At my current job where I work as a waitress, there’s so so many issues within the workplace that make it a horrible place to work. Before anyone asks why I haven’t quit sooner, the people I work alongside are lovely and the chefs feel like parents to me. But enough is enough.
I’m only 22, I’m fairly timid and standing up for myself is a tough task that thankfully I’m getting better at. I sat down with some members of management where I work and told them that we don’t get breaks even if doing a 12+ hour shift, I’m doing the job of five different employees yet still on minimum wage and without tips anymore as the payment system has changed, there’s bullying of staff by management, some staff leave at 1am to return at 9am… a whole lot of issues that make it a bad place to work. And a whole lot of issues that I’m sure break working laws here in the UK.
I sat down and had this meeting with them to be told that there’s nothing they can do, they can’t find anyone else who wants to work there to ease the amount of work current staff have to do, they can’t increase wages because the company already isn’t making much of a profit. I mean, to me it sounds like issues within management than issues within serving staff but I didn’t even want to go there.
When I mentioned that I’d been looking for other jobs and that I was thinking of leaving they expressed surprise. I’m the only person who can do some of the work, the other waitresses aren’t good enough as they’re only young, so I know if I left it’d leave the place struggling. They asked how this job compared to job listings online and I told them the truth, there were no perks or breaks or anything that sold this job to me, whereas other jobs had better pay and other employee perks.
Now. Thankfully I’ve had several job interviews recently that have all gone well, and I’ve managed to secure a job at a very lovely place with fantastic pay and incredible perks. I honestly can’t wait. And I can’t wait to see the looks on their faces when I complete my last shifts this week and tell them I’m leaving with little to no notice as I’m only on a zero hours contract. Good riddance.