I’m a bartender for an extremely successful independently owned restaurant company. There has been some shift in management recently, and as a result, for the past eight months (give or take) things have been getting worse and worse.
I am one of two bartenders, they refuse to hire additional bartenders, which means that often my time off requests are outright refused because they can’t get coverage. I regularly work shifts that range from 12-14 hours because of this. My manager had a “serious talk” with me about my performance after I called in for a shift, with four and a half hours notice, after I had a seizure. They announced to me the other day that they would be moving me from the restaurant I currently work at— with coworkers I like and respect —to another restaurant that is notoriously the most mismanaged one in the company, without asking me.
But today, the straw that broke the camel’s back was coffee.
Every day when I come in for my shift, I set up my bar and then I ask all the front of house and kitchen staff if they want a coffee (lattes, cappuccinos, etc.). This is, no exaggeration, one of my favourite parts of my job. I love making coffees for my coworkers, it’s a way I get to show my affection and appreciation for them. And then today, my manager came to me and announced I was no longer allowed to do this, because it was “costing the company too much money.” Coffees. For a company that just opened two new locations and a hotel.
So I quit. It might seem like a small thing, but it was the moment I truly realized that this company doesn’t see its employees as, y’know, just regular people. Human beings. And I just don’t think I care to be a part of that cycle anymore.