Before you read: It appears to be a long one… I wrote this after a few drinks on a Thursday night at about 2am. There are typos, the grammar is messed up, there are run on sentences. I am not having a stroke.
Backstory and Resume: Had previously worked at a local Microbrewery for 10+ years as a food runner/barback/server. I know a decent amount about breweries/beer. I drink a lot of beer. Worked there from 2009 to early 2020. Quit because of Covid and wanted to try something new in the IT industry. A “career”
Found an IT support job in early 2021. The job was doing IT support for POS systems in restaurants/bars. Worked remote for a few months and decided it wasn’t for me. I was going to back to the service industry because it’s all I know. I applied to this new local brewery for an Assistant Manager position that they had advertised on the menu. I figured this might be my opportunity to get into management and get that “career.” I applied in August of 2021 after I decided it was probably safe from Covid for me to go back to work in the service industry.
Interview: When I show up to the interview, they inform me they are no longer are hiring for that Assistant Manager position. They said that they would like to promote from within, but they were still interested in hiring me as a Beertender. They said if I accepted a job as a Beertender, then I would be eligible for the Assistant Manager position when they decided to promote someone in a few months. It was all based on what they saw from me as a Beertender.
Orientation: I accepted the job as the Beertender, (I was somewhat desperate) and it was a 1 on 1 orientation with one of the owners. I should note that this brewery is VERY small. There are 2 owners, 0 managers, and about 6 Beertenders. It was always assumed that they needed a manager so they could vacation and take some time off. So, the orientation went fine, it was very basic. The owner handed me a piece of paper with some basic rules and dress code requirements. TIPS WERE NOT MENTIONED.
First couple weeks of work: I show up to work, the job is pretty easy. Just pour some beers and talk to the customers, no problem at all. I work hard, clean up/wash the glasses, do whatever needs to be done. Something was weird though, I noticed all my coworkers were a lot younger than me (32) and they all were kind of like “robots” not a lot of personality. I should mention that both of the owners worked at In n Out for 40+ years and were basically trying to make an In n Out brewery. It seemed they hired young (Christians?) that had zero to little experience that they could mold. Most of my coworkers were 21 -24 years old. I was a little weirded out because we were Beertenders, that’s like 90 percent of our job is to talk to the customers and be friendly and whatever. I later found out there were two “Lead Beertenders” which were essentially managers but they weren’t called managers. I asked them both how the tips work because literally no one had told me. Both of them did not know how the tips worked. I asked every employee except the owners how the tips worked. No one knew. Were they split evenly based on hours? Based on the day? How did they work?
Side note: (NONE of the employees had each other’s phone numbers and trading shifts was very discouraged. I have never worked in a restaurant/bar where this was the case. I proceeded to get everyone’s number and start a group chat. Probably the 1st step of my downfall.) It was the first sign that they wanted to control everything, or my coworkers were oblivious.
1st Meeting: A few weeks later, the owners pull me aside and wanted to talk to me. I thought, “This is great, I’m getting that assistant manager position and promotion.” I was very wrong and did not get a promotion. I was sat down by both owners and questioned incessantly. They asked about my parents, my brother, my references, my old job, my future. I was confused, what did this have to do with anything? The male owner started recommending books for me to read about life and self-help. They constantly kept saying, “We are a family and we want to get to know our employees.” Being a frequent Antiwork reader this was an immediate red flag and I probably did not give them the answers they wanted. I was confused about what the whole point of the meeting was until the truth came out. They said, “We heard you were asking the other employees how the tips worked.” I said, “Yeah, tips are basically a servers livelihood, so I figured the other employees would know how they worked.” They then berated me basically saying, don’t talk to other employees about wages/tip and don’t talk to them about our business and blah blah blah. They were upset, they told me, they had never have had to pull an employee aside like this and if it happened again I would be fired. I was completely blindsided as I thought I was getting a promotion lol. I realized I needed to just shut my mouth, go to work, and then go home.
2nd Meeting: I shut up for months and was just working hard and doing my job. I watched my mouth and realized a few of my coworkers were basically reporting back to the owners what I said word for word.
(Side Note) My girlfriend LOVES the seltzers at my work. She works 50 hours a week and is doing online classes for her BA in early childhood development. On Tuesdays and Thursdays she had an online class, and would come in to my work, enjoy a seltzer or two and do her homework. The brewery has good wifi and A LOT of people bring their laptop and are working on whatever.
I worked every Tuesday night with one of the “Lead Beertenders” and the owners were not there. So… I was pulled aside one random day and talked to about my gf coming in every Tuesday. Again, I was confused. She always paid full price for every drink and was just sitting in the corner doing her school/work. I barely said two words to her because she had her air pods in. They admonished me and told me this was not allowed, and asked me if she had a drinking problem lol. They basically said that she is not allowed in there anymore. I wanted clarity, I asked, “What do you mean exactly?” They said, “Do you want me to spell it out?” I said, “Yes.” They basically said she wasn’t allowed in there when “they weren’t there” This had confirmed to me that this place was ALL about control. They were trying to control what I could say, what I could do, who could come in, and so much more. There was ZERO trust. I told them multiple times, I have 10+ years in the industry and know what I am doing, you hired me for a reason. They literally watched the cameras 24/7 when they weren’t there, which was very rare, the owners worked 80 hours a week because they never hired that manager.
3rd Meeting: This meeting is exactly 1 year of me working there in August of 2022. I was hired in August of 2021. A Manager was still not hired/promoted. Owners still working 80 hours a week. Full disclosure, I was one foot out the door, the trust issues and micro managing never stopped. I was telling my friends that I was on the way out and had already started applying to other places. I also knew this meeting was coming. So… one day in early July I walk into work and take a look at the menu and it says that they are hiring a part time Manager and to submit your resume to this email. I was shocked. I had previously applied for a Manager position (Not that I would take it at this point) and was told they were hiring from within in a few months. This was now a year later and no one was promoted from within. On top of that they were blatantly looking for an outside manager for the position. I asked the two “Lead Beertenders” if they were ever asked about this position. (They both had worked there for 2+ years) They both were shocked as well, they were never asked, and they were a little upset (understandably so). I kept showing up to work for the next few shifts and it was the talk of the town. Why were they going to hire an outsider? Who was it going to be? What does that mean for all of us? Every employee was talking about this manager position as it was blatantly printed on the menu. I then noticed that my shifts were getting cut, I was only working shifts when the owners were present. I went from working about 20 hours a week to 8 hours a week. They were trying to phase me out. I showed up on a Saturday for a 2-9 shift, and before it started they said they wanted to talk to me. I said no problem, I knew what this was going to be about. They told me they had heard that I was causing dissension about this manager position and asked why I was doing that. I let them know my opinion on the subject. I told them straight up, “Im not going to tell you how to run your business, but that management position on the menu was a little bit of a shock to ALL your employees.” I told them it basically rendered us all not good enough. Customers would come up to the owners and ask them when they are taking a vacation, and then right in front of all the employees they would say, “When we can clone ourselves.” It was rude, and I’m sure we all took it personally. I reminded them that I had applied for a manager position and let them know they had two very good “Lead Beertenders” that were already doing the manager job, but not getting paid for it. This started an unpleasant back and forth. I brought up “being a family” yet my gf was not allowed. They brought up me opting out of the 401k for some reason. We were talking in circles. I told them, “It’s clear to me that you don’t want me to work here anymore, why don’t you let me go.” They smartly lied, and said of course we want you to stay, we just don’t want you to talk to the other employees about this and that. I told them if you aren’t going to let me go, this might be a good time to put in my 2 weeks notice. I told them I wanted to end this respectfully and amicably because my family, my gf, my friends still loved the beer and would love to still come visit. The owner said, “If you don’t want to be here, why don’t you just go home right now?” I said. “Okay.” They both gave me a limp wrist handshake, and I left immediately.
There was A LOT more to each of these meetings, but I tried to get the gist of them. The main point that I had a problem with was that the owners were SO controlling and SO micro managed. There was zero trust. They both had that In n Out corporate background, and were so set in their ways. This is what we butted heads on. I tried to explain to them, this is a bar, people are drinking alcohol, it’s okay to have fun. I gained so many new regulars and customers for this place by being myself. That was highly frowned upon, they wanted a robot that takes orders and shuts up. Unfortunately, my personality doesn’t allow that. I have been in the service industry a long time, you gotta turn it on baby.
One last thing to mention. I had the top sales EVERY single time that I worked. It’s probably the main reason I wasn’t fired/quit earlier lol.
TLDR: Interviewed for a Manager position at a local brewery. They let me know they weren’t hiring for that position anymore because they were going to promote it from within. They then offered me a Beertending job and told me I would be eligible for the Manager position when they promoted in a few months. One year later after TONS of micromanaging and trust issues, they decided to put on the menu that they are looking for a Manager. It was a slap in the face to every employee that worked there. They were not going to promote from within, when there were some great employees that had worked there for 2+ years. I was pulled aside for a stern talking to and quit that same day.