Ok so here is a rundown of my current employment situation. Apologies for length.
Been at current employment for 11 months, joined when my partner was close to giving birth (partner also worked there before I)
After nearly a year of working hard and hoping that my hard work would be noticed and rewarded, I have finally reached breaking point and am after some advice.
I am in the hospitality industry and the business is a large bar/restaurant at night with really good food in a small rural town. I was employed to be “the guy” as I have nearly ten years of bar experience and the former long time manager had left after ten years of employment.
Very early on I noticed some red flags which started with the hiring of an underqualified woman at roughly $13 p/h more than my hourly rate at the time.
I found it very interesting someone with significantly less experienced than me, then had to be trained by myself for a position above me. Oh well I thought, surely the owners have a plan.
Fast forward and after a month of the person above me being employed, the owners then decided to hire another “overall manager” who would oversee the three businesses they own locally. Cool I thought, it will be good to get some overall clear direction of roles and rosters etc etc. I'd also like to add this person was employed at around $20p/h+ higher than my wage.
At this point these two people employed above me are essentially in two brand-new created positions that never existed in the company before my arrival. Together they were working 110 hours a fortnight each (even though they would start at 10am and our bar wouldn't open until 3pm) Suffice to say my hours suffered and I found myself having to not only fight for decent hours but also I started to question the entire way the place was being run, due to sheer mismanagement and amount of time these two managers spent doing essentially nothing. Id like to also add I was given the worst shifts to work.
Around late last year I started being told and hearing from the ownership that we were “spending far too much money on wages” while I was fighting for hours and getting exceedingly annoyed at the time the two managers above me were clocking and wasting each week. As I had a new baby on the way I was really fighting for hours anywhere I could. (I would also like to add a side note the owner text me the morning my daughter was born asking me to work the next day)
It was around this time when I realized the ownership had no real clue and I finally understood the high staff turnover (something that always baffled me before working there as it is a lovely looking establishment). It was also around this point I made a conscious decision to try and get myself moved out of the bar and into the kitchen side of the business, because as we headed toward winter 2022 I knew that due to the slowing of customers I would be the first person to have my hours totally cut.
Fast forward to Dec 2021 and we are in the prime of our summer with huge amounts of customers and busy days. I am initially just working as a kitchen hand and learning the ropes of working in a kitchen, however I have always had a passion for cooking. Eventually our third option chef (2 work at a time each shift) was dismissed due to non-vaccination.
This left the two chefs in a position of having to work every day as our business required at least two chefs/cooks. I then offered to be trained as the third cook which would let them return to having one day off a week.
Fast forward to now and I have been cooking 2-3 days a week in the kitchen as second option while one chef has a day off and working the bar the other 2-3 days. I have been hounding the owners to be moved into the kitchen full time but they simply wont allow me away from the bar as we have had multiple staff leave.
Coming back to my partner who had our child Sep 2021 who had completed her six months maternity leave (standard amount in New Zealand) she learns due to the bloated ineffective roster that no one has actually planned for her return to her job as a bar manager.
My partner then learns her bar hours no longer exist and she was offered work in the housekeeping section in the mornings. Not only was this very upsetting for her it was also illegal under NZ law to change someone's job after returning from maternity leave.
For the last four months since her return to morning housekeeping, I have been up babysitting our daughter from 8am until 12pm/1pm each day, (my partner and I live separately but close-by) then beginning my dayshift at work which usually lasts until 10pm at night. Suffice to say this has taken a toll on our relationship and my sanity as these are very long days for me.
Last week after months of asking for more hours, my partner finally handed her notice in, realizing she would actually gain more money being at home with our child than the 10-15 hours per week work was providing her(tax reasons in my country). She was also tired of being an effective and fast housekeeper and watching other housekeeping workers milking the entire day to collect more wage.
This leads me to the events of last weekend and the crux of the issue I currently have. Friday afternoon I was asked to start an hour earlier (2pm) rather than 3pm which I was happy to take so I arrived and worked the evening. The other bar worker who was due to start at 5pm decided to call at three minutes before shift to say he was sick. Ok I thought it's fine I have worked bar solo plenty of times over the last ten years.
We then proceed to have a busier than normal Friday which resulted in about 80 meals, and me essentially running the place, solo. But I managed. Work included was the bar service, providing table service for 30 tables and running plates to the kitchen. Late Friday I locked up and went home to bed.
Saturday I was up again with our child while my partner went to work. She came home and then I started work at 2pm like Friday. Well here is where the problems started because the national rugby team was playing that night at 7pm and everybody in hospitality in NZ knows the All Blacks games are ALWAYS a busy night. We also had the owners birthday party to cater to, along with the normal amounts of bookings. I was called at 5pm by the owner and asked to arrange their table with balloons and streamers and to fetch a cake, which I did. Around 6pm the place absolutely exploded and it became very clear that the two of us on bar were overwhelmed and severely understaffed for the night.
Anyway we fight through, clearing about 140 mains meals and provided a lovely night for the owner and everybody else in the establishment as best as I could. We also had one of the kitchen hands get fired mid-shift by the owner so I was also working kitchen while trying to maintain a crazy bar. I took over making entrees, deserts and running plates on top of what I was already doing. I was so exhausted but I also knew that I wasn't out of the woods yet because as I closed at midnight I needed to be back at work at 10am to open on the Sunday. (Id also like to mention I have recently worked my rostered days off, and have been given split shifts which I have accepted without complaint)
The reason I have to open and work the early start on Sunday is due to the previous manager quitting. So I have been tasked with balancing the three tills and doing the bookkeeping on Sundays. (Id also like to point out the “overall manager” has decided to give himself every Saturday and Sunday off work) leaving me as the only lead worker.
Anyway I get through the day working solo pretty exhausted and my young bartender arrives at 5pm to help out. I finish the shift and leave him around 730pm Sun night absolutely shattered after covering about 35 hours over the previous three days.
This is where the story goes sideways. I arrive at work Monday to do my cooking nights (usually Mon-Tue) and the owners are waiting for me telling me she saw me put my fingers inside a pair of glasses to carry them to a busy table on Saturday night when they were watching us work. Not only is this nonsense because our water glasses are bottom heavy so I carry in my palm, she then declares that myself and the other bartender will be needed to be retrained.
This is where I hit breaking point. I am beyond words that after literally carrying the entire establishment essentially solo, this woman has the nerve to actually criticize one small sliver of something I allegedly did after nearly working myself to exhaustion. Enough was enough.
I went to speak to the “overall manager” on my day off yesterday and I learned that when I return to work Friday (tomorrow) that I will be heading into a “meeting” about the weekend.
Thankfully today I interviewed for a new job in the next town over and was basically offered the job on the spot, with more hours and pay. It does involve more travel but at this point I think I am gone as I am absolutely disgusted in how hard I have worked for essentially nothing at the current job.
After all this novel of text I am basically asking, how do I play this situation tomorrow? Should I try and negotiate better days and more pay? Or should I basically tell them to fuck off and here's my two weeks notice.
Thanks for reading all this. I really appreciate it and it was helpful for me to just write all this shit out. There is lots I have missed but this is my current situation.
Matt.