This is really ranty and and long, I'm sorry but I don't know who else to say all this to.
I worked at a high end restaurant in Orlando. The money was really good and I've been serving tables for a long time so it was really easy for me. When I first started work there I ended up working with an old manager from a previous job within the same company. She always had it out for me. One of my first shifts at my previous job with her as a manager I had a single guest tip me $500 on a $35 check because he loved me so much and SHE REFUSED TO BELIEVE THAT HE LEFT IT FOR ME. All the math was done right on the check. She called the bank and called the guest and even after she confirmed everything was legitimate she STILL refused to believe I deserved the tip ($500 is a lot of money and the dude just wanted to bless me I'm not saying I did $500 worth of work.)
Ever since then she would always act like I wasn't good at my job or follow me around and complaining about little things to the point where it became a running joke among my coworkers. Eventually she ended up getting transferred to a different location and I was able to work at my job pretty much issue free until Covid forced us to close down. Fast forward to a year later and I applied for rehire at another concept within my company and got rehired. She was a manager there and once again proceeded to act like I was the scum of the earth.
The first few weeks at the new job were rough, I was the new guy (even though I wasn't new to the company and everything was the same) so I had really bad sections and kind of just took the walk ins and not the reservations. This often led to me making less money up until the point where my car got repossessed because I fell behind. I talked to the general manager and let him know that I needed to be put in better sections, not all the time, just maybe once a week. He said I needed to sell the “featured items” (cheapest food that they marked up to ridiculous prices) in order to justify me getting better sections. I took that to heart and was constantly in the top 3 if not #1 for months. I had a few weeks where they actually followed through and gave me better shifts and I was making significantly more money. One time I came in with a great section and she switched me out of it “because she felt like I would do better in a smaller section. I was beyond furious and almost quit right then. She STILL was constantly on my case and chastised me for things that other people would do and she would ignore. A few examples were being on the phone, I would have my phone out at the start of the shift in the kitchen with coworkers when no guests were present. She would only single me out about the phones but everyone was constantly on theirs. She would tell me I couldn't eat (even when I would bring my own food in) while other coworkers would ask if they could get food from the kitchen and be told YES (which they weren't supposed to do)and she would also eat from the kitchen and right on the line at that.
Another manager came in to train to open another store. He was my manager at a local mom and pop restaurant downtown and he saw how great I was with guests and we remained friends even after I left. While he was training there he let me know that the management staff didn't like me and were actively trying to get me to quit so they wouldn't have to pay unemployment. He offered for me to transfer to his store where I could work with him and he would take care of me. I took him up on the offer and requested a transfer from my GM. The next day the GM came in and wrote me up for things that happened weeks ago (misrang a steak, misplaced my name tag) and then proceeded to submit my transfer knowing that they wouldn't accept me now because I have writeups. There had been multiple instances where servers had misrang whole tables and faced no repercussions. I make ONE mistake that I caught and addressed before it was even cooked and I'm written up.
One of the biggest things that happened and was absolutely blatant was them changing our uniforms. When I was hired it said I needed black dress slacks which I was wearing. In the span of two days they said we needed tuxedo pants instead, not a big deal. I came in the next day and she sent me home for not having tuxedo pants when literally no one else that was working had theirs either. I didn't care at the time since I was a little burnt out and could use the day off. On my way home I get text messages from multiple coworkers saying that she sent the only other black server we had home as well because he didn't have the pants. Everyone noticed it, I didn't say anything about race, but it became apparent after that.
Fast forward to the last two months, it got extremely slow. They started cutting our shifts and saying that you would be scheduled based on how much charity we would get. They were now requiring us on top of their ridiculous prices to beg for more money from guests and then punishing us if we didn't get absorbent amounts so they could write it off on their taxes. My charity “sales” were low and I talked to my tables about it almost every time. They cut my serving shifts to the point where I only had three shifts last month but scheduled me four food running shifts. There used to be a dedicated food running position but they got rid of it during Covid and never changed it back afterwards because they realized they were saving money. When you food run you're making about $80 working from 4pm-11pm in comparison to working a mid shift 5pm-10pm and making anywhere from $200 and up. I gritted my teeth and came in for my shifts, I didn't complain and tried to be understanding.
I was only getting scheduled maybe twice a week at my serving job so I took a last minute photography job for a guaranteed $300. They didn't post the schedules until Friday night, I took the job Thursday night, my photo job was on Sunday and I was scheduled ANOTHER food running shift after being scheduled one on Saturday so it was back to back days of me not making any real money. I came into my food running shift on Saturday and asked if there was anything they could do to help me out since the schedule was posted late and I don't want to give up guaranteed money since I'm not making money there. They proceeded to say “That's not my problem and you need to figure it out.” I let them know that I was contractually obligated to do that job and that its already slow (40 reservations) so I'm not coming in. Eventually the caved and said fuck it and let me shoot.
Fast forward two more weeks and I've only had three serving shifts the entire month of July. I food ran twice this week and one of the days they took another food runner off and let them serve on the floor and made me food run and do To-go by myself. I didn't complain, I just worked the shift. Fast forward to today and I have an on call shift. They call me and tell me they need me to come in and food run because OTHER PEOPLE CALLED OUT OF THEIR FOODRUNNING SHIFT. I told them no, if they want me to come in they can put me on the floor and let me do the job I was hired to do and make some kind of money or I'm not coming in.
The general manager then said that because I'm not “selling charity” and I'm on call that's what they need from me and so I let her know that I quit. I put up with so much shit, I asked my other coworkers if I was being ridiculous and they all said NO. They all see it and don't understand how I lasted so long. I'm moving soon and now I have to find a temporary job that can help me catch back up so I can leave and start over again. Its really annoying but I absolutely could not handle being the “Do boy” anymore. It was mentally and emotionally exhausting. No amount of money was worth that shit especially if I'm not even making money.