Power-Tripping Manager Tells Employee To Not Do Their Job, Backfires Terribly

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  • 01
    Font - A manager told me not to do part of my job, so I didn't. L This was a few years ago when I worked in a 4 star hotel chain that would be very well known and was part of a larger company that had hotels of varying status. I was about 24. There were a few of us who worked primarily in room service and the breakfast shift was always a solo shift. One morning I started and as was customary I started doing my prep, folding napkins, setting up 5/6 trays with pastries etc. per the pre-ordered bre
  • 02
    Font - I just get finished with this when the Duty Manager (I can't remember his full name but nickname was Prem) bursts into the kitchen with a dirty plate in his hand and sees me in my area while putting it in the pile of dishes for the kitchen porter. He tells across the kitchen "What are you doing? It's so crazy out there that I have to help clear tables and you are back here? Get out and help!" I replied that I had not gone up and walked the halls to collect the trays left out overnight yet
  • 03
    Font - For the record, Prem was a menace. I witnessed him yell in college girls faces until they cried several times. He would also routinely pick on anyone that was minimum wage floor staff. So I walk into the restaurant and the supervisor (Jen) is at the door and sees me walk in. She covers for room service and has worked it in the past so she knows I should be collecting trays now so that the place doesn't look like a warzone upstairs. She asks if l've done this and I say no, Prem sent me in
  • 04
    Font - "I went in and Jen said they don't need me and told me to collect the trays." He then accuses me of going to her and asking can I go collect trays to get out of helping so I tell him he can in and ask her if she called me or if I approached her. This satisfies him that I'm at least not lying but he's still not happy. He says "I'm the duty manager. Manager. Jen is a supervisor. I'm higher up so you do what I tell you. Go in there and help clear tables. I don't want to see you going up to c
  • 05
    Font - My shift is until 3PM and breakfast ended at 10:30AM. At this point nobody has been upstairs and housekeeping will have been putting out dirty trays. I get a call on the room service mobile from a housekeeping manager saying that floor 4 has a dozen or so trays in the hall. "I'm sorry the duty manager has prioritised other areas at the moment and has said I cannot go up."
  • 06
    Font - I start doing my afternoon prep, polishing cutlery and the like. About 12PM I get another call, this time from the housekeepings top manager. She tells me there is trays everywhere and I politely apologise and explain that my duty manager has used the exact words "I don't want to see you going up to collect trays." She accepts this without question and asks that I help when I can. At 2PM I get a call from the hotels director of operations regarding the trays. At this point there are trays
  • 07
    Font - 3PM arrives and I have not heard anything else nor have I cleaned up the pig-sty upstairs. My replacement arrives and I tell him what happened and apologise for the fact that he will have to collect these but tell him why. He laughs and decides to leave it until somebody else calls and informs him they are there. Shortly after this Prem 'left' the company.
  • 08
    Font - TL;DR: A manager on a power trip told me not to do an important part of my job as I had to help somewhere I was not needed. I left that part of my job alone for my full shift and advised all his superiors that he had advised me not to do it when was questioned about it. He 'left' the company shortly after. 4.4k 79 ↑, Share

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