When I was younger I worked for a major corporation hotel chain and I loved it. I learned a lot and I was young, energetic and naive, well unfortunately I would pick up shifts that I didn’t really want to but did it anyways because I thought, “it’s extra money and overtime”. My main department was working at the intake department for produce, dairy, meat and dry-goods for the restaurants. I would help out other departments like banquets and other restaurants (serve, food run, bartend, etc). So my general shifts at my main department would be 6am-3pm with a 30min break. Since I would usually say yes to pickup a shift with maybe a 30min notice I was usually the person other department managers would ask first. Going to my memory. I was working my 6am-3pm shift and around 2:00ish, the manager at the bar asked if I wanted to pick up a food running shift “for a bit” after my shift. I said sure and made a mistake for not asking what time I would get off. So I show up and about a couple hours in my shift he tells me to go on lunch. I responded with, “why do I need to take a lunch if I’m only helping out a couple of hours?”. He said, “No you’re staying to food run until we close”. Which is 1am. I looked at him and said, “No I never agreed to that.” And then he started arguing with me saying that he already sent home his other food runner (who is the main food runner for that department) home. I told him that was his own problem and I wouldn’t have agreed to work a 19 hour shift, I had to be back at my main department at 6am the next day and it’s a 30 min commute one way so that’s already an hour taken away from personal time. After that he started to belittle me and tell me, “well blah and blah would have stayed their whole shift” “you’re just a lazy associate, i don’t know why they hired you”. I responded with, “then get them to do it, I’m not doing that and I’m not going to argue with you anymore”. I took off my apron and walked out and told him to never ask me to pick up a shift again.
Then it got worse when I transferred to another restaurant department and then he shortly after transferred/promoted to that same department. He would write me up for the littlest things. He once told me, “good luck finding another job you barely qualify for this job”. Even though I had won multiple associate of the quarters. I quickly quit afterwords.
Writing this is making my blood boil. Thinking back I was blinded by the corporate life and made excuses for shitty managers to other people. Also it was weird it was like a competition to see who can work the most hours there. I personally work 80-90 hour work weeks. But the “winner” was 110 hours in a week. Which is such a sad competition. I liked it during the time but reflecting back there was too much bullshit to say that I like it now. Happy to be out of there and into another field that’s better for me.
Thanks to anyone who’s reading.