Hi, first time server here. I’m 22M. I’ve been working at a very large family owned restaurant for about a month and a half, and I’m about to quit now.
Two of the three managers (not owners) are husband and wife. The husband makes a habit of touching the younger female servers’ lower backs, and when he was asked to stop by an older woman sticking up for the girls, they were all fired by the wife manager.
We’re not typically given breaks on our 12+ hour shifts. Today I was about to pass out (low blood sugar) and asked the third manager if I could take a break. He said yes of course. The wife manager found out, grabbed me by the shoulders really hard and shook me, calling me a “whiney toddler baby” and that I can’t have a break because other people are tired too. She used the phrase “Mommy’s worked 70 hours. Mommy’s tired too!” after she shook me (I’ve worked 50 hours this week).
I’ve never in my life had a manager lay their hands on me so I just walked off and took the break anyways. I later told the third manager about this, but he only laughed at me.
The turnover rate is super high, and people get fired for the smallest things. We also don’t get any discounts or shift meals and are not allowed to bring in outside food.
I feel unsupported by people in my life who feel like I should stay to gain experience, but I can’t gain experience when during a 12 hour shift I only get 8 tables at most and typically only walk with $60-100 in tips. 90% of the job is side work and cleaning but I only get paid $3.89 per hour.
I was told not to quit by a few people, but this is insane, right?