I've worked in a cafe a little over two years now, and I'm honestly just there for the money and flexibility of a casual job that gives me the freedom to ask for days off when I need it and go travelling more often. The place itself is ok, good hours, nice (overall) customers, good coffee etc. But the owner is a horrible human being. He micromanages us, has accused people of “stealing food”, doesn't give us proper breaks or gets angry when we go on breaks, gets annoyed if we stopped for 5 minutes after a busy wave of customers just to chat and chill and says he's not “paying us to stand around and do nothing”. It's constant anxiety and thinking you're not good enough. In resume, he's just a shitty person who thinks he's the best boss in the world. Also he will pick on certain people (foreigners) and let other staff get away with things (especially if they're Australian – I live in Australia but am not from here), which leads to me think…. well you know what I think.
He made me a supervisor a few months back, but before he used to yell at me and be really rude to the point I'd cry until I stood up to him and he stopped and since he couldn't afford to lose mas he had no staff, he would cater to everything I wanted. Well, now we got new staff and he no longer needs me as much so the abuse has started again. Last week I had a serious family issue and had to take the day off which unfortunately was on his birthday and he had to work on his birthday because there was no one else who could cover my shift. I thanked him for that, but then him and his sister said I should APOLOGIZE for “making” him work on his birthday. I told him I'm not saying I'm sorry because my family comes first and I can't control what happens in my personal life so there's nothing to be sorry for. From that day on, they've been treating me poorly, cut my hours short and have been very rude to me and I just felt super uncomfortable.
Yesterday I was closing the shop alone because neither him or his sister were helping me and he sent all the other staff home, so I was doing everything super busy and about 5 minutes to close I was closing the coffee machine and grabbed my phone to reply to a message. Now, he hates when we use our phones, understandable, but he saw it and started yelling at. Said next time it'll be one word “OUT” and then started slamming things and hitting things and yelling and getting super aggressive. I usually yell back but I just stood there. He kept on going about how I was disrespectful, useless and dirty. I told him this was my last day and I'm done and said he was being very rude by yelling at me. At this point he yelled as loud as I've ever heard someone yell “RUDE?!?” with his face red and veins popping and when he did that I honestly thought he was going to physically hurt me (mind you, I am a 5'3 girl). I jumped back and just stared in shock and walked away and he said “you're a spoiled little girl that can't appreciate a good job she has, if I'm such a bad boss, why are you still here?” so I said “don't worry, I won't be here anymore”. And walked off to my house and I could hear him screaming in the background with his sister watching everything and doing nothing.
I had a shift today, didn't go, and obviously am never coming back. I've put up with a lot, but I draw the line when I think I am physically in danger. Thing is, he's the owner and there's no HR” I can go to, but I'm feeling super hurt and still have a lot of trauma from this and somehow want to make him pay for it but not sure what to do. I'm so angry this guy puts a smile for customers pretending he's a good guy when he'll abuse certain staff thinking we depend on him to live.
What would you do in my position? Or is it just not worth the hassle?