So I used to work as a host at a local restaurant. I was there for about three years. Had a great working environment and a couple of managers that were some of the best people I’ve ever known. I still stay in touch with them, they’re that wonderful. Things could be stressful at times, but everyone genuinely cared about each other there.
A little over a year ago, the general manager put in her two-week notice. She got a better job elsewhere. Not long after she left, the assistant manager also put in her two-week notice. Things were kinda turbulent at this time.
The owners had to bring in a manager from another restaurant they owned out-of-state, as a “temporary manager” until they could find a replacement. That’s when things started going downhill.
This temp manager started making changes, specifically to my area. She made me change the way I do my job, which had been perfectly fine for three years up to that point. She took away the chairs at the host stand, because they “looked unprofessional.” You get the idea.
It didn’t take long before I’d had enough and put in my own two-week notice. I had another, better-paying job in a similar position, so I wasn’t worried. The temp got really passive aggressive with me after that. My favorite interaction with her was when she asked why I didn’t know what tables were open, and I responded by telling her she wouldn’t let me leave the host stand to go check. I was told to not give her an attitude lmao.
Anyway, I ended up not completing the two weeks I’d given her notice for. One of the other hostesses had asked her if it would be just she and myself working the next day, and the temp had answered “If I let him come in tomorrow, yes.”
I decided to spare her the trouble of making the choice and texted her the next day, saying I wouldn’t be coming in so she should probably find someone to fill the shift if she didn’t want to do it herself. I then blocked her number and that was that. She had two hours of warning, which is more than fair imo, considering she contemplated making me drive a half an hour to work just to be sent back immediately.
I wasn’t the first to leave that place over the shitty temp manager, and I know I wasn’t the last. I hear from some people still working there that the place has just lost its heart and soul, and that makes me kinda sad. Definitely the best place I’ve ever worked at, and it sucks to see it fall like this.
But it’s okay. I’m working in a similar position at a better-paying place, with fewer hours a day, so things are going smoothly. I’m gonna start trying to figure out what I want to do long term though. I can’t work as a host forever.