Tl;dr at the bottom. I work in the kitchen of a fancy grocery store. We've got quite a few stations, I mostly work in the back doing cooking and production, and there's a couple stations up front with the customers – the Service Counter.
I hate working the Service Counter because I'm a busybody and there's nothing to do while you wait for our entitled customers to come and tell you how much chicken salad they want, but I'm scheduled to do it 1-2 times a week and I do it.
We just got a new Assistant Manager in our department. Last night he was clearly scheduled to close the Service Counter (scoop the chicken salad for the people). I was clearly scheduled to close Production (make the chicken salad from scratch in the back).
We've had some covid outages this week and so the schedule has been rearranged, and on Friday I saw that they had printed off new schedules – I knew they were new because the colors were super bright – everything was the exact same for me, though, so I thought none of it. (I -always- take a picture of the schedule because of an incident where they changed my days off without informing me and then called me in on my day off because I was “on the schedule.” I was able to prove I didn't no call-no show because I had the picture).
Last night, three and a half hours into my shift, New Manager (AH) comes up and says –
AH: “Hey, I see that the schedule says you're on Production, but that's actually a mistake. In Kronos [the scheduling software] you're actually closing the Service Counter tonight.”
Me: “Excuse me? How is the printed schedule different than what's in Kronos?”
AH: “There must have been some mistake.”
Me: “How?”
AH: “Well there's all sorts of people in there, editing things, and things get mixed up.”
Me: “But on Friday the schedules were printed brand-new. Wouldn't that have been fixed on Friday?”
AH: “Well, I did print them on Friday, but I guess it wasn't.”
Me: “So the schedule had me on Production on Friday when you printed it, and someone went in between Friday and today and changed it? But nobody who has access to Kronos was working yesterday. Did one of you do it from home?”
AH stumbles for workds.
Me: “I also know the schedule has to get approval from the Store Manager every time it's made or changed. Did someone change it from home yesterday, and then Store Manager approved it from home as well?”
AH: “Well, we don't have a closer for the Service Counter, so somebody has to do it.”
At this point I walk off and go over to the schedule and confirm that, yes, AH's name is scheduled to close the Service Counter.
I go up to him again.
“Hey, I see on there it's very clear that you are scheduled to close the service counter.”
AH: “But I'm actually needed on hot bar.”
Me: “We've got two people scheduled on hot bar which is one more than normal – and I know you've already trained on hot bar, but you haven't trained on the Service Counter yet. Do you think (Department Manager) made the schedule that way so you could train on the Service Counter?”
Fumbles for words again.
“There hasn't been anyone working Production in three days on a holiday weekend, and I'm already in the middle of things – I've got chicken in the oven and have already diced veggies and completed half my production list (as I gesture to the messy table I've got full of production). I'm not sure if it's the right thing to do to have me have to stop all of that and stand at the Service Counter – unless you know how to complete these recipes?” I wave them in his face.
He doesn't.
Finally he says that it's okay and he'll close the service counter.
“Let me know if you need any help with the closing duties,” I say. “You probably saw the email that I was just promoted to the Training Supervisor so I'm here to answer your questions.”
HA~!~!!!!!!
He -definitely- only wanted me working the service counter so he could fuck off in the back or on the computer, and so he wouldn't have to do the cleaning at the end of the night (service counter has a LOT of cleaning).
He also thought that since I am young and a woman he could probably just tell me to do something and I'd do it. Well he just learned that I didn't get promoted because I'm a corporate schmuck, but because I am a vicious, malicious complier and I want shit done the way it needs to be done and I am not afraid to speak my mind.
Later in the evening he came back and was trying to talk to me and be all buddy-buddy and nice and seem all cool. I was professional.
I doubt he fucks with me like that again. But if he does I am READY.
Tl;dr – New middle manager tried to get me to work the shittiest station in the kitchen because “the schedule is wrong.” He's obviously lying to try and get out of harder work. I prove to him the schedule is correct in many different ways, catching him in embarrassing lies and making him admit his inexperience in the process. Then I throw my newly-granted promotion in his face while I kindly, professionally, but patronizingly let him know I'm here to help him.