My partner works in a famously abusive industry- they're a chef- and has stayed in jobs for YEARS with serious issues. Things like mentally ill coworker with substance abuse issues attacking other coworkers with knives and cast iron pans, unable to be fired because the owner didn't like confrontation. Or a previous job where the executive chef would loose their shit and physically assault the employees, and this was considered normal. They've never had health, vision or dental insurance until their most recent job.
It's the restaraunt industry. They were told over and over again that's just how it was and you were shitty if you wanted more. You're not a ReAl ChEf if you can't handle the heat and the dysfunction.
Partner moves cities to move in with us, and gets a job immediately because they're a highly skilled and hard working chef who does not drink. The cowoker who went after them with a knife goes after the owner of the last place, who's finally having to show up and cook, and is immediately fired.
At the new job, the head manager seemed to be all about keeping things chaotic and was passive agressive about things like the inventory and ordering processes getting fixed so they weren't running out of food every day and having to 86 items from the menu or send someone to run to a store to get things like bread for hamburgers. At a bar. Where they specialize in burgers.
My partner, day one, complained about some serious safety issues. Wrote up a plan to fix them, called and got quotes from contractors on fixing them, and submitted it to corporate within week one. Among those issues:
- Sink at the top of a flight of stairs from prep kitchen to regular kitchen that leaked (partner slipped on the stairs and had to go to ER for a wrist sprain). Other employees kept slipping on the wet stairs as well.
- Unstable, unsecured shelving in the kitchen (that went wobbly and dropped things on their back, causing ER trip number two).
- Broken equiptment with electrical issues that blew one of their co-workers back 5 feet from getting shocked when turning the fryer on.
- Dishwasher/sanitizer being broken, making the dishwashers have to work twice as hard, and causing several of them to quit, causing issues with the kitchen being trashed at the end of each shift.
- Standing water in the room that the electrical junction was in, water leaking in from the foundation NEXT TO THE ELECTRICAL. That shit will KILL SOMEONE. After a drizzle it's an inch deep, after a good rain, three inches of water across the entire floor.
- Partner asked when these safety issues would be addressed after a month and a half, especially since they were not the only ones injured by these things that would be easily fixed- all of it but the foundation/electrical issues- from the savings on food costs just from a single week, much less profits.
They were told it would be 6 months before anyone even looks at them.
This is on top of being scheduled for 7 day workweeks with no days off multiple times, being told that the schedule they worked out with the staff (with their preffered days off respected) wouldn't be input into the computer because “when they were hired people agreed they had open availability” (ignoring that folks had rides/childcare worked out with the schedule they agreed to), and the other bullshit that seems to be rampant in food service.
So my partner put in their two week notice, and the day they did that half the staff- cooks, waitstaff, cleaners, etc- without knowing that they'd put in their notice- had quit.
It started off with them willing to work through their two week notice to help out the old place until the manager got shitty with them, and then they Surprise Pikachu Face'ed as my partner handed their keys in and walked out.
I'm so proud of them for standing up for themselves and not allowing themselves to be put in danger because someone does not want to alert the higher ups that there's legitimate safety issues in their restaurant.
We all deserve to be treated fairly and with respect by our romatnic parnters and our employer. I am so glad they're no longer willing to tolerate being treated like crap to boost someone else's profitability numbers for this quarter.
If the new job is lying about this, which is unlikely as they have some pretty good reviews on Glassdoor and good reputation locally… they'll walk and find another job.
We don't have to take being treated like shit anymore. WE DO NOT. They need us more than we need them right now.
They were realy worried we'd be angry at them for not bringing in income, but I'd rather a tight week than to watch my partner get abused and come home every day sad, angry and burned out.