I am working as a server. Recently, I changed jobs to a restaurant, where the shift placement enables me to have more time with my partner and her child, who is rapidly starting to perceive me as a new parent.
New job promised me less shifts in the 12 to 13hrs range and a lot of flexibility, concerning shift distribution. So far, so good. I start and there's a lot more all-day-workdays than I was led to believe, but the flexibility concerning shifts is actually there, as long as I give my restaurant manager about two weeks notice about when I need which shifts. It's not the same level of “I enjoy my work” as in my previous position, but pay is decent and tips are pretty good. And I left my previous job in order to get a different time table, than always evenings until late at night.
Then the unthinkable happens. I get sick and have the audacity of not being able to work for one and a half weeks. I have a lot of psychological issues, for which I am in treatment and actually very stable. But life really gave me the big middle finger for several weeks straight, which, together with the stress of getting used to a new, high stress work environment, meant that I broke down. Hard. Almost had to be hospitalised.
When I get back, I talk to my restaurant manager. She's an absolute treasure. Older woman, who's seen everything and doesn't take shit from anyone, respects you, if you show that you're competent and are willing to put in the work. Because she's a respectful person and likes honest and open communication, she tells me something, that my boss didn't want her to tell me. I would have been fired already, because he “doesn't need people who get sick within the first few months of starting at his place”. I only still have the job, because she argued with him and made him relent on this. Really grateful towards her for that. But she also tells me, that if I should get sick again within the next six months or so, I'll lose the job, because within that timeframe he could still fire me without a reason, because that's how long the “probation phase” runs. (This is Germany and otherwise there would be labour laws preventing you from firing an employee because they got sick.)
I have a chronic illness and therefore I need to expect that I might have to take a leave from work at some point in the future and I am not going to continue working for someone, who doesn't seem to value me as a human being, but as an asset to be discarded, once it doesn't “function” properly for a short while. He's still operating under the assumption that he could replace a good server (and I do my job very well, under normal circumstances) at a whim and that the labor market would just spit out a new cog for his machine, right away. My manager knows, that's not the case, that's why she argued with him, until he gave me “a second chance”.
I say, “fuck that noise”. I called five high end places today and have interviews lined up at three of those, within the week. One of the two others isn't looking at the moment, but gave me about four other addresses and the second one is desperately looking for employees, but just wasn't open today. I think, we'll see who's easily replaced in the current state of the gastronomy sector. Good luck finding someone new, because I will fuck off the second I got a new contract lined up…