So I’m currently just a server at a small restaurant owned by a couple of NBA players while I finish my bachelors degree. I’ve noticed over the last year of me working there that I’m typically the only person who speaks out against mistreatment or has the balls to tell a manager that what they are doing is wrong. While I have never done or said anything to warrant firing me, I have gotten on their bad side because I don’t let them walk all over me or talk to me like an idiot.
I’ve advocated for my coworkers many times as well when they tried to make them pay for a tables entire tab when they dined and dashed (illegal) or clocked them out for a break they did not take (wage theft). When one of my managers, who is totally moronic and can’t handle an ounce of stress to the point he will turn away customers when we only currently have 1/3 of the restaurant full, talks down to me or others I often will let him know that he shouldn’t talk to people that why and he’s not being helpful. I’ll even give him a little attitude back sometimes if what he said was offensive in the first place. Hey, just cause you are a manager doesn’t mean you don’t have to earn respect from people. Newsflash: being an asshole manager doesn’t make people better employees. Quite the opposite actually.
Well, according to the internet, I am a “toxic employee,” that needs to learn how to “obey” and “respect.” Some traits of a toxic employee are “productiveness, following the rules, and overconfidence.” They can be “hard to identify because they complete tasks quickly and are high performers.” But they are toxic because they question the superiors, instill distrust in the other employees (by speaking out against the boss), and they ask “toxicity triggering questions.” In addition, some warning signs are not having something nice to say about a previous employer, they will praise themselves when they do something well instead of always giving credit to the “team,” and they can convince other employees to quit.
Left unpunished, “toxic employee may cause other employees to become defiant.” Hilariously, there are dozens of resources on Google for how to handle the “brilliant but toxic employee.” Since they don’t technically do anything wrong, they can be hard to fire. But they are smart enough to not be the little sheep and put up with shitty bosses and encourage others to stand up for themselves, which then hurts the business. Instead of changing their own behavior, they seek to quiet the “toxic” employee.
Hah. Gotta love it.