I got a job at a busy brewpub as Head Brewer. Let's say it was on the East Coast.
There was a younger lad who had been the assistant and was filling in as the previous Head Brewer had quit.
Now this lad (we will call him AB) was a bit perturbed at me getting the job. He was convinced that he should have been a shoe in. Unfortunately, the place was a shambles – no record keeping, the place was filthy, the barrel aged beers were awful, and none of the beers being made were to spec (wrong abv, carbonation level, color, etc) – so it is understandable that AB did not get the job.
From the start AB made things awkward, refusing to follow basic instructions or change his work practices, wandering off when he was supposed to working, etc. The front of house staff were also giving me the stink eye (which I later found out was due to him bad mouthing me). So I had a friendly chat with him and told him that I understand that it sucks that they didn't give him the job, but it wasn't my fault, I just applied for a job. I suggested that this may be a good learning opportunity for him as I have been in the industry for longer than he has been alive, worked on three continents, been published, I have won several awards, and I have guest lectured at universities, the state guild, and the BA.
He actually took this rather well and the following week he was a pleasure to work with.
I told the owners thinking that they would be happy that I had dealt with an issue. Instead they fired him.
That was the first red flag.
I also discovered that they had not kept a person in my role for more than a year. A red flag in hindsight.
When I started the owners told me that I was “management level” and the General Manager and I were on par. This was great, he was a knowledgeable person and we had great communication. Unfortunately he quit soon after I started (red flag three). The new GM came in and started ordering me around, He would come into my work place and take equipment away without asking, stack up tables and chairs in my brewery without considering how dangerous it was, eat meals in this space and leave his plate (lovely hygiene), even tell me that I should make beer in certain ways that just showed that he had zero beer knowledge. So I talked to the owners whom assured me that he was now my boss and he could do anything that he wanted. Huge red flag.
Next red flag – I found out that they do a special beer once a year. One prior to me starting was an anti-mask beer. Personally, I have had two friends die of COVID-19 and would have refused to have anything to do with it. Then there was a seriously pro-Trump label for the time that I was there. Now that is definitely not my political leaning but the label wasn't offensive so I carried on with it, only to hear one of the owners say to the other “I hope the l!bt@rds choke on this.”
Red flag six – if I sat down for even a second the owners would scowl at me. Even if I was doing paperwork.
Breweries get busy in the summer. I was working a minimum of 60 hours a week, brewing, kegging, canning, generally running a whole brewery myself with one helper for less than 15 per week. I was exhausted, starting at 6am and getting home at 8-9pm most nights (it was not unheard of me to be there past midnight), with a half day at the weekend. I would drive out pick up my child from school and drive back to do more work. It should be noted that this is a physical job, kegs are 130lb and grain bags are 55lb. I was literally shifting tonnes every day.
Next, even though we agreed at the start that I would have flexible hours because I have a child that needs picking up from school, they started insisting that I clock in and keep set hours because they want to know where I was at all times. In your fucking brewery, that's where I was every waking moment.
Also, my kid was no longer allowed in the brewery because “it is not a creche”. I wasn't sure what to do with my kid when they were not in school – its not like I could remote work.
All of this and I was earning less than the servers. Servers are great and I do not begrudge them their wage but I have the equivalent of a post grad in my profession. So I approached the owners and asked them for a raise. Not in the budget. Buying a super car was though.
More red flags than a race car crash.
The final straw was my six month review, where I was told that I was slacking off because the outside of the tanks were not getting cleaned enough. He literally said to this exhausted guy who was putting in 60 hours a week minimum that he was “not working hard enough”.
Now usually I would give two months notice so that they could get a new brewer in and I could train them up on the kit. However, one of the owners had been bitching to me about how the kitchen manager had quit without two weeks notice and that they deserve two weeks. In fact it should be company policy! So I gave them two weeks.
I had a job lined up which is my current role – a third more pay, 40 hours a week with assurance that if it goes over I will get an assistant, flexible hours, my own office, shift meals and drinks (the previous place gave a 15% discount), and owners who are decent people.
The person they replaced me with has been fired from every previous job for either sexual harassment or violent conduct. Now I did contemplate telling them, even after all the issues that I have mentioned (there were several more), however, there was no need. The owners asked me if I had heard any rumours about this person. I said yes but would be interested in what they had heard. They knew everything about his sexual assaults, violence towards colleagues, even his spousal abuse, but “he's a good brewer so that shouldn't matter, just rumours anyway.”