I work as a restaurant manager that runs both the front and back of house at a hotel that has scenic views but is crumbling apart due to lack of maintenance. This is my first “”big boy”” job after graduating college and when I started out last year, it was actually a pretty sweet deal! I had a boss that would bust his ass to make sure that our employees weren’t constantly in the weeds and would address criticism in the most gentle and constructive manner. We didn’t always see eye to eye on certain things like plate presentation or advertising, but because he was consistently willing to take the time to help us out during service, I would gladly do things his way. Fast forward to January and he breaks the news that his wife has accepted a high paying job in another state and will be leaving us at the end of the month. Since I’ve only been in management for six months at the time, I didn’t feel like I could fill his shoes and wanted someone else to take the reins. Big. Fucking. Mistake. The replacement they found is a total asshole who just sits in his desk doing paperwork the entire time he’s in the building. I initially tried to make the transition between the bosses smooth, but then he started to change procedures that were working for us, belittling some of the greatest people I’ve worked with to the point where they would quit, and even judged me on how I manage people through working by their side instead of just giving them orders. The moment where he started to make comments on how I needed to “work on my memory” among other things was the moment I realized that I needed to protect my staff from him in order to keep the restaurant afloat. Currently, we’ve taken a huge hit on our ratings from the mid 70s to the low 40s because of the change in leadership, but he’s done a good job convincing upper management that he’s not to blame. Recently he decided to get surgery on his knee two weeks before I go on vacation, so I’ve been working 16 hour shifts while he was gone to keep the restaurant running normally. I even stayed one night until 2 to do inventory at the end of the night for him. I left for vacation a day before he got back. When I came back he had arraigned a meeting with the GM of the hotel to say I would be taking a pay cut in order to split the front and back of house responsibilities between two people, expecting me to earn tips to make up the difference. It felt like a dickslap to the face. I told them I would think about taking the cut, but I’ve been applying for jobs in the meantime and have gotten 5 callbacks and 2 interviews scheduled for next week. I’m still shocked at the sheer lack of loyalty returned, but I’m sure that I’ll be in a much better spot in three weeks time. Wish me luck!