pays off.
CURRENT:
He's thrown his back out and been 'forced' to go to work through it. He's now come down with a full headcold and body aches feat' sneezes, and while sent home early yesterday… insists he HAS to go in today. To serve food and coffee… to elderly and very young people… in a high-traffic mall environment.
Do I have any recourse except for supporting, until he finally breaks and loses/quits his job? I don't wanna be a friendship homewrecker as it were, AND I'm upset so feelin' drastic & up for mischief/actually helping.
In Australia, QLD by the way, if any actual tips