Throw away account because my partner and I can't afford a litigation happy nuisance who will get theirs soon anyways.
My partner and I were working in a take away restaraunt in a busy beach town, When we started there was an understanding that F(24f) would be promoted to cook as soon as staffing was found for front end, I (29m) started as a cook.
Once busy season starts and the place is fully staffed, we both realize a clear gender divide, but shake it off as a coincidence (we later found out it was not).
We just rolled with it because we could work opposite schedules so we could avoid childcare for our 2 kids and pay was enough to get by. However, the work environment was highly toxic, but only when the owner was present as he was the source of toxicity. Berating staff, throwing things, threatening to fire people, and always reminding everyone that we are replaceable. Other cooks and I take up pretty much all the tasks required to run the place just so owner never has an excuse to show up, and this worked for the most part and kept the staff happy.
Winter time rolls around and we remain despite lower hours and no tips, and after the other cook secretly trains my partner to be a cook, he tells owner that he will be leaving and has already trained his replacement. Owner is not happy, but deals with it because he won't have to worry about training a new cook.
The busy season begins again and everything is going well except owner has raised prices on all menu items by a dollar, and the whole staff notices a huge drop in tips, effectively cutting our income by a quarter.
Everyone asks for a 50 cent raise but is denied other than my partner and I because we are the only ones that know how to run the place due to turnover and lack of cross training. Owner than buys a brand new sports car.
Things go OK, but everyone is pretty miserable because owner begins to micromanage hard and is popping into the shop despite not being needed.
NOW
The previous summer we would stop taking orders once the wait time was long enough that any more orders would be coming out after closing. My partner and I worked on the assumption the same would apply this year.
Then one day out of the blue, after my partner stops taking orders 30 minutes before close because we were at an hour wait time, owner calls partner and fires her over it.
Big mistake, partner comes home distraught and I begin plotting.
See, we had noticed that the revenue being reported to the irs, was different than what revenue showed in the POS, and it was off by a couple hundred a week.
We also found out that our taxes had never been filed on his end when we moved to w-2 employees instead of 1099.
So I brought most of the staff together (excluded those that had expressed an inability to act in solidarity), we made a list of demands, and sent them with the threat of a walk out.
Owner had just bought a new car, booked a cruise, and got back with gold digger girlfriend. So the time was ripe to completely ruin his summer.
He fired me on the spot and tried to get everyone else to stay. One agreed to 2 weeks and the rest walked, the one employee that was excluded walked once the owner tried to dump all the responsibilities on him.
The shop has now reduced its operating hours, has had a litany of bad reviews, and is now being run by an asshole who once said to me “I'm just done with working and want to live my life, that's why I bought a restaurant”.
Well, have fun working all summer with no help, watching your reviews go from 5 star to 3, closing your business for an entire week in the summer and reducing hours and I want to wish you a merry Tax Season mother fucker.