I'm a part-time security guard for certain events like Comicon and stuff. I'm also lucky enough to work with my IRL best friend. One job, it was at the end where everyone was leaving and the train station outside was getting crowded to a ridiculous degree. It didn't help that there was also a small train strike happening that day so one of the lines wasn't functioning well.
Me and my friend, let's just call him Steve for privacy's sake, were tasked with queuing the public and making sure things didn't get out of hand, as well as answering any questions people may have. We were doing our job and everything, being all round helpful and just being nice. This is a big thing since most of my coworkers are middle age workers that have been dried of any enthusiasm or general kindness. I check the time and realise our shift finishes in 40 mins. However, the queue for the train that we also had to take to get home was not getting any smaller. So after answering people's questions and making sure everything was good for the moment, me and Steve took a second to look at the train times from different stations around the area to find the best way to go home. At that very moment, some guy I've never seen before, not wearing any official work uniform or anything, just comes up to us and tells us to get off our phones and do our jobs. Even though we have no idea who he is, we assume he's some kind of authority and do has he asked.
About 10 mins go by and the queue still hasn't gotten smaller. If anything, it'd gotten bigger. It wasn't looking good, so I have a quick look to see if anything had changed on the train times and nada. Me and Steve talk about how we're gonna get home. And at that moment, the same guy from before sneaks up behind us, places his hands on our shoulders and only says “Don't bother coming in tomorrow”, and just walks away, leaving us confused. Who TF does this guy think he is? Mind you, during the time we're talking and seeing how to get home, we were still doing our jobs and keeping everything in order. However, to the left and right of us were other coworkers talking and checking their phones way more than we were. Some weren't even doing their jobs and just leaning against the wall scrolling. Um, what? Not a word to them.
Another 5 mins go by and a manager that we do know quite well tells me and Steve to follow him. We look at each other like “What the hell is happening right now?”. We get inside and the manager tells us to go to the office. We don't question it and just go, both of us knowing damn well who would have instigated this. We walk in the office and another manager who we also know well starts questioning us about what we were doing outside. We explain completely honestly, then shows a goddamn picture that the guy took of us secretly of us talking to each other. I'm thinking “You cannot be serious right now”. Turns out that guy was the CEO of the venue we were working at.
So basically, even though we were doing our jobs better than the other workers and talking about something quite important, actually being some of the best and most competent workers the place has ever had (my boss said so himself, the only people who do the job better than us are the managers), this guy who we've never seen or met forces us to not work the next day, with the decision being completely out of our managers' or boss' hands. Making us out to be slacking off when other coworkers clearly were actually slacking off. What in the actual fk is this?
Fuck you, Henry