'I don't work Mondays': Server gets fired for missing "mandatory" Memorial Day shift while on scheduled vacation

Brad Dickson • Managing Editor

May 30, 2023 9:00 AM EDT

One of the worst parts about working in the service industry or retail is "blackout" dates—where no one is able to take days off—these always line up with precisely the days you'd want to take off. Holidays, long weekends, and anytime between Christmas and New Year's—pretty much any time you might want to see family or friends (who are all off work.) These have all been deemed as days where all hands are needed on deck due to high volumes of trade.

But the worst part about blackout dates?.. Hypocrisy. You might think that the concept would also mean that your boss and the rest of the upper management team are also working, you know, to support staff on these important days of trade. But, without fail, they'll all be off on vacation somewhere, out of reach and uncontactable—probably sipping cocktails on the beach—while you desperately try to tend with the hordes of clamoring, impatient people who (appropriately) have the day off and fail to understand that you would have liked the day off too.

This server was already off on leave for a vacation when Memorial Day rolled around. Their boss suddenly decided to make it a blackout date, attempting to strong-arm the server into coming in with vague insinuations that the server should have known that they'd suddenly be forced to come in and make up for the boss's lack of planning.

The server explained all of this in a series of posts shared to Reddit's r/Serverlife subreddit community, where workers of the service industry share their thoughts and experiences and ask for advice. As events unfolded the server updated readers, adding that they had been removed from the schedule and, most recently, were unable to get a hold of anyone to confirm their employment status but were expecting that the boss was using a method of silent firing common in the industry.

In a predictable fashion, the boss themself was also off on vacation at the time all of this was taking place.

Read on to see these posts, starting with the original. For more stories from the service industry, check out this bartender who was fired for demanding to be paid on time.