Okay I'm sure there's worse, but it really sucks. I just talked with my brother about how my restaurant job essentially just fired me for missing 2 weeks of work due to COVID. He told me I should post the story on this subreddit so somebody could validate my rage for this place so here I am.
I've worked for the same restaurant in a wealthy neighborhood through the entirety of the pandemic so far. Besides dealing with the typical challenges of serving in a pandemic (is it the only job where someone can take their mask off in front of you but you can't?) and customers treating you like a peasant, we've had at least 3 staff outbreaks where more than 2 staff were diagnosed. As the infection waves kept coming management started to keep it a secret about staff getting sick – we would find out from our fellow coworkers. At one point more than half the staff was positive for COVID and the owner refused to close the restaurant. This is when I got COVID.
While all that was happening, they also had the audacity to require us to take a menu exam the size of the SATs, threatening to fire us if we didn’t score high enough and trying to bait us with $25 Amazon gift cards if we did well. Oh yeah, and management got busted for stealing thousands of dollars in tips from us. Salaried management was included in our tip pool which is illegal in my state.
Anyway, I have asthma so it hasn’t been fun. My doctor is considering me a long hauler and referred me for cardiac therapy. The other day I let my boss know on pretty short notice that I realized I was too sick to come in. I was pressuring myself to go because I was losing a ton of income. Her response was that she’s taking away all of my hours and that ‘she can’t run a business like this’. So I got laid off for having COVID which I probably got working for y’all.
It’s the worst company I’ve ever worked for. I recently was welcomed to the team officially on a farm I volunteered on for years and it’s amazing how motivated you can be at your job when you know your employer actually cares about you. It’s not enough hours though, so I’m desperately trying to find a remote job that will let me heal from COVID.