I’ve worked as a waiter for this small restaurant for about two years now. I’ve started out really not being able to do much but towards my prime I had truly mastered the craft of service. It got to the point where I could easily run the whole restaurant by myself if it was a light day, and when other employees where there I was unofficially appointed as their manager.
TLDR: I was good at my job, and got along with everyone.
About a year into my job I suffered an injury to my hand which cut my tendon with a chunk of glass(on my birthday lol). I had to take some time off work obviously because I was in a cast. When I came back I was right back into work and business as usual. Slowly I started getting more responsibilities for work. It was a family owned place, and I was the first ever employee to ever been given a code to the system and was allowed to check people out and punch in orders. I worked really hard to get to that point. I’d often have to clean the whole dining area by myself then have to go to the kitchen to wash the dishes because we were understaffed. I was also payed late anywhere between 2 weeks to sometimes a month and a half. They also took all my tips that I received. I live in Ontario and those are both illegal. I never once complained because they were fairly nice to me despite the job being insanely difficult for me. They were also a small family and I figured they needed as much money as they could get. I’m a teenager and I don’t need a job to survive, I just wanted one to buy things for myself and save up. So, I didn’t care.
Fast forward 6 months and I’m basically a manger. I get payed minimum wage like everyone else of course, but I have more responsibilities than other employees. None of the other employees could take orders, check people out, or help customers if they had any concerns. They just essentially carried stuff to tables which I was fine with.
My mother always taught me that if I’m doing something I should never do it half-assed. And my dad taught me to not worry about what anyone else was doing and just always make sure that I’m doing my best. Those two lessons are probably why I tried to quit multiple times and management wouldn’t take me seriously and just kept asking me to come in for more shifts(which I did stupidly). I became too good at my job and learned a hard lesson about that. But I was close with everyone and had a crush on the owners daughter who worked there and we became very close friends so I stayed. They also fed me once a day, often drove me home, the manager even payed for my Uber every night since I would always finish work late and she saw me as a son to her. I live with a single father so I also saw her like a mother figure in someway. There are two owners, the front of house (We’ll call her “Steph” and the chef who will be “Robert”). They are divorced.
My hand that had surgery became infected about three weeks ago and around the same time it was confirmed to me that the girl I had a crush on doesn’t have any feelings towards me back. This and the fact that they started hiring more staff, I felt more comfortable quitting. So I did. My last day was Sunday two weeks ago. I was scheduled to come Tuesday (because they didn’t take me seriously about quitting) but I texted the owner that I wasn’t able to make it and I was planning on quitting anyway so I’ll just quit. She wasn’t very happy to say the least.
Here’s when she started showing her true colours. After I left the restaurant started to get a number of negative reviews. A coworker had told me that Steph was telling everyone that all the bad reviews where apparently all from my last day and people just forgot to review it then and waited a few days. I texted Robert that I saw the bad reviews and felt terrible because I left the co workers without teaching them all that I know. So, I offered to come in for free for 2-3 hours over a few days to train them and then leave. Robert thanked me and said that if I really wanted to I should talk to Steph, but I should focus on getting better and healing my hand. I thought that was the end of it.
What actually happened is that Robert told his daughter( her name will be Megan) of my idea because he genuinely thought they might need the help. Megan however, despite being close friends with me for 2 years decided to tell Steph that I thought I was better than all of them and they needed to come in to save them from their selves. Steph then sent me a text message that I didn’t need to send a message like that to Robert and proceeded to remind me of that I was shitty.
She sent me that message at 7:28
I was there at 7:45
This woman who I had been working myself to physical exhaustion over for two years, dealing with drunk people all the time, having her not show up/ show up late when I needed help. Having badmouth my dad in front of me. The payments I received so late and basically working for free for weeks. The tips that I worked hard for given to her. My hand quite literally doesn’t work the same anymore and instead of filing it as a workplace injury and costing them thousands I chose not to. The most heartbreaking thing is when I serve a huge table for hours, have the customer ask me: “how do I leave a tip for you?” And me telling them that “they really didn’t have to, and that I was just happy they had a good time”. And they respond every time with : “no no you deserve it” or “you shouldn’t do anything you’re good at for free”. Then seeing it get printed on the bill and knowing that I’ll never get to see that money.
So I went inside and argued with her. I’ve never in my anxiety/ depression filled life ever stood up for myself. In my two years there I never made anyone feel like I thought that. I was friends with everyone. Even the people much older than me. As soon as I walked in Megan’s face turned blank white. Steph sat there trying to gaslight me into believing that I thought all my co workers are losers. And that I thought they needed me. I have no idea why her daughter decided to tell her all of this. It was confirmed for me when I asked her if she even read the message I sent Robert. She said no. And when I showed it to her she was speechless and tried so hard to find something in the message I sent to prove her point. All while laughing at everything I was saying to make me feel like all my points where invalid. She started to name off all the mistakes that I’ve made during my two years. In which I told her about the tips and she said that “my shitty service never deserved it”. And then I asked her about my hand that I continue to suffer from in which she said that “that’s you”re fault for being irresponsible”. So I got up and said “oh yeah? Well then I’ll see you in court” and I walked out. I’m going to sue her for my tips. And for my late payments. She badmouthed me for quitting and tried to make me feel so small.