summary: my manager made me work 6hrs on a injured foot and then i got fired bc i had to call out the next day since i couldn’t walk
just wanted to share my story and thought this was an appropriate place to do so. i’m a teenager and i worked at a local brewery as a barback from november-midway through march. i liked it a lot at first, having no breaks sucked (that’s legal in my state as long as the employee is above 16) and ended up worsening my back (i injured it badly as a child so standing for long periods of time really hurts) and putting up with weird drunk people (especially creepy men i’m a fairly attractive girl) was annoying but overall it was fine. pretty easy job and rlly nice pay for a teen.
however i noticed a change in attitude towards me from mgmt after a day that i called out. i called out bc a couple days prior i went to the er and needed recovery time so pretty valid reason to call out. mgmt was very passive aggressive towards me after this point and the next time i came in after calling out my boss came in to chat with me ab how i can only call out if i’m physically unable to come in. (also very passive aggressive and id never called out unless i rlly couldn’t come in)
anyways right before going into my last shift there i rolled my ankle and it hurt like hell. upon coming in i told my manager that it hurt to walk on it, it was manageable at the time but i was worried that after my 6 hr shift id have an injury. she shrugged laughed and told me “well we don’t have another barback available tn” and she never even asked any of the other staff members if they could come in.
so night goes on and it’s the busiest night i’d worked by far, it was a saturday night and for 30 min-hour long periods at a time i had not a single second to stop working. as i’m piled with tasks i see my manager and other bartender eating pizza and scrolling on their phones. not longer than an hour in and my foot was bruised swollen and throbbing. my dad had to bring in ibuprofen for me and when my manager saw she said “oh i have some haha” okay thanks for the late offer?? she not once asked me how my foot was doing. i had to deal with some creepy guy telling me to smile bc it looks pretty on me for like 45 mins, only didn’t tell him to shut it bc he looked so similar to my boss i thought they were related. got multiple comments from customers applauding me for my hard work. one guy tried to tip me $25 and i had to tell him that i couldn’t accept tips. (mgmt doesn’t allow it bc i “make too much” even tho the bartenders get tipped for doing 1/4 of the work) after rejecting i cried in the bathroom knowing this was my last shift. i told my manager that i was being flirted with and she shrugged it off as “yeah that happens here haha” regardless if this guy being like 60 and me obviously being a minor. at one point she was walking behind me and gave me a light shove and told me to speed up. anyways absolutely horrendous night and never even got a thank you or good job for working 6 hrs on a limp.
next day i obviously had to call out bc i couldn’t walk. next day i see that i’ve been removed from the barback group chat. i call my boss and he told me i was fired for calling out too many times. first time i called out i had covid, second i was sick, third i suffered a heart injury that sent me to the er, and the final was their fault. i was so confused as to why this got me fired and why there was no warning. he told me that our little chat was my warning and i explained that that makes no sense bc i’ve never called out without being physically incapable of working. this mf goes “well frankly it wouldn’t matter if your car exploded on the way to work we just can’t have unreliable workers with unsteady lives. tell you what call me back in a couple months and if your life is more stable then we’ll put you on the schedule” hellll no goodbye. thanks for the injury that i’m still suffering from three weeks later. glad i got tf out of that place but horrible and humiliating experience. anyways there’s my story, and fellow teens, don’t be a barback.