I was the assistant manager of a chain restaurant location in my home town, and left my job as a high school math teacher to do so because it was a significantly better pay option. The GM there was only supposed to be temporary and I was hired with the plan of me moving into that position when ready.
A little over a week ago we got our P&L report and had very egregious losses due to absurdly high labor cost (scheduling was done by the GM) and a slightly high food cost. The GM, who knew his spot at this store would be taken by me eventually, decided the best way to correct the P&L and secure his spot there would be to blame me high food costs and fire me to save on the most expensive labor in the store (besides him).
So I got to work and was told by him that HR was here to speak with us. The GM requested I be fired for “stealing from the company” due to excessive order comping. I did comp a significant amount of order, but it was entirely justified in my opinion in the name of understanding small-town customer service. Additionally, I provided proof that the order comps on my days workings averaged the same or less than on days I was not working, but that didn’t matter because he already wanted me fired for labor reasons.
Now for the most important part, the timing of this move was completely unethical and morally repugnant because senior management had a major bonus coming for Christmas, and it only required food standing with the company through 12/25. I was going to get a bonus of about $2,500 but now I am not only jobless days before Christmas but also swindled out of a bonus that was going to be absolutely financially necessary for me.
I’ve never worked longer or harder weeks than I did at this place, which I won’t name but is very easy to see from my recent post history, and they completely stabbed me in the back right before Christmas. Sucks, man.