For starters – to explain a bit of my “drive”. I don't have much in the ways of family or friends, so work is often my social time. I care about those I work with and seeing these people 40 hours a week, I learn a lot about them and take genuine interest in the comings and goings. This has led me to work insanely hard to ensure a smooth work environment and keep drama out of it. The job I'll be talking about was just a simple line cook at a Cracker Barrel. Anyone familiar can probably relate to what it's like having a motivated cook vs an unmotivated one. I genuinely loved that job and I loved the environment and the people I got to meet. I got to be myself, expressive, listen to my own music and made guests happy with great food. I took great pride in every presentation. I worked my way up into management – could work any position and all. I wanted it all.
Flash forward a little bit – covid was ROUGH on us as it was many others. I was a new manager still dealing with many of the covid related stressors. I got assigned to a smaller store to start off with and it was a challenge. The GM quit and after only 4 months of being there or so I ended up in charge of the whole store because the other 2 managers (while great people and LOADS of experience had some issues that made them….not so dependable.) I ended up working 70 hour work weeks, and conference calls on my days off plus non-stop group chat. It had totaled to almost 2 years with no vacation and I was making around 50k a year for that position. I had asked to formally apply to take the position permanently since I was being thanked and told how great I was doing especially for how new I was. I was turned down for being “too new” although the store improved in all aspects during that time. But I was left to keep running it as there were no other options. So I asked for a raise since I was working so much past my contract of 55 a week every week and the extra duties I was assigned plus maintaining things from home. I was turned down. My mental health went down and so I asked for a vacation and was turned down due to having no one to cover. So I kindly stepped down and went back to an hourly rate as a shift leader/cook in my original store.
Things were great here, it's a team I had worked with. The team that trained me. I've known for years. Some managers even as long as 10 years. Being on the inside though as Shift lead I was catching conversations of how management was looking for ways to let people go without firing them. To change policies to weed people out. To set people up. They didn't respect anyone. One poor kid put in his two weeks but still needed to work cause he just got his first place, 19 years old. They took him off the schedule, not fire, but gave him zero hours. I remember seeing him cry as managers ignored his questions as to why they would do that and they just walked past him letting him cry in the middle of the isle. Any time someone put in their two weeks – they were immediately let go. They made up policies and refused to put any notifications down. Nothing in the break rooms. Nothing on the clock in stations. Nothing on the office windows and then would write people up for not following them. Firing people who would reach X amount of write ups. I can't tell you how many people would go to back room and cry.
Due to this – and me caring for my fellow employees and knowing as a previous manager that what they were doing was morally wrong (although I was unsure about legal factors) I had asked the manager I had known for ever what was going on. Our GM was out sick for 3 months almost and this woman took over. She was known for being petty and she made the schedule and would make it as she wanted and not what was best for the employees. Well I had asked her what the new policy was that people were upset over and her answer was “Well you're not in trouble with it yet and it doesn't concern you so why do you care and why should I tell you?” . And so we had a public little conversation where I stated that what they were doing was wrong and they should at least notify the team of the changes instead of getting them into trouble. That what they were doing made it seem like they were trying to get people in trouble. She got incredibly upset and my schedule the next week went from 45 hours to 18. And for the next 2 months under the promise of more hours but we were just “slow” I worked what I could, tried to pick up shifts and all. Asking every week and telling them that I couldn't survive off of 18 hours. That I didn't understand because I could shift lead, line cook, grill cook, prep cook, back up, dish, inventory, food order, truck, host, cashier, serve, to-go, SA. Anything. It made no sense that I was the most versatile worker they had and they couldn't find hours for me. Yet they hired like 3 more cooks and many others in the other positions. My stress level grew, anxiety and all and tension was breaking out sure. Finally the GM come back and I asked her if we could sit down and discuss the situation and get everything cleared up. That I needed to go back to full time or I'd have to find another job in order to survive. She talked to the other managers and came back to me saying that the reason my hours were cut was because of my attitude. That the managers were scared to work with me. That I made workers cry and refused to do any work. And that once I proved myself I'd get my hours back. And she even stated “i've worked with you for years and that's never been you so I don't understand what's going on”. I tried to tell her she's been gone for 3 months and none of that stuff happened. I asked her to show me the write ups that I would HAVE TO HAVE if they were punishing me for attitude problems. Not a single write up in my file. One week later – schedule comes out, 18 hours. So I told them I had to quit or I couldn't pay my bills. They refused one last time to give me more hours so I took another job that was offered to me. Two managers afterwards told some people I was close with that the situation was wrong and that it was all planned in order to get me to quit. Those two have since left as well.
Fast forward – Due to some military disability issues, the factory life isn't going great. So I have recently applied and interviewed to go back to a DIFFERENT cracker barrel that's close to home. They want to hire me on the spot and everything. Give me shirts and talk about management again and everything. Then when I go in today – it comes back that the previous store put me as a Do not re-hire due to not giving a 2 weeks notice. I explained to the GM that I gave them 2 months notice and tried to resolve any issue I had including going to HR to try and clear things up when the manager involved refused to speak to me. I promised him that I'm nothing but a positive asset to the team and he's reaching out to the District manager to see if they can over-turn my Do not re-hire status. The problem is – the same GM I had is now one of the two DM's that help manage the area I'm in. So I feel that 4 years of my hardest work, dedication, and love for a job is threatened because of a manager who got embarrassed for doing the wrong things decided to put me under. I feel that If I just kept my head down, didn't stand up for the other workers I'd be fine. That's not me, but also financially – I can't let a situation like that happen again.
But how the heck am I suppose to love working again when it can all turn around so easily? How am I suppose to feel motivated and part of a team at any job again? I know to look for other job fields and I'm actively applying to jobs. Due to the military disability I'm trying to find something more remote and easier on me – but cooking wasn't too bad. It's just, I'm struggling hard on my end right now and this job would be the break I need in order to get life together and an issue from 2 years ago for standing up for the team may ruin it for me.