TLDR; I am contemplating leaving my job as a duty manager at a cocktail bar due to payment mishaps and need advice.
Hello everyone,
I'm 23 year old and have worked in a high volume party cocktail bar in London for 2 years now, going from barback, to bartender to Duty manager. While this place is extremely stressful and tiring. I love the vibe of the place theres a certain sense of freedom within the team, which is something that is hard to get elsewhere. We are allowed to screw around, drink on the job, let our personalities shine through (given we are all doing our jobs properly, of course). I have done a lot for this venue, rising through the ranks and spreading myself thin for them, training new bartenders, keeping the staff morale high.
I am paid £12 an hour without service charge or any bonuses. There are bartenders in our other venues which are paid the same amount as me with the addition of service charge. This obviously angers me, especially since there is a crisis currently and I'm having to pay for rent, bills and I have to pay my ubers home every night. Just in the past 2 weeks my ubers have cost £230 all together. Also, at this time
I have called a meeting with the new HR leader (he has been there for like 9 months now) and I intend to give him an ultimatum, I want him to give me atleast one of these 3 things; A real raise.. perhaps to 14p/h, quarterly bonuses which the other managers get OR the company to expense my ubers home. If he doesn't want to give me any of these then I plan to tell him that I'll be leaving at the end of March (a month's notice). My contract states I'm supposed to give 3 months notice, which is ridiculous considering I'm not on salary. Can they do anything if I don't give them 3 months notice? The GM is leaving in 2 weeks and the AGM has handed his 6 month notice in, so they may be desperate. They are also under scrutiny about this pay situation as many people aren't happy.
My girlfriend who also worked for this company had the same issues and she left within a week, no matter what her contract said regarding her notice period and nothing happened. If I leave in March I'll spend April relaxing, figuring things out and maybe travel to get my mind straight and experience life a little. I can get a job in all if not many other bars at this point with all of the experience and training I have, but I also wouldn't mind getting out of the hospitality game at this point, just need to figure out what else I'd like to do from there. I should have atleast 5 or 6k saved up by the end of March.
I'd appreciate any advice through this regarding what I can do about the situation, like what I should say in the meeting, about the notice or my plans afterwards. Thank you.